Russian journalists will see the Queen

“Queen Sonja of Norway will open the 2011 Barents Spektakel festival in Kirkenes”, informs BarentsObserver.com. Twelve Russian journalist invited to the festival by the Norwegian Barents secretariat and Nordic Journalist Center will probably see Her Majesty.

Queen Sonja will open the festival, which in the course of the last six years has grown to become an internationally acknowledged venue for contemporary arts and cross-border culture.

-We see this as an acknowledgement of the important role of cross-border perspectives in art cooperation, Inger Blix Kvammen from Pikene på Broen, the art company organizing the festival told BarentsObserver. -This is fantastic, we are very happy! She said.

The queen will spend two days in Kirkenes and open both the festival and the main festival exhibition.

-We will do whatever we can to facilitate the stay of Her Majesty in Kirkenes, Blix Kvammen stresses. Queen Sonja is genuinely interested in arts and has over the years engaged in numerous culture and arts events.

Her Majesty Queen Sonja (photo: kongehuset.no)

As previously reported, Queen Sonja was in Kirkenes also earlier this year.

The Barents Spektakel 2011 festival has the slogan “Mind the Map” and puts an overall focus on changing Arctic maps, both climate maps, industrial maps and the recent delineation of the Barents Sea. Among the contributors to the festival are internationally established artists like Morten Traavik, Lars Ramberg, Sami Rintala and many others. Among the musicians participating are Aleksey Arkhipovsky, Ragnhild Furubotten, Kimmo Pojohenen and others. The festival takes place in Norwegian border town of Kirkenes in the period 2-6 February.

Check out: The Barents Spektakel 2011 festival programme (external link)

Pikene pa Broen, established in 1996, is a company of art curators and producers, based in Kirkenes. The company has a special focus on cross-border perspectives and cooperation with Russia

Text: Atle Staalesen

And Elena Larionova