Drammen Municipality commissioned me to conduct a one-year artistic research project in Strømsø within the city’s waterfront development. The aim was to create a public artwork connecting segregated neighborhoods and building relationships between long-term residents and newcomers.

I attended the weekly language café at the Frivilligsentral and gradually became part of its social environment. I realized that the commission’s question was already being addressed through repeated practices: Norwegian speakers volunteered to help newcomers learn the language, while participants exchanged knowledge about work, food, family and the city. With support from Linn Marie fosbæk, leader of the Frivilligsentral, we organized walks led by language-café participants. Tore introduced local plants around Strømsø, while Parminder guided us through historical monuments. Participants often positioned as newcomers became guides and producers of local knowledge.

Giedre Jarulaitienė from the Cultural Heritage Department also showed me one of Strømsø’s oldest houses, dating from the seventeenth century. Weeks later, it was demolished for a new high-rise. Several timber logs were rescued and, in collaboration with Wert der Dinge (Urban furniture designers), transformed into a communal/sculptural table for activities organized by the Frivilligsentral. The project connected architectural heritage with social life and precedes THE BRIDGE’s long-term, relational method.



 
Open House - Connecting the Heritage to the Social.