Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Debatten fortsetter i Nuuk

Nuuk Ugeavis har åpnet en debattside for å motta synspunkter og meninger om bymidtens fremtid. Dette innlegget av Ane Geraae går direkte inn i vår diskusjon:

"TID
Vi må bare tage den tid, det tager at bygge byen op. Vi må lære noget af kulturchokket, vi har været udsat for. Derfor er det dummeste, vi kan gøre, at sætte kort tidsfrist til juni 2010. Efter min mening er det vigtigt, at vi ikke levere den samme vare og adfærd, som vi så og blev udsat for i 60’erne og 70’erne, altså hastige beslutninger over kort tid. Brug den tid, det tager, at debatere planen med byen. Sørg for så at så mange usikkerhedsmomenter som mulig er ude af debatten."

Sunday, February 21, 2010

WOODEN CARVED MAPS IN CYBERSPACE

Yesterday two of our friends tipt us simultaniously about a blogpost on BLDGBLOG about Inuit tactile maps of the Greenland coastline. Marianne Skjulhaug called from Bergen and Ross Langdon sent a mail from Uganda (!). Follow the link and learn more. It is truly intriguing.
The carving is 300 years old and shows the coastline with fjords, islands, nunataks and glaciers. The outline of the coast is carried up one side and down the other.
Later today, Aviaaja and Helena from tnt nuuk is coming to stay the week in Tromsø on our 3'rd workshop about Nuup Qeqqani. We are sure they can tell us more about these maps and maybee we can see them for ourselves the next time we go to Nuuk...

Demonstrasjon i Bi'lin // guest blogger

Erik Skare fra Tromsø er i Palestina og Libanon fra 15. februar til 21. mars. Her skal han dra rundt å intervjue palestinere om deres situasjon, ta bilder og dokumentere okkupasjonen av palestinsk jord i prakis. Bilder og tekst er tatt og skrevet av Erik som er vår gjesteblogger mens han er på reise.

Bi'lin som er lokalisert i Ramallah- og al-Birehdistriktet med sine 1800 innbyggere har, siden muren ble bygget rundt landsbyen i 2005, organisert demonstrasjoner hver fredag. De er stemplet som ikke-voldelige, men ender i hovedsak med steinkasting etterfulgt av tåregass, skyting av gummikuler og skarp ammunisjon.
Les hele innlegget her

Thursday, February 18, 2010

KLIMAKUR 2020

There ain't no cure for love, but there might just be one for the climate?
"KLIMAKUR 2020 - tiltak og virkemidler for å nå norske klimamål mot 2020"

Monday, February 15, 2010

They explore the future Jæren Landscape


This is the title on the journalist Odd Pihlstrøms article in Stavanger Aftenblad Monday the 15th of February. Odd Pihlstrøm opened up and connected us to a series of voices in the Jæren agricultural Landscape. Four of this voices, and Odd Pihlstrøm, attended our debate studio set up at Ona Lighthouse (see the attached article) in a beautiful afternoon on the brim of the Atantic. An open and intense discussion took place for three hours, with the student eagerly participating – Oh What a Perfect Day.
On our three day journey in Jæren, brilliant organized by Alice Labadini, we set up five such studios in different places with impressive participation from cutting edge environments in Stavanger.
De utforsker framtidens jærlandskap - PDF,
See the studio-blog: appearing-and-disappearing-landscapes.
Photo: Odd Philstrøm, Stavanger Aftenblad

Sunday, February 7, 2010

Nuuk pressroom



The local press in Nuuk is continuously following the Tuujuk an Blok P project (in the middle of the world/in the hearth of Nuuk) as it evolves through dialogues with the public, think tanks, city walks/Nuuk Safaris etc. The journalists are making their own contributions through interviews with people living in the area, interviews with politicians and so on. The newspapers are inviting to a series of chronicles on the topic "The appearing and disappearing Nuuk". The small editorial on top of this post, "Democracy commits", is quite stunning with its strengthening of the importance of direct, face to face, eye to eye dialogue between the politicians, the architects and the residents of all kind. And the editorial announces these new attitudes and methods as very appropriate and to the point for the larger debate on the future of Greenland, relating to aluminium melting plants, exploitation of Uran and mining concessions of all types. The point, the editorial states, is for the politicians to be very aware of what is said and to take it to their heart and mind. The language in these articles is Greenlandic and Danish. More English short versions are to follow.



NUUK CITY WALK

This Postcard is a starting point for an exploration of the Nuuk to come. The shivering line guided the followers of the Nuuk Safari. This site in the capital contains many aspects of Greenland colonial history, and is a political hot topic. The long line in the middle is Blok P, which at one point in history contained 1% of the Greenland population. The conversations on the Nuuk Safari unfolded all shades of this history. One social worker characterized Blok P as "an evil circle shaped as a building". The housing minister of the Self Government, who took part in the Safari, has stated that Blok P is to be demolished in 2011; it is a main political ambition. A series of proposals from different architects in the last 20 years has proposed solutions for revitalization of Blok P. None has come to life - and the standard is on a level of being derelict. A large part of the surrounding blocks and row houses is also in the searchlight of demolition - in time to come. So, this postcard, and the walking line, is empowered by memories, anger, hopelessness and possibly new hope. It’s an explosive postcard, now in the hands of the people of Nuuk.

Saturday, February 6, 2010

Nuuk today


Nuuk Safari 1 took place on a beautiful Saturday. Lots of people, including two ministers from the Self Government. The architect Helena Lennert from TNT Nuuk was a brilliant guide and storyteller in the language of Greenland, translated by herself to Danish. KED took a small part in this unfolding story, translated by Helena. The walk through the (in)famous Blok P and its larger surroundings was stunning. An appearing (and disappearing) Nuuk is on the table of discourse ! A discourse that is extensively unfolding in the newspapers, on TV and radio. All media where present on the Nuuk Safari, and the following coffee gathering in TNT Nuuks office (now also D&Us centre when staying in Greenland). More to come with links to TV-films, editorials in Newspapers, coffee visits in peoples home, with the Mayor, and much more.

Friday, February 5, 2010

Seismograph City - Berlin

The Seismograph City exhibition has now moved to Berlin. Nordhavnen / Excentral Park - Edge Dynamics is exhibited together with other projects under the the title Sustainable Strategies in Dialogue.

Eröffnung/Opening: Freitag, 22. Januar 2010 um 18.30
Ort/Location: Studio bei Aedes am Pfefferberg, Christinenstr. 18-19, 10119 Berlin
Ausstellungsdauer/Duration: 22. Januar - 4. März 2010

The City not only defines itself as a generator of cultural, social, economic and ecological processes, but also as a seismograph of global developments. Climate change and its impacts, present new challenges for cities, which in Hamburg have guided a re-evaluation of necessary activities in this regard. In 2011, as "European Green Capital", Hamburg will be designated Climate Capital of Europe. The Seismograph City exhibition gives a fascinating view of the current status of the architectural and urban planning development of this Hanseatic city, in dialogue other cities and countries worldwide.