Artist in Residence
Villa Lofoten AIR invites artists, scientist, and artisans to stay in out historic buildings, to work, get inspired and reflect. In the rural surroundings of Kvalnes, they get to explore the tension between the permanent and the passing, between conversion and transgression. In their unique ways, the artists who visit Villa Lofoten express ideas about the present, the past and the possibilities for the future.
Villa Lofoten AIR wants to stimulate artistic production based upon resources and subject matter that is locally available, resulting in works that spark interest in local resource and environmental issues, through global perspective.
​
The program also wants to establish dialogues between visiting artists and the local community. During their stay, the artist’s participate in workshops for young people and children, and present their work to the public. We focus on inviting participants form different cultures, genres, nationalities, and beliefs, to build networks and relationships across borders, genders, and ages.
Our Artist-In-Residence program has operated since 2015.
A list of participants in this program is displayed below.
​
The artist program is supported by the Arts Council Norway and Nordland County Council.
Lofoten AIR 01
Lofoten AIR 01 was planned as a workshop for the artist that visited Villa Lofoten during 2015-18. The original plan was to conduct an experimental workshop that would result in an exhibition. Due to the corona epidemic, we executed Lofoten AIR 01 in combination with Villa Lofoten AIR 2019-22. This resulted in four events with 40 participants.
Link to the documentation of two workshops:
Exofiction - the biographical novel
Folk Architecture?
​
​
Lofoten AIR 01 is supported by the Nordic Culture Fund, Arts Council Norway and Nordland County Council.
2019-2023
Anne-Marie Francis, UK
Marketing and PR
​
Anne-Marie Francis is based in the UK and works with marketing and PR for small businesses. During her stay at Villa Lofoten, she contributed with advice in information, marketing and sales. She was particularly instructive for both parties during the visit of a film crew of nearly 50 people from the USA, Iceland and Norway on assignment for Banana Republic.
Karolina Martinson, Sweden
Chef and expert on wild plants and seaweed
​
Karolina works with local sustainable food, and is passionate about promoting seaweed as a good, environmentally friendly and nutritious raw material. She hunts for the taste of a place. Therefore, Karolina uses everything edible from the surroundings she finds herself in. By doing that she creates unforgettable food and meal experiences. During her stay in Villa Lofoten, she organized two workshops together with Linnea Sjøgren. Together they have published the book "Plocka tång & strandväxter".
​
_edited.jpg)
Eva Maria Hay, Sweden
Chef, focusing on the sea's resources
Eva Maria has worked with food all her life. Gradually, she has immersed herself in the historical food resource seaweed. She harvests, preserves, uses and delivers seaweed to some of Sweden's best chefs. In Lofoten, she investigated the rich varieties of seaweed together with Frøya Thue, Frida van der Drift Breivik and Louise Hay, and experimented with different seeds in the kitchen garden. Using seaweed as material, she creates collages and photographs.
​
Laurens Pérol, Germany
Writer and director
After having finished my first feature film as a director, I came to Villa Lofoten in order to focus on new projects. Coming from an everyday life full of hectic and stress, Villa Lofoten was an oasis of calmness, time, silence and wind that had an instant effect on my creativity, making me write a whole shortfilm on the first day of my stay. Having found that instant inner calmness, I started focusing much more on all the small details around me.
For a person that needs to work creatively, Villa Lofoten is the perfect place to be: a beautiful place for your own with great space to work, fantastic talks around the dinner table and inspiration from other residents. Within this framework, I found a new way of practicing, developing several cinematic exercises for practice at a daily basis. In addition to that, several new ideas grew as starting point for new films. I’m deeply grateful for the time at Villa Lofoten and have the big wish to come back as soon as possible.
​
Live Rasmussen, Norway
Librarian and Artist Center Co-owner
Live visited, lived and studied in Barcelona during the 1990s. She later facilitated the exchange of young musicians between Norway and Catalonia. Since 1991, she has been actively involved in the development of the Artist Center Can Serrat located just outside of Barcelona.
As a librarian, Live has delved into the role of academic libraries as a platform for fostering community building and supporting science outreach on campus. She has organized and promoted both planned and impromptu meetings and interdisciplinary activities between students, scientists, writers, visual artists and others. She initiated the "Science Debate" outreach series at the Science Library of University of Oslo in 2010 and has been involved in organizing other outreach series, events and expositions.
