Author: sina@upnorthfilm.no

Event

12 November, Album release of “Qaf” by Ghawgha @Nasjonal jazzscene, Oslo

Post author By sina@upnorthfilm.no
Post date December 1, 2024

Ghawgha - Qaf album cover

12th of November, Album release of “Qaf” by Ghawgha at Nasjonal jazzscene in Oslo

On the 12th of November, Ghawgha will release her album “Qaf” at Victoria Nasjonal Jazzscene in Oslo. “Qaf” can be translated as a place of refuge, or an inner home where one meets one’s true self.

The album is produced by OK World in cooperation with LIDIO/Safemuse. The founder and former general manager in Safemuse, Jan Lothe Eriksen, has since its inception, been passionately involved in the project. With a dedicated and talented group of artists and production team, this beautiful and important album is finally ready to be shared with the world.

The artists Anja Lauvdal and Marianna Sangita A Røe, who feature on the album, will be joining Ghawgha on stage for the release concert.

— Ultimately, “Qaf” is a quest for finding home, identity, and humanity; perhaps the place we all belong to and are seeking the peace hidden within these sounds and experiences.

Ghawgha

Here are Ghawgha’s reflections on “Qaf” and the background for the album:

— The album “Qaf” is not just a musical work for me; it reflects years of search, observation, and experience. A journey that took me from my hometown to unfamiliar lands, traversing the streets where I grew up to the new borders I had to cross in search of a new identity. This album began as a personal journey but ultimately became the voice of those who share a similar experience; those who have faced loss and displacement in their quest for a home, and who continue to seek a new meaning for themselves.

— In this journey, I have often encountered the harsh realities of migration, displacement, and the endless search for a place called “home.” Each piece in “Qaf” reflects not only the moments experienced during my travels through Iran, Turkey, Greece, and Afghanistan, but also the stories of those who have lived through similar struggles and hopes. In tracks like “Sing for Me” and “Boat,” I revisit my memories; memories that have accompanied me from the streets of my hometown to the unfamiliar shores of the sea. “Sing for Me” evokes the longing for my childhood days and the feeling of being cast away from the environments that once were my home, while “Boat” portrays an eternal farewell in the heart of the night, an experience I have often heard through the voices of migrants and refugees, and has now become part of my own story.

— However, “Qaf” is not just my story. In fact, this voice goes beyond my personal experience. This album reflects lives and stories that we hear in every corner of the world; the stories of individuals who view the world through a similar lens and share the feeling of loss with me. Each piece, from “Kabul Beauty” to “Here,” is a collective voice; a voice I want to be heard, a voice for those like me, seeking a place they can call home.

— Ultimately, “Qaf” is a quest for finding home, identity, and humanity; perhaps the place we all belong to and are seeking the peace hidden within these sounds and experiences.

For more information about Ghawgha and her work, visit her website:

https://ghawgha.com

© Safemuse Organisation - Oslo/Norway

Event

21 September, “Dancing Into Fire” – Audiovisual performance @National Opera, Oslo

Post author By sina@upnorthfilm.no
Post date September 21, 2024

21st of September, "Dancing into Fire” - audiovisual performance by Oddrun Lilja, Zhanna Gladko, Kringkastingsorkestret (KORK), Fatemeh Ekshtesari, Paal Nilssen-Love og Rolf Wallin.

Fatemeh Ekhtesari, Oddrun Lilja and Zhanna Gladko. Photo: Aliona Paz

Music, poetry and visual art combine in a performance about freedom, hope and exile, told from a female perspective. Dancing into Fire is a sweeping, large-scale audiovisual performance where the right to liberty and self-expression and the sacrifices it may involve, are urgent topics. At the heart of Dancing into Fire lies the experience of three female artists from very different political backgrounds: Islamic theocracy, patriarchal dictatorship and idealistic social democracy.

A jail sentence hangs over Iranian poet Fatemeh Ekhtesari. Visual artist Zhanna Gladko left Belarus after finding it impossible to work as a female artist in a deeply patriarchal environment where culture is heavily censored. Zhanna lives in Norway supported by the organisation Safemuse, an organisation working for artists that have been threatened, persecuted or censored, Fatemeh is a City of Refugee artist in Lillehammer through ICORN. Guitarist /composer Oddrun Lilja grew up in the comparatively safe social reality of Iceland and Norway, but travelling the world with her music has opened her eyes to the limitations on self-expression that her peers experience elsewhere. She has created the music together with composer Rolf Wallin.

