The Place of Shade

Anthony Morton

At first, the plan was simple — to be home by Christmas. To begin to view the very concept of home as built upon nostalgia. Imagining home is a pastime of any immigrant. If, as Breton suggests, ‘The imaginary is that which tends to become real,’ what were our imaginings bringing to life? The Place of Shade is an artistic research inquiry into the contemporary wake of the Norwegian presence in South Africa. Norwegians began operating within the British colonial framework around 1840 — the same period as the migration to America. Lutheran missions, whaling, farming, business and family characterise this almost 200-year Afri-Norge diasporic heritage. It has been almost entirely overlooked in visual culture, until now. Their legacy remains an integral component of the city and the province's socio-cultural fabric to this day. This exposition is just one expression within the broader scope of this ongoing project. Here, we on the one hand reflect on our preliminary research, methodology and fieldwork from a fictional standpoint — a kind of meta-methodological reflection — and, on the other hand, we address our Afri-Norge subject matter head-on. To achieve this, we narrate Ray Franz and Anthony Morton’s part in the initial fieldwork through the fictionalised perspectives of two PhD students at The University of Bergen — Vincent Dibble (RSA) and Bjarne Karlsen (NOR) — who leave their shared office to undertake an expedition which parallels ours, travelling to KwaZulu Natal, South Africa. This journey is set in the penumbra of the seismic socio-political events of 1999: The Truth and Reconciliation Commission, The South African Arms Deal, Case no. 4138/98, and the looming global spectre of Y2K. Dibble, an occidental eschatologist and accidental apocalypse-hunter. Bjarne, a philosophical cosmologist and photography enthusiast. This exposition is imagined as the pair's pin board, suspended upon the expanse of their office wall upon returning to Norway. Behind them it hangs, a silent curation of fever dreams, as they weave theses into existence, their gaze drawn through the window onto the sprawling canvas of Bergen's cityscape.

Timeline

1946 – Barclays Bank facilitates purchase of factory ship ‘Empire Victory’ (later renamed Abraham Larsen) for one million and fifty-five thousand, two hundred and fifty pounds on behalf of Union Whaling Company – approximately £37.5 million today

1880 – Launching of first modern whale chaser fitted with workable harpoon gun marking the first phase of Modern Period of whaling (Norwegian I) covering the coast of Norway, Iceland and the ancient Norse oceanic highway

1890 – NMS church established on Winder Road, Durban. Second phase of Modern Period of whaling (Norwegian I) begins with investment in Norwegian whaling fleet and expansion to Antarctica

1913 – First World War disrupts whaling operations

1957 – Sale of the Abraham Larsen and eight of the Union Whaling Company’s catchers for approx. £4 million

1995– Despite looming threats of civil war and increasing civil unrest in KwaZulu Natal, South Africa conducts the first democratic elections in the country

2000– Y2K Bug threatens to digitally eradicate records from the previous century

1845 – Norsk Missions Tidende (Norwegian Missions Newspaper) founded by Andreas Hauge

1858 – First Zulu convert, Matenjwaze, baptised by Pastor Hans Paludan Smith Schreuder for the NMS

1900 – Third phase of Modern Period (Norwegian I) of whaling begins with the establishment of Norwegian whaling stations across the world

1909 – Egeland and Larsen split from Bryde forming the Union Whaling Company, with Bryde moving his operations to Saldanha Bay

1966 – Foundation of the Deodorising Plant at Union Whaling Company station to reduce ‘smell’ of factory

1975 – Cessation of whaling operations at Union Whaling Company station in Durban, South Africa

1864 – Svend Foyn develops first workable harpoon gun

1937 – Abraham Larsen purchase of factory ship Sir James Clarke Ross, renaming it Uniwaleco

1921 – Union Whaling resumes operations

1842 – Norwegian Missionary Society founded in Stavangar

GÅ HJEM

1932 – Premier Whaling Company merges with Union Whaling Company

1809 – Svend Foyn born on the island of Nøtterøy near Tønsberg, Norway

1910 – Consolidation of Norwegian whaling monopoly and beginning of second period of Modern whaling (Norwegian II), largely brought about in radical technological innovation and the founding of the floating factory ship, and the invention of the Kvaener cooker

1952 – Abraham Larsen relinquishes management of Union Whaling Company to Unit Securities, a Johannesburg-based financial group

1844 - At the behest of the Norwegian Missionary Society (NMS), Norwegian Lutheran Missionaries arrive in Natal on 1^st January

1889 – Non-denominational missionaries affiliated with the Free East Africa movement arrive in Natal

1908 – First land based whaling station established in Durban, South Africa by Norwegians John Bryde, Jacob J. Egeland, and carpenter Abraham Larsen

1920 – Premier Whaling Company founded

1965 – A total of twelve gunners employed by the Union Whaling Company, all of Norwegian descent, representing the third generation of modern whaling, many of whom were the descendants of Union Whaling Company employees

1972 – Weil & Ascheim acquire controlling share of Union Whaling Company from Unit Securities. Union Whaling Company delisted, reserves liquidated, plans to soon put company into maintenance

1851 – Norwegian Missionary Society establishes a permanent missionary station in Empangeni, Zululand

1861 - Norwegian Missionary Society establishes a permanent missionary station in Eshowe, Zululand

1869 - Norwegian Missionary Society establishes a permanent missionary station in Mbonambi, Zululand

1894 – Death of Svend Foyn

1945 – Boom in whale oil prices with whale oil selling at $322/ton, three times its pre-war price

1992– SAPS (South African Police Service) establish the world's only 'ritual murder' task force, the Occult Related Crimes Unit

GÅ VEKK

1999 - Vincent Dibble and Bjarne Karlsen arrive in Durban, KwaZulu Natal

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