​
Atle Næss, Norway
Writer
Atle Næss has published novels, exofictions and non-fiction books since he debuted with the novel "Gun" in 1975. He is known for novels such as "Kraften som beveger" 1990, "Østre linje" 1994 and non-fiction books about Edvard Munch, the Nidaros Cathedral and Galileo Galilei. For the latter, he received the Brage prize in 2001. In 2022, he published "The forgotten century - stories from the 17th century".
During his stay in Villa Lofoten, Atle led and participated in the workshop The Biographical Novel. Here he talked about his biographical novel "Den tvilende Thomas" from 1997, which is about the dramatic life of the Baroque painter Caravaggio.
​
Dörte Giebel, Germany
Writer
Dörte Giebel has a master's degree in German literature. In 1986 and 1988 she was one of the winners of the German literature prize "Treffen junger Autor/innen". After two decades in the PR industry, she has in recent years also worked as a translator and book blogger with a focus on Norwegian literature. In 2020 she made her debut in Norwegian with a short story in the anthology "Om å elske". She is currently writing a biographical novel about the author Regine Normann (1867-1939) which is due to appear in Norwegian in 2024. In her biographical novel Dörte focuses on that story of liberation. She worked on the material during her stay on the Lofoten Islands and she also participated in the workshop The biographical novel
​
Lotte Kaa Andersen, Denmark
Writer
For many years Lotte worked as a freelance copywriter, journalist and columnist. Now she writes novels and gives public speeches about her novels and writing process. Lotte’s first novel Hambros Allé 7-9-13 came out in 2015 and was the first volume in her Hellerup trilogy. The second volume, 100 days, was published in 2016 and Syv sind in 2018. The biographical novel Den inderste kerne was published in 2021. It tells the story about Denmark's unknown world star, the mathematician and earthquake expert Inge Lehmann (1888-1993). She is the world's first female seismologist.
During her stay in Lofoten, Lotte worked on her forthcoming novel and participated in the workshop The biographical Novel.
​
Charlotte Weitze, Denmark
Writer
Charlotte Weitze writes novels, short stories and essays, which focus on man's encounter with nature. She often writes in the magical realism genre. Her later novel "Rosarium" (2021) is about people and plants. In her personal essay "The climate and the artist" (2022), she reflects on what art can do in relation to the climate crisis.
During her stay in Lofoten, she worked on a new novel, an exofiction, about folk memorabilia collector Evald Tang Kristensen. In the 19th century, Tang Kristensen wandered around the desolate nature in search of the adventures that were still found in people who still had a close connection to nature. In Lofoten, she exchanged thoughts with other writers, who also write exofiction. She encountered the great desolate nature that can hardly be found in Denmark anymore. Here she experienced the unspoiled moonlight and the deep winter darkness that had once spurred fairy tales. She met the great mountains and the Atlantic Ocean. It inspired empathy in the lives of people of the past, who were then completely at the mercy of nature's rhythms. Charlotte also participated in the workshop The biographical Novel.
​
Malene Vest Hansen, Denmark
Art historian
​
Malene is an art critic and lecturer in art history at the University of Copenhagen. Here she researches contemporary art, curation and the role of the museum. She has written for Dagbladet Politiken, Sum - magazine for contemporary art and Periskop: Forum for art historical debate. She has sat on the board of the International Association of Art Critics in Denmark and internationally.
Most recently, she edited the anthology Curating the Contemporary in the Art Museum, 2023. During her stay in Lofoten Malene moderated the Folk Architecture Seminar and visited the solo exhibition of Hanne Friis at Vigelandsmuseet in Oslo, and Kari Steihaug's exhibition at Dropsfabrikken in Trondheim. Both guest artists at Villa Lofoten. The models are working on a scientific article about their work
Stacy Aung, Sweden/USA
Dancer
​
Stacey Aung is a California native who received her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance from the University of California, Irvine with a full scholarship and departmental honors in 2007. She has danced with numerous repertory companies- Hubbard Street 2, Saarländisches Staatstheater, Norrdans, and more as a freelance artist of Dansalliansen. Over the years, she has performed works by Johan Inger, Alexander Ekman, Jiri Kylian, Ohad Naharin, Stijn Celis, Marcos Morau/La Veronal, Gustavo Ramirez Sansano, Martin Forsberg, Fernando Melo, Örjan Andersson, and Dalija Acin Thelander.
Stacey’s fruitful relationship with Mari Carrasco began in 2017 with the production Paper Plane, culminating to the most recent, The Heart.
Javier Perez, Sweden/Spania
Dancer
Javier Pérez is a Spanish dancer & movement director based between Sweden and Spain. Graduated in contemporary dance by CAD and Institut del Teatre (Seville/Barcelona), he develops his career in different Spanish dance companies, moving to Sweden in 2012 to be part of the ensemble of the company NORRDANS and after 3 years, he continues working with different companies/choreographers from different parts of Europe. In the past year, he starts developing his work as movement director for opera productions and director’s assistance in some dance productions. He has worked/collaborate with choreographers such as Mats Ek,Johan Inger, Ohad Naharin, Örjan Andersson, Mari Carrasco, Isabel Vázquez, Fernando Melo among others.
Mari Carrasco, Sweden/Chile
Dancer and choreographer
Mari Carrasco is a Stockholm based dancer and choreographer from Sweden/Chile. Carrasco graduated from Balettakademien Stockholm in 2008 and has been freelancing as a choreographer since then. She has created commission work internationally and in Sweden for: SKÅNES DANSTEATER, REGION TEATER VÄST, STHLM 59 NORTH/The Royal Swedish Ballet, NORRDANS, RIKSTEATERN, DANSSTATIONEN, UNGA KLARA, HOLSTEBRO DANSEKOMPAGNI and VERVE LEEDS UK.
During the last two years Carrasco has been exploring a practice based on groove, flow and becoming the music. In the studio she works collectively with her dancers with a thinking and a physical body. The dancers are given tasks and scores to explore and work from. Key phrases Carrasco uses are; anything can happen, contain the movement and listen to the music. The movement quality often emphasizes on the in-between landscape of imploding and exploding.
During her stay in Lofoten Carrasco worked with her dancers: Stacey Aung and Javier Perez. Carrasco explored her practice: Contained groove with the two dancers outside in the nature. They danced in the mountains, in the water shore, in the night with the clear stars under them and early in the morning. In the last days they documented it, filmed by film photographer Tor Edvin Eliasssen and edited by Kristoffer Elfström.
Kristoffer Elfström, Sweden
Film editor
Kristoffer Elfström is a freelance film editor based in Stockholm, Sweden. He recently worked on films like Jävla pappa (2023), Kärlek på Svenska (2023) and Tigrar (2020). After studying documentary film in Chile he has been working on projects that has taken him all around the world. The connection between culture and individuals in the environment one live in, or is connected to, is something he is constantly trying to examine. His interest in the pulse and tempo in telling a story, together with his sense for music, has led him to edit music documentaries like Sonica Sequence (2017) and Where to Belong (upcoming, 2023) In that spirit he worked together with Villa Lofoten on the film AUDIOCOPTER and the midnight sun. A concept developed by Sebastian Rubinstein Öberg, Magnus Jarlbo, Emke, Tor Edvin Eliasssen and Aaslaug Vaa. During his stay in Villa Lofoten he kept exploring the atmosphere, culture and setting of Lofoten. Making a collaboration with film photographer Tor Edvin Eliasssen, producer Aaslaug Vaa and choreographer Mari Carrasco together with the dancers Stacey Aung and Javier Perez.
Sondre Ferstad, Norway
Musician and composer
Sondre plays harmonica and accordion. In the Sondre Ferstad Ensemble project, a jazz quartet and a string quartet met and performed his compositions. In 2018, they released the album Minimal.
His music is delicate and sensitive, melodious, and complex. The compositions have a wealth of references in the range between religious folk tunes, contemporary music and jazz music. He published the album Sirkelsongar (2022) and is currently working on a musical work with a strong connection to wood. He also investigated this theme during his stay in Villa Lofoten.
Peggy Ellingsen, Norway
Seaweed expert and chef
Peggy lives and works in Lofoten. She is concerned with humans’ place in the universe and our relationship to our surroundings. She offers seaweed safaris, courses in picking and preserving seaweed for food and she also works as a chef. Her goal is to teach people to use the shore as a pantry. During her stay in Villa Lofoten, she carried out daily seaweed safaris, showed films, gave a lecture at the seaweed seminar together with Frøya Thue and served the guests food with tastes from the ocean.
​
Hampus Berndtson, Denmark/Sweden
Photographer and architect
​
Hampus is a trained architect and works as a photographer and visual artist. His photographs of architecture are used in publications around the world.
Hampus continuously explores the concepts of time and space. He did the same during his stay in Lofoten, where he used his camera to search for traces of the development in the landscape, which changed slowly over millions of years. The photos are capturing wavelengths of light which is not visible to the naked eye. The light is filtered to highlight distinctive features in the subject, to separate the different parts of mountain from others. The interplay of colors and variations in depth reveal the particularly long geological history of Lofoten, depicted in layers mass shaping the mountain. In addition, Hampus participated in the Folkearkitekturseminaret and photographed the conservation-worthy houses of Villa Lofoten in Kleivan Havn.
​
Martin Søberg, Denmark
Architectural historian
Martin Søberg graduated in art history from the University of Copenhagen. He works at the Royal Danish Academy – Architecture and is specialized in modern and contemporary architecture and in the relationship between works and ideas. His field of research comprises architectural theory, artistic research and poetics and he has published the research-based monograph Kay Fisker: Works and Ideas in Danish Modern Architecture (Bloomsbury, 2021). Martin publishes articles in books and journals and also writes about drawing and photography.
During his stay in Lofoten, Martin studied local building culture and vernacular architecture together with photographer and architect Hampus Berndtson and participated with a lecture in the Folk Architecture Seminar.
​
Aasne Vaa Greibrokk, Norway
Film director
Aasne is educated at Nordland Art- and Film school and the Norwegian Film School. During her studies, she made the short films Autovern, Husk meg i morgen and Til den det måtte angå. They have been shown at foreign festivals such as Oberhausen and Locarno. She made her debut as a feature film director with All the beauty (2016). She launched the short film Hæstkuk in 2019, which Aasne presented during her stay in Lofoten.
​
Sebastian Schelenz, Belgium
Film producer
Sebastian Schelenz is a Belgian based film producer. He studied biophysics in Berlin and film directing and production at Insas/Brussels. His recent credits include “The Blue Caftan” by Maryam Touzani which won the FIPRESCI at Cannes « Un certain regard » in 2022, as well as prices in Tromsø and Göteborg, the award winning black feminist comedy « Employee of the Month » by Veronique Jadin which premiered at Tribeca, as well as the award winning biographical documentary « Walter Hus - a musical journey » by Astrid Mertens about Belgian composer Walter Hus. During his stay in Lofoten he worked on several new projects including the Nordic noir inspired «Embrace the Darkness » by Serge Mirzabekiantz, as well as planning future projects at Villa Lofoten.
​
​
Anna Eborn, Sweden
Film director
Her debut feature length and self-edited documentary, Pine Ridge, was selected in the Official Selection at the Venice International Film Festival 2013 and won best Nordic documentary at the International Film festival in Gothenburg in 2014. Further films include Epifania, a hybrid/fiction which premiered at the Busan International Film Festival in 2016 and the feature-length documentary Lida, which premiered in competition at CPH:DOX 2017 and in the international competition at Visions du Reel 2017. Her latest film Transnistra, where she works together with the film photographer Virginie Surdej, won the VPRO Award during the 2019 International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) and the Dragon Award of Best Nordic Documentary at Göteborg IFF 2019.
During her stay at Villa Lofoten, Anna investigated potential themes for her upcoming film in collaboration with Virginie Surdej. She also edits the short film I Cannot Breathe, based on material filmed by Virginie Surdej and filmmaker Bénédicte Liénard, both from Brussels.
​
​​
​
Sebastian Rubinstein Öberg, Sweden
Musician and composer
Sebastian Rubinstein Öberg har hele sitt liv arbeidet med musikk. Han er nærmest
autodidakt. I 35 år var han cellist i Fläskkvartetten. Han har gjort musikk til 30-40 filmer, som Il Capitano og En frusen dröm av Jan Troell. Musikken til filmen Svinalängorna av Pernilla August og TV-serien Arvingene gjorde han sammen med komponist Magnus Jarlbo. Sebastian bygger instrument han flittig bruker. En «vevcello», eller kall det på norsk en «lirekassecello», er en mellomting mellom en cello og en lirekasse. Under koronatiden utviklet han lydinstallasjonen audiocopter. I likhet med lirekassen er den basert på roterende bevegelser. Det er et lydanlegg med to høytalerhorn som kaster lyden rundt i rommet. Under oppholdet i Villa Lofoten komponerte han verket Ruins sammen med Emelie Markgren. Innspillingen foregikk i et temporært studio i Rorbua.
I filmen Ruins, gjort under det samme oppholdet, presenteres låten i sin helhet.
Sammen med komponisten og musikeren Magnus Jarlbo og multikunstner Emke ble det i
regi av Villa Lofoten gjort opptak til filmen AUDIOCOPTER and the midnight sun.
Et konsept utviklet av Magnus, Emke, Sebastian, filmfotograf Tor Edvin Eliasssen og produsent Aaslaug Vaa. Sammen avsluttet de tre musikerne oppholdet med en offentlig performance på kaikanten i Kleivan havn.
​
Emelie Markgren, Sweden
Multi artist
​
Emelie Markgren, med kunstnernavnet Emke var i 2021 nyutdannet fra Kungliga
Konsthögskolan i Stockholm. Hun er oppvokst i Hälsingland og kan gjerne kalles
multikunstner. Hun arbeider med tekst, sang, dans, performancekunst, musikk, skulptur og maleri. Under oppholdet i Villa Lofoten skrev og komponerte hun verket Ruins sammen med Sebastian Rubinstein Öberg. Innspillingen foregikk i et temporært studio i Rorbua. I filmen Ruins, gjort under det samme oppholdet, presenteres verket i sin helhet. Sammen med komponistene og musikerne Magnus Jarlbo og Sebastian Rubinstein Öberg ble det i regi av Villa Lofoten gjort opptak til filmen AUDIOCOPTER and the midnight sun. Et konsept utviklet av Magnus, Emke, Sebastian, Tor Edvin og Aaslaug. Sammen avsluttet de tre musikerne oppholdet med en offentlig performance på kaikanten i Kleivan havn.
Magnus Jarlbo, Sweden
Musician and composer
​
Magnus Jarlbo ble i sin tid utdannet ved Musikkhögskolan i Malmø, og startet sin musikalske karriere i forskjellige rocke- og jazzgrupper. Han har arbeidet med teatermusikk, både som musiker og komponist. Hans instrument er trompet. Magnus har gjort musikk til mer enn 50 filmer og TV-serier, blant annet En Soap, vinnerfilm på Berlinalen, og dokumentarfilmen Brev till en seriemördare. regi Manal Masri. Sammen med komponisten og musikeren Sebastian Rubinstein Öberg og multikunstneren
Emke ble det i regi av Villa Lofoten gjort opptak til filmen AUDIOCOPTER and the midnight sun. Et konsept utviklet av Magnus, Emke, Sebastian, Tor Edvin og Aaslaug.
Sammen avsluttet de tre musikerne oppholdet med en offentlig performance på kaikanten i Kleivan havn.
.jpg)
Linnéa Sjögren, Sweden
Seaweed expert and librarian
Linnéa started introducing seaweed to the Swedish market back in 2014. She holds courses and experiences on how to harvest and cook seaweed. She is passionate about spreading knowledge about seaweed as a new sustainable raw material and creating interest in new establishments of seaweed farms, products and new companies. She has established and runs the company Catxalot, and she has written the book Plocka tång & strandväxter.
During her stay in Lofoten she investigated the seaweed deposits in the sea outside Villa Lofoten, collaborated with the designers Frøya Thue and Frida van der Drift Breivik and planned a week-long seaweed course at Villa Lofoten in 2023. The participants will stay and cook together. They pick seaweed in waders, snorkel for seaweed in the sea and make interesting excursions and study visits in Lofoten. The stay provides all the knowledge you need to start harvesting and using seaweed for household needs, or even to start a seaweed business.
​
_edited.jpg)
Frida van der Drift Breivik and Frøya Thue, Norway
Designers and founders of Dypp AS
Frøya and Frida are both designers with a background in service- and product design from the Oslo School of Architecture and Design (AHO). In 2020 they founded Dypp AS to explore the potential of seaweed as a sustainable packaging material. They work in close collaboration with scientists to replace plastic packaging.
During their stay at Villa Lofoten in 2022 they conducted material explorations with different types of seaweed picked around the shores at Kvalnes. They investigated the natural qualities and properties of seaweed like strength, flexibility and aesthetics. The studies resulted in new ideas and packaging concepts that will be further developed in 2023.
Martin Hartgen, Norway
Composer
Martin Hartgen is a composer. He has given a number of live concerts at festivals, worked as a DJ, and published critically acclaimed music under the name Burning God Little. While staying at Villa Lofoten, Martin studied music theory and constructed new frameworks for his production. He describes his stay in this manner:
The nature and the remote location of Kvalnes has been instrumental. The absence of man-made cultural sounds that we find in more densely populated areas, makes room for the world's perpetual background noise - what we usually do not hear. Listening to something we usually filter out has been an enriching discovery I will take with me in my further work.
Kari Steihaug, Norway
Textile artist
In her art, Kari Steihaug alters between adding and subtracting. Between what can be seen and what only exists as traces and memories. In her art, an awareness of both something warm and fragile, as well as something violent, is maintained. Clothes are pulled apart thread by thread, a dress slowly disappears and half-transformed garments are located somewhere between the tangible and the undefined, turning into something a little uncomfortable.
When in transit, something new is always created; the meeting point between people and places, nature and culture, a new way of observing is slowly becoming a part of me and my work, Kari writes about her stay in Villa Lofoten. A transfer sharpens the senses and presence. I prefer having some time in a place, time to find peace and rhythm.
​
​
Nina Lykke, Norway
Fiction writer and graphic designer
Nina Lykke has published the short story collection Orgien, og andre fortellinger (2010), the novel Opplösstendenser (2013) and the novel Nei og atter nei (2016), which won Ungdommens Kritikerpris. In 2019, Nina received the Brage Prize for her latest novel Full Spredning.
Her life is largely revolving around writing, also when she is in Lofoten. She mostly writes about existential crises in the urban, Norwegian middle class. Therefore, it will be exciting to see if there are any traces of her writing stay in Lofoten in her next novel.
Her next book is expected in the autumn of 2022. In August 2020, author and journalist Sylvi Inez Liljegren from Tromsø interviewed Nina Lykke about her authorship. The interview took place on the quayside in Kleivan harbor at Kvalnes, to the delight of many.
​
Erik Dæhlin, Norway
Composer​
​
In his work as a composer and artist, Erik Dæhlin has been particularly concerned with instrumental- and music theater; music that integrates different kinds of performative material, unfolding in and beyond the music and in context to the performance space. He creates hybrid works of art where the compositional and directorial work consists of putting a number of aural, visual and textual materials into play. In this way, his practice is part of a multidisciplinary tradition both by virtue of education and work. He has his education from the Conservatory of Music in Tromsø (percussion), the Norwegian Academy of Fine Arts in Oslo (sound art) and the Norwegian Academy of Music (composition).
During his first stay in Villa Lofoten, Dæhlin was researching sites, different materials and medias that could form the basis for possible further works related to Lofoten: Photography, sound recordings, text and theory. He explored actual locations such as Hovstranda, Rambergstranda, Vestersand, Unstad, Hauklandstranda, Vik and Eggum. In his imagination, he sought out Colombia University, the square facing Halfdan Svartes gate, places to disappear, Calvino's cabin, ÄŒabovce, the Ligurian coast, the port of Beirut, Torshovdalen, Florence in 1425, Rathkes place, Jølsterelva, Norwegian Telegram Agency in Nedre Vollgate, the Y-block, Zapffe's cottage in Lyngen and Shiraz-Persepolis.
​
Bénédicte Liénard, Belgium
Film- and theater director
Bénédicte Liénard studied film direction at the Institut des Arts de Diffusion (in Louvain-La-Neuve). Her first feature film Une Part du Ciel was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at Cannes, as well as at the festivals of Toronto, San Sebastian and New York. She went on to direct numerous hard-hitting documentaries, widely screened both at festivals and on television. She teaches direction at the Belgian Film School IAD and she was the year’s artist in residence at UCL University (Louvain-La- Neuve in 2019. The film By the Name of Tania 2019 was her third collaboration with Mary Jiménez.)
During her stay at Villa Lofoten Bénédicte developed a concept for future work based on her experiences with the rural landscape as a contrast to her many years of working with immigrant’s questions. She also made film material for the short film I Cannot Breathe.
​
​
​
Bénédicte Liénard
​
Hanne Friis, Norway
Visual artist
​
Hanne Friis studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Trondheim (1992-96). Over the years, her work with textiles as a malleable material has taken an ever-increasing crafts approach.
More recently, plant-dyed textiles have become a large part of her production. The process of plant dyeing is slow and time consuming. It involves physical work such as gathering, processing, washing and finishing, in addition to the dyeing itself. After the textiles have been dyed, Hanne shapes her works using needle and fishing thread. She uses a characteristic folding seam, where the fabric is compressed into a compact structure that changes the fabric's originally unstable shape. The works are given an organic expression with a reminder of nature or the body's inner patterns.
​
Along the ditches of Lofoten, Hanne has collected plants that are rich in tannins. In combination with iron water, they give a grayish color. A result of this process is the sculpture Topography III, which was shown for the first time in the exhibition Hidden Pattern at KRAFT in Bergen in the autumn of 2020.
​
Pauline Grethen, France
Graphic designer
​
Pauline Grethen is a graphic designer and also works with set decoration on film productions. During her residency she works with graphic designer Ida Sæterdal with the design of the art book made by photographer Virginie Surdej and art historian Aaslaug Vaa.
Pauline is also working with the project Me, in the Middle of the Story together with pupils from 9th grade at Bøstad secondary school. A part of the project is to make a cookbook where the pupils collect recipes from their ancestors while tracing the recipes’ stories of origin. Together with chef Cecilie Steinkjer they make their own versions of the recipes and Pauline designs the cookbook in dialogue with the pupils.
​
​
Olivier Touche, France
Sound designer
​
Olivier Touche is a sound designer who works with sound recording and sound design on various films. He works with bridges during his residency. For him, bridges can be seen as intersections between the contradictory energy forces between people’s demands (traffic, energy, water) and the inevitable limitations in nature (currents, cliffs, winds). Olivier’s project is to explore the soundscape and develop a sonic portrait of the place where the bridge is crossing the Gimsøy current in all kinds of weather conditions.
​
​
Povl Kristian Mortensen, Denmark
Pianist and composer
​
In the 80s and 90s, Povl Kristian played in many Danish bands. For the past 20 years, he has primarily dealt with film composition for feature films and documentaries. During his stay in Villa Lofoten in November 2020, he used the harsh and merciless elements of nature as a contrast to the fragility and presence he examines in his own work. Povl played a grand piano concert at the Meieriet library in Leknes.
​
​
Margrete Bjone Engelien, Norway
Architect
​
Margrete Bjone Engelien is a newly educated architect from The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, School of Architecture in Copenhagen. Through the slogan protection through use, she has contributed to the restoration and extension of the barn at the farm of Villa Lofoten. The barn will be reconstructed into a multi use house, with a sound studio, working stations, a meeting room, and a venue for different events that holds up to 30 people. The work is a collaboration between carpenter Daniel Mabin, engineer Jossi Pettersen, and owner Aaslaug Vaa in dialogue with Einar Engen and Gunhild Ryen in The Cultural Heritage Fund.
​
​
Vegard Lund Johannessen, Norway
Carpenter and glass blower
​
Vegard Lund Johannessen is a carpenter and glass blower. Together with Sigrid Høyforsslett Bjørbæk, he runs Bruket glass studio in Bodø. Vegard is reconstructing the western part of The Fisherman’s Cabin at Kleivan together with carpenter Daniel Mabin. They are also reconstructing and furnishing the interior of the whole building.
​
​
Camilla Barratt–Due, Norway - Germany
Composer, musician and performance artist
​
Camilla Barratt–Due is educated as an accordionist, composer and singer. During her residency she researches shipwrecks through a particular accident; the shipwreck of D/S Havskåren off the coast of Kvalnes in 1946. Camilla’s research will result in a performative installation premiere at Stamsund International Theatre Festival 2020.
Camilla is also one of the teachers in the project Me, in the Middle of the Story with pupils from 9th grade at Bøstad secondary school. The pupils record sounds in the field with particular focus on changes in the soundscape around them. The recordings are used as material for compositions.
​
Camilla Barratt-Due​​
Daniel Mabin, Norway – Australia
Carpenter
​
Daniel Mabin is a carpenter educated in Australia. He is reconstructing the western part of The Fisherman’s Cabin at Kleivan together with carpenter Vegard Lund Johannessen. They are also reconstructing and furnishing the interior of the whole building. Daniel is also participating in the project plan for the restoration, and the extension of the barn together with guest artist and architect Margrete Bjone Engelien.
​
2015-2018
Marit Grimstad Eggen, Norway
Dramaturge
​
Marit Grimstad Eggen is a dramaturge. She works with stage artist Eirik Fauske. They are developing the performance We are this eye. The work is a search for a larger we, and an investigation of various forms of audience fellowship. The performance is shown under the Lofoten International Theatre Festival as a pilot in 2018, and full performance in 2019.
​
​
Eirik Fauske, Norway
Playwrighter and director
Eirik Fauske is a playwrighter and director. He works with the dramaturge Marit Grimstad Eggen. They are developing the performance We are this eye. The work is a search for a larger we, and an investigation of various forms of audience fellowship. The performance is shown under the Lofoten Theater Festival as a pilot in 2018, and full performance in 2019.
Julie Skarland, Norway
Fashion designer and textile artist
​
Julie Skarland is a fashion designer and textile artist. She has lived and worked in Paris for 20 years, and in New-Dehli for the past 11 years. During her stays in Villa Lofoten, Julie develops works within textile, film and fashion based on her sensual impressions and human encounters in Lofoten.
Annick Ligtermoet, Finland
Fine-art photographer
Annick Ligtermoet is a photographer. She explores and documents nature's own processes, moulds biomass into objects, and explores seaweed and kelp as artistic material.
​
Gry Rask Sørensen, Norway
Visual artist
Gry Rask Sørensen is a visual artist. She explores how local plants and crops can be used as materials and dyes in textile installations.
Ingela Magner, Sweden
Author and director
Author and film director Ingela Magner’s work centers around Scandinavian stories for children about life during the High Middle Ages, based on historical materials and archaeological findings.
Camilla Figenschou, Norway
Visual artist
Visual artist Camilla Figenschou works with photography and moving images. She strives for an attentive camera eye. In her residency project she rewrites actual local relationships to cinematic fictional fragments.
​
Hanna Ljungh, Sweden
Visual artist
Hanna Ljungh is a visual artist. For a long time, she has devoted herself to artistic studies of materials we refer to as stone, meadow, soil, land and mountains. During her residency, Ljungh works with a sensory cinematic approach as a method in a new 16 mm film.
Dan Isaac Wallin, Sweden
Photographer
Through his distinctive poetic style, photographer Dan Isaac Wallin works actively with themes of proportions between humans and their surroundings. In his repeated investigations of the Lofoten landscape, he almost insists on capturing constancy and immutability. He works primarily with Polaroid and alternative photographic processes.
Acacia Johnson, USA
Fine-art photographer
Acacia Johnson is a fine-art photographer with a focus on the Polar Regions of the earth. She is utilizes the photographic image to investigate the relationships between humans and nature in the circumpolar Arctic.
Tor Edvin Eliassen, Norway
Cinematographer
​
Tor Edvin Eliassen is a student of film photography at the Film School in Lodz in Poland. He is also a photographer and assistant in several projects run by Villa Lofoten.
​
Virginie Surdej, Belgium
Photographer and cinematographer
Virginie Surdej is a fine-art photographer and cinematographer. In her work, she explores the passage of time in the landscape, in architecture and in humans. Her viewers are invited to reflect upon the concepts of history, memory and reminiscence.
​
Jørn Nyseth Ranum, Norway
Director and film photographer
​
Jørn Nyseth Ranum is a film director and photographer. Together with astrophysicist Jean Surdej, he conducts workshops in film and astrophysics with teenagers. The project results in the movie Children of Stars.
​
Frøya Thue, Norway
Designer
​
Frøya Thue is a service designer. She has developed Villa Lofoten's website while the restoration of the buildings has been going on.
​
Nanna Frank Møller, Denmark
Director, cinematographer and editor
Nanna Frank Møller is a film director, cinematographer and editor. Her movies are characterized by the intimacy given the lives of her characters – and the depth of humanity the subjects are given room to express.
Uffe Black Nielsen, Denmark
Architect
Uffe Black Nielsen is an architect. In collaboration with the owner, he has documented and projected the restoration of the buildings worthy of conservation which Villa Lofoten owns in the harbour: The Fisherman’s Cabin, The Saltery, The Steamery and the quay.
Eystein Greibrokk, Norway
Traditional Artisan
Eystein Greibrokk is a traditional artisan. He restores the stove and brick pipe in The Steamery and leads the restoration and upgrading of the quay. Eystein is a specialist in clay and dry walling. During the work on the quay, he brings with him the bricklayer Anders Lyche Oppegaard, www.ragg.no and Karl Kristiansen from Lofothau to operate the excavator.
​
Torgeir Thorsen, Norway
Traditional Artisan and craftsman
Torgeir Thorsen is a traditional artisan and craftsman. His material is wood;
he restores buildings, boats and objects. Being from Vesterålen, Torgeir knows the local building tradition. The Steamery has been his restoration project. Based on the architect's drawings, and together with other artisans, he has led and carried out the reconstruction of a ruin to a habitable house that still stands on pillars in the sea.
Geir Losnegaard, Norway
Furniture carpenter
Geir Losnegaard is a goldsmith and furniture carpenter. He designs and builds place-built furniture’s on the 1st and 2nd floor of The Saltery.
