Luleå Biennial 2022, Craft & Art, hosted by Konstfrämjandet (The Peoples Movement for Art Promotion) Norrbotten, will take place throughout the region from October 15, 2022 – January 15, 2023. The artistic leaders for the 2022 biennale, Onkar Kular and Christina Zetterlund will expand its contemporary art remit to include crafts of many types, from everyday handicraft to Sami duodji and aims to sustainably represent the richness of creative activity of Norrbotten and beyond. During the biennial there will be Exhibitions at Luleå Konsthallen, Norrbotten Museum, Galleri Syster, Pontusbadet and Havremagasinet Länskonsthall Boden. Shaped through listening and learning with Norrbotten’s history and creativity, the exhibitions weave together local perspectives with global questions emerging from ice and its relationship to the politics of the cold, craft as a socially sustainable activity and the circular histories of resource extraction.
The biennial will open with a festival (15th-16th October) stitching a relational map of geographic connections through workshops, displays, seminars and performances across regional venues and organisations. The festival welcomes guests to join together in activities and introduce themselves to the biennial. Festival collaborators include Sameslöjdsstiftelsen Sámi Doudji in Jokkmokk, Berits Straw Craft Museum at Sörbyn-Sundsnäs hembygdsförening, Jukkasjärvi Church, The Sami Center for Contemporary Art, Karasjok, Norway and Kiruna City Library where works from Kiruna Municipality Art Collection will be shown.
During the opening weekend the festival will kick-off with a program of ice skating, exhibition openings, guided tours, craft and art events in Luleå, Boden & Kiruna.
Through installations and activities, invited practitioners and organisations to the biennial include Berit Kristine Andersen Guvsam, Aunesgården, Berit Berin, Liu Chuang, George Dimitri, Silje Figenschou Thoresen, Tekeste Solomon Gebremariam, Gunvor Guttorm, Karin Keisu & Josse Thuresson, Korpilombolo Kulturförening, Laila Susanna Kuhmunen, MADAM Snickeri & Restaurering, Tomas Magnusson, Olof Marsja, Elena Mazzi, Erika Nordvall Falck, Helmer Osslund, Katarina Pirak Sikku, Julia Rensberg, Johannes Samuelsson, Susan Schupli, Himali Singh Soin, Katarina Spik Skum, Søstrene Suse, Rosa Taikon, Post Workers Theatre, Georg Tiller, Mikhail Tolmachev, Rosa Tolnov Clausen, Ida Isak Westerberg, Doris Wiklund and Lena Ylipää.
Through exhibitions, a regional festival and digital learning room the ambition is to support the rich artistic activity of Norrbotten and beyond. Recognising the expansive geography of Norrbotten, the Learning Room will allow guests to access the biennial virtually through the biennial website. As well as scheduled film screenings, events on the Learning Room include making circles with Anna-Stina Svakko at Galleri Syster, a workshop for youth organised in collaboration with KUBN in Haparanda, The Knowledge House for Craft hosted with Garland Magazine and Weaving Kiosk by Rosa Tolnov Clausen in collaboration with Haparanda municipality’s cultural department, Aine Art Museum and Resurscentrum för konst Norrbotten. The Learning Room will have physical stages at Galleri Syster and Havremagasinet Länskonsthall Boden for in-person events and broadcast a selection of activities from the festival.