Performed by Kringkastingsorkestret and soloists, Dancing into Fire is a tribute to all artists who are persecuted for their work.

Saturday, 21 September, at 17:00–18:00 – Den Norske Opera & Ballett
https://www.ultima.no/en/dancing-into-fire

© Safemuse Organisation - Oslo/Norway

News Event

14 September, Concert by Pouya Pour-Amin at the Ultima festival @Trekanten, Oslo

Post author By sina@upnorthfilm.no
Post date September 14, 2024

Safemuse is a non-profit organization dedicated to the fight for artistic freedom.

14th of September, Concert by Pouya Pour-Amin for Ultima Oslo Contemporary Music Festival at Trekanten in Oslo

Pouya at Ultimafestivalen / Photo: Nabeeh Samaan

A special club night for the head as well as the feet. In a commission from Ultima and the Trekanten club venue, Norway’s Fakethias (aka Mathias Humlen) will play with visuals by Felix Scheele. Following a Spellemann prize nomination for his 2023 album Core Echo, Fakethias has become increasingly interested in combining digital noise with live instruments, and enhancing the specific qualities of the space where he is performing, such as the modernistic concrete architecture of the Trekanten-building.

The night also includes a set by Iranian musician Pouya Pour-Amin, making his Norwegian debut. Pour-Amin is a composer, multi-instrumentalist and actor from Tehran, Iran. His harrowing album of abrasive electronic meditations, Prison Episodes, from 2019, explored the experiences of a political prisoner from incarceration to breaking point. The influence of drama and storytelling is evident in his solo album, “Prison Episodes,” where his passion for narrative comes to life. He has been residing in Hvitsten since June 2024 as part of the Safemuse Artist residency.

Saturday, 14 September, at 23:00–01:00 Trekanten
https://www.ultima.no/en/acute

© Safemuse Organisation - Oslo/Norway

Safe Residencies News

OPEN CALL – Oslo and Hvitsten Art Haven 2025!

Post author By sina@upnorthfilm.no
Post date June 13, 2024

OPEN CALL - Oslo and Hvitsten Art Haven 2025!

June 14, 2024

Artistic freedom of expression, solidarity and collaboration

In 2022 Safemuse invited for the first round of safe residency placements in the Norwegian capital, Oslo, in cooperation with Nordic Black Theatre. Two six month residencies open for artists from all over the world and from all artistic disciplines; censored, threatened or persecuted due to their artistic activity. This program continues this year, and two new residence artists are about to arrive in Oslo.

The Oslo Art Haven program is funded by the City of Oslo, and when initiating this program run by Safemuse, the Vice Mayor for Culture in Oslo, Omar Samy Gamas, said:
– We are doing this to support independent voices, and because diversity in the arts is what keeps it vibrant and alive. And we are doing it because freedom of expression is under pressure in many parts of the world.

This year we are now opening a new addition to our work for artistic freedom of expression, giving more endangered artists the opportunity to work in freedom, develop their art and build networks with motivated colleagues: Hvitsten Art Haven. This program, opening up for one additional six month residency pr. year, and is funded by the EU’s EEA program plus local and regional authorities. Hvitsten Art Haven is carried out in collaboration with “Hvitsten Salong”, an art festival institution some 50 km south of Oslo.

– We have been working hard to set up a well-functioning residency program that caters to the individual needs and aspirations of the artists who are selected to partake in the program. The response from organisations, institutions and individuals has been overwhelmingly positive and many have expressed an interest to collaborate with- or contribute to the initiative in various ways, says Jon Lundell, Safemuse’s residence coordinator.

OPEN CALL 2025
Now we open up for new applications. Deadline 14th of July 2024.

Please check out the details HERE

12 November, Album release of “Qaf” by Ghawgha @Nasjonal jazzscene, Oslo

Menu Close Safemuse – Safe Havens for Artists About Us What we do Our five pillars Our history Who we are Our members Media resources Contact Us News Safe residencies Residency programme Oslo Art Haven Hvitsten Art Haven How to apply Projects Safe Havens Conference Women’s network MoFA+ collaboration Salong på Salongen Artistic mobility Artistic

– Safe Havens for Artists About Us What we do Our five pillars Our history Who we are Our members Media resources Contact Us News Safe residencies Residency programme Oslo Art Haven Hvitsten Art Haven How to apply Projects Safe Havens Conference Women’s network MoFA+ collaboration Salong på Salongen Artistic mobility Artistic

“Qaf” – New album release from Ghawgha

Menu Close Safemuse About Us What we do Our five pillars Our history Who we are Our members Media resources Contact Us News Safe residencies Residency programme Oslo Art Haven Hvitsten Art Haven How to apply Projects Safe Havens Conference Women’s network MoFA+ collaboration Salong på Salongen Artistic mobility Artistic Freedom Week LIDIO SAFE Artists

About Us What we do Our five pillars Our history Who we are Our members Media resources Contact Us News Safe residencies Residency programme Oslo Art Haven Hvitsten Art Haven How to apply Projects Safe Havens Conference Women’s network MoFA+ collaboration Salong på Salongen Artistic mobility Artistic Freedom Week LIDIO SAFE Artists

“The Common Enemy” by Nikan Khosravi

Altyn Kapalova – A fearless advocate for feminist & queer art

21 September, “Dancing Into Fire” – Audiovisual performance @National Opera, Oslo

14 September, Concert by Pouya Pour-Amin at the Ultima festival @Trekanten, Oslo

OPEN CALL – Oslo and Hvitsten Art Haven 2025!

Når kunsten er å gjøre motstand

Skal UDI ødelegge for kunsten?

I hope to rediscover freedom of speech

© Safemuse Organisation - Oslo/Norway

News

Safemuse has been evaluated: VISA PROCESSING THE GREATEST CHALLENGE

Post author By sina@upnorthfilm.no
Post date September 27, 2023

Safemuse has been evaluated:

VISA PROCESSING THE GREATEST CHALLENGE

September 27, 2023

Report cover photo: Ghawgha Taban, guest artist in the City of Harstad (Photo: Knut Utler)

The evaluation praises the way Safemuse work with censored, threatened and persecuted artists from all over the world, but we are criticized for not marketing ourselves as an organisation. We are therefore using this opportunity to draw attention to what we are doing by publishing this evaluation.

Safemuse has run its business for 10 years this year, and an external evaluation of the organisation’s operations has now been carried out. Here are some keywords:

– The biggest challenge for Safemuse is Norwegian Immigration’s (UDI’s) processing of visa applications for guest artists from countries outside Europe, where UDI sees a risk that the return requirement will not be met. This practice violates Norway’s obligations under the UNESCO Convention on Cultural Diversity (2005), and the secretariat is forced to spend a disproportionate amount of time on follow-up and political work to change this practice.

A few more findings:
– deliver very good results, and they more than deliver on their main goal of creating safe work opportunities for persecuted artists
– the guest artists benefit greatly from the residency
– the guest artists are integrated into Safemuse’s wide network in a way that makes it possible for the artists to find fruitful collaborations and income opportunities long after the residency is over
– in a special class, also internationally

Nicolai López, Carlos David Catun Quintano «Gato», Piero Issa: “Stories of (not) coming home” (Photo: Frode Henriksen/riddu.no)

From the Summary of the report

Safemuse celebrated its 10th anniversary of creating important safe havens for persecuted artists in May 2023 (…) Safemuse consistently delivers very good results, and that they more than deliver on their main goal of creating safe work opportunities for persecuted artists.

The routines for announcements, process for selecting guest artists and preparation of the artists’ stay before arrival work very well and are experienced by the guest artists as transparent. The secretariat is not only described as efficient and competent, but also deeply personally committed. With their own experience as artists, they bring a unique understanding of the guest artists into the dialogue and create trust among both the guest artists and the collaboration partners. In addition, Safemuse actively uses its broad networks within the art and cultural scene to provide the artists with arenas and contacts that stimulate the artistic development of the guest artists. The close follow-up before, during and after the residencies, together with the activation of relevant networks, is highlighted as Safemuse’s most important success criteria and places the organization in a class of its own, also internationally.

Safemuse delivers very well on its strategic goals (…) The biggest challenge for Safemuse is UDI’s processing of visa applications for guest artists from countries outside Europe where UDI sees a risk that the return requirement will not be met. This practice violates Norway’s obligations under the UNESCO Convention on Cultural Diversity (2005), and the secretariat is forced to spend a disproportionate amount of time on follow-up and political work to change this practice.

Abazar Hamid and Knut Reiersrud at the Safemuse 5-year concert. (Photo: Knut Utler)

Another clear challenge is the future follow-up of an ever-growing number of guest artists after their stay. The commitment and flexibility shown by the secretariat, which makes the residencies so valuable, draws more resources than the secretariat actually has. It will be a real dilemma to create routines to bring the deliveries more in line with the actual commitments Safemuse has taken on, without at the same time losing their strongest advantage; the personal commitment.

Safemuse is very relevant to Norwegian cultural and human rights policy and has a good reputation among its donors. Through good and systematic network building, Safemuse has managed to bring together art and human rights environments (…) Safemuse thus has a great potential for recruiting new members and can advantageously take measures to increase its visibility in relevant environments, including political ones.

“The Sea Monster”, Saitip Majewska, 2023. Saitip was a residence artist at Hvitsten Art Haven in 2023 – from an Art Walk during the Hvitsten Salong art festival. (Photo: Cronje Strøm)

The evaluation has been carried out by Scanteam in collaboration with Conow, and financed by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Read the full report here (in Norwegian)
HERE

12 November, Album release of “Qaf” by Ghawgha @Nasjonal jazzscene, Oslo

“Qaf” – New album release from Ghawgha

“The Common Enemy” by Nikan Khosravi

Altyn Kapalova – A fearless advocate for feminist & queer art

21 September, “Dancing Into Fire” – Audiovisual performance @National Opera, Oslo

14 September, Concert by Pouya Pour-Amin at the Ultima festival @Trekanten, Oslo

OPEN CALL – Oslo and Hvitsten Art Haven 2025!

Når kunsten er å gjøre motstand

Skal UDI ødelegge for kunsten?

I hope to rediscover freedom of speech

© Safemuse Organisation - Oslo/Norway

Safe Residencies News

OPEN CALL – Oslo and Hvitsten Art Haven 2024!

Post author By sina@upnorthfilm.no
Post date June 1, 2023

OPEN CALL - Oslo and Hvitsten Art Haven 2024!

June 1, 2023

Artwork by Zhanna Gladko

Artistic freedom of expression, solidarity and collaboration

OPEN CALL 2024
Now we open up for new applications. Deadline July 1st.

Please check out the details HERE

12 November, Album release of “Qaf” by Ghawgha @Nasjonal jazzscene, Oslo

“Qaf” – New album release from Ghawgha

“The Common Enemy” by Nikan Khosravi

Altyn Kapalova – A fearless advocate for feminist & queer art

21 September, “Dancing Into Fire” – Audiovisual performance @National Opera, Oslo

14 September, Concert by Pouya Pour-Amin at the Ultima festival @Trekanten, Oslo

OPEN CALL – Oslo and Hvitsten Art Haven 2025!

Når kunsten er å gjøre motstand

Skal UDI ødelegge for kunsten?

I hope to rediscover freedom of speech

© Safemuse Organisation - Oslo/Norway

News

Wrocław Institute of Culture/ Hvitsten Salong/ Safemuse residency project

Post author By sina@upnorthfilm.no
Post date May 31, 2023

Wrocław Institute of Culture/ Hvitsten Salong/ Safemuse residency project

May 31, 2023

Art walk at Hvitsten Salong. (Photo: Hvitsten Salong)

MEET THE ARTISTS OF “WHOSE VOICES ARE HEARD”

We are pleased to announce that we are inviting 12 minority artist living in Poland and Norway and one artist from outside the EEA/EU to participate in the residency exchange “Whose voices are heard?”. This by the decision of our selection committee consisting of representatives of our partners Wrocław Institute of Culture and Hvitsten Salong, plus from Safemuse,.

In 2023 we will organize 13 artistic residencies: six artists going to Wroclaw from Norway, and seven coming to Hvitsten, thanks to the support of EEA funds under the Culture Program. The main goal of the project is to contribute to equalize the chances and visibility for minority artists. A safe and comfortable place to work, where there will be room for providing questions, exchanging thoughts , cooperate, develop network and get inspired.

The design of the residency program focuses on support functions, and thus on building the value of artistic action and collaboration. In this process, the artists coming to Hvitsten will be accompanied by the curator and Safemuse residency coordinator Jon Lundell and coordinator Maria Waagbø, and in Wrocław by the curator Agata Ciastoń. The purpose of the curators and coordinator is to strengthen the residence artists in their new environment, to suggest ideas and solutions and, together with the artists, develop and implement new artistic work.
An important element of the program will be the presentation of works in Norway during the art festival Hvitsten Salong 2023 and the exhibition planned for the autumn in Wrocław.

Who was interested in participating in the program in Hvitsten?
During the month-long open call, applications came from large urban centers such as Wrocław, Warsaw, Poznań and Katowice. There were also applications from the area of Lower Silesia (outside Wrocław). Artists represented various fields of art, primarily visual arts (sculpture, painting, ceramics, glass, socially engaged art, eco-art), performative arts and photography. There were also portfolios of people looking for their creative path or adapting them to a more site-specific context. The applications represented great openