The PhD artistic research Alternative Histori[es]: A Place Where Something Happened has focused on narrative accounts of Norwegians who self-identify with a ‘multicultural and/or immigration background(s)’, to explore how their (hi)stories can be woven into the tapestry of the contemporary Norwegian public memory and story. In the words of King Harald V’s now most famous welcome speech during the Royal Couple’s Garden party (2016):
Above all, Norway is its people.
Norwegians come from North Norway,
Central Norway,
Southern Norway
and all of the other regions.
Norwegians have immigrated from Afghanistan,
Pakistan, and Poland, from Sweden, Somalia, and Syria.
It is fitting, perhaps, that following the King’s words, this artistic research project then asks how can the stories of all Norwegians be reflected in its public inscriptions, including stories of Norwegians who have immigrated from Afghanistan, Pakistan, Poland, Sweden, Somalia, and Syria?
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This reflection is structured in a way that makes it possible to follow how my thinking and practice have evolved throughout the project. It is meant to provide both practical and artistic developments, but also the ongoing reflective practice as a continual process, that is central to (my) nature of artistic research.
The reflection is divided into 4 major parts:
1) Introduction
2) Phase One: Collecting Stories
3) Phase Two: Making Monuments
4) Phase Three: Theatremaking
Throughout this reflection document, it is worth stressing that even though the last three phases will be differentiated, it is important to understand that in practice, they are not successive and not necessarily separate tasks, but processes running parallel. As we will see in the end, they intersect, overlap, and collapse into each other.
Since this is my reflection, I have chosen to call my collaborators and colleagues by their first names, as this feels more personal. Writing here about them and their enormous contributions to this project and me as an artist has felt like I was having an extended conversation with them across the table. It would feel strange then to call them anything else.
Notably, this reflection is also written in a conversational tone. For the most part, I have tried to draw on basic everyday language to avoid the trap of using unnecessary jargon. The reason for this choice is to make it accessible to a wider audience beyond the artistic research community anticipated to follow the project, but also as an attempt to make it feel like you were sitting with me as a witness to this unmasked, honest moment of reflection. As a playwright/director, I always strive to achieve the highest level of simplification possible, and my approach to developing this artistic reflection has been no different.