The festival takes place in April 13-24 and includes a wide range of exhibitions, concerts, films and discussions.
The Nordic Days in Murmansk is a joint initiative by the Norwegian Consulate General in Murmansk, the Consulate General of Finland in St. Petersburg, Murmansk Office, the Consulate General of Sweden in St. Petersburg and the Information Office of the Nordic Council of Ministers in St. Petersburg. To profile an exciting variety of the Nordic culture they cooperate with Pikene på Broen, Kirkenes, the Arts Council of Lapland and a wide range of partners in Murmansk, the program reads.
Exhibitions that deal with vital and contemporary issues in the North are an important part of Nordic Days. The exhibition Mind the Map! curated and produced by the curators’ collective Pikene på Broen from Kirkenes presents the Norwegian artist Morten Traavik and Olga Kisseleva from Russia.
Morten Traavik first moved the Norwegian-Russian border to the centers of Kirkenes and Oslo during the festival Barents Spektakel in February 2011. Now his installation Borderlines appears in a park in the centre of Murmansk. The work carries references both to the current state borders, Cold War history and the relation between centre and periphery. The digital animation Arctic Conquistadors by Olga Kisseleva, shown in between commercials on the outdoor screen at the Five Corner Square, reflects over tensions and conflicts that characterize the Arctic today, and refers to the era of ”the global conquests”.
The Nordic Days also offer concerts of a variety of music genres, like electro-pop by Norwegian Casiokids, classical music by Murmansk Philharmonic Orchestra, blues and rock by Finnish Eero Raittinen. The program includes Transborder Café - a discussion about the present and the future of the border region in general and Murmansk in particular, movies, conferences and seminars.
