In February/March 2009, Babel - an artist non-profit initiative situated in TRONDHEIM, NORWAY - will present ‘NEWSPEAK’ - a series of three exhibitions and a workshop on writing about art.

Themes and dates for the exhibitions:
~ Provocation (February 20 - 25)
~ Emotion (February 27 - March 4)
~ Speculation (March 6 - 13)

An open call project - artists were asked to send in digital submissions before January 15, 2009.
The project’s focus is on: “the dynamic relation between art production and the written reflection on the art (critical, theoretical, etc.)”
Before the first show, JAN BACKLUND (artist/writer/COPENHAGEN) will lead a workshop on writing about art, and at the same time, “we announce a writing competition: writers are invited to submit texts about one or more of the three exhibitions in NEWSPEAK.”
All submitted texts and photo-documentation of the exhibitions will be published, both in print and at this web site.”
see: NEWSPEAK/BABEL/NORWEGIAN
there is an ENGLISH/OPTION at top of the site. [ENGLISH / NORSK !!]

we have to thank STEN ARES SANDBECK, based in Oslo, Norway for sending this in.
we know Sten from the NATIONALMUSEUM SHOWS - specifically the TALL ARTIST SHOW - aka - FUCK THE LITTLE MAN !! He was one of the giant artists in the show - the white tent against the wall is his, see link for photos.
see: NATIONALMUSEUM/BERLIN/NORDIC GIANTS !!

Sten will be exhibiting two pieces in the BABEL ‘NEWSPEAK’ show - during the ‘emotion’ part - ‘Shelter’ and ‘White Flag’ - both of which were also shown in the NATIONALMUSEUM TALL GIANT SHOW - and most gloriously, STEN has sent in some wonderful hi-resolution jpegs of the works !! WOW !!

STEN ARE SANDBECK - ‘SHELTER’.

STEN ARE SANDBECK - ‘WHITE FLAG’.
ALL PHOTOS COURTESY & COPYRIGHT/STEN ARE SANDBECK.

you can see more of Sten’s work: here !!

Sten explained the ‘NEWSPEAK’ project a little better to us: “The exhibition series is based on a mix of open proposals and invitations and focuses upon the dynamic relation between art production and the written reflection upon art. Parallel to the show, a workshop on writing on art and a writing competition based on the exhibitions will be held. All submitted texts and photo-documentation of the exhibitions will be published, both in print and at the Babel website.”

he goes on to say: “That was a lot to read and if you’re still hanging on, I apologize for the inconvenience, but one likes to try to communicate, even from this far off outpost of civilization - the ancient transatlantic connection keeping our hopes up - the Vikings, they say founding (or more accurately finding !!) ‘wine-land’ - the predecessor of New York City !!”

he also said something really funny, though I’m not exactly sure - what it means - (there’s a lot of possibilities !!) - at the beginning of his email, as initially I didn’t quite ‘get’ the submission - as he just sent the poster, with no explanation - (above) - which was all in Norwegian !! or I guess - NORSK !!
“Thank you for getting back to me - you are perfectly right … the event is certainly a long way from NYC; it must be madness enough to cover that” - [here’s the fun part:] - “going global suicide (those who do end up growing out of any practical proportions or consider canonizing extreme narrowmindedness - art history, for instance.)” STEN - what are you saying - write some more on this !!
and no, it’s “not too far-out …geographically or mentally !!” - as you put it.
do you mean global suicide re: the impact that the US has on the rest of the world, or global suicide re: the NYC centric art world ? come on - lay it down - we can take it !!

you gotta love how narrative these Nordics are, with their ancient story-telling genes - in his own words, he concludes:

“Just to let you know, I’m also running a web-based artspace at www.undisclosed.no, the idea based upon galleries representation of their shows online, just skipping the actual show !! .. Invited artists produce a series of jpegs of a certain size, none of them representing artworks, but rather to be considered as artworks in themselves. And quite important - non-saleable - only pure art ! I might pass you some information on the next show. Let me know if you’d rather I didn’t”. (yes, do !!)
“Lars, the organizer of NATIONALMUSEUM and an old friend of mine, will be presented in April.”

“Its again snowing heavily outside, don’t know how things are in NY, but over here they just removed tons of snow the other day and now the streets are full again - a traditional postcard winter with snow in our face, red cheeks, smoke from your mouth and squeaky sounds as you walk — We’ll stay inside today.”

Very best from Oslo, Sten.

OMG X 1,000 !! - did you check out that www.undisclosed.no site ?
A-B-S-O-L-U-T-E-L-Y A-M-A-Z-I-N-G !!

no friggin wonder people in the rest of the world get pissed off that ART HISTORY - quote unquote - begins and ends in America or NYC !!

you have to hit each icon - going down, by the 3rd one down, they really start going crazy mad beautiful !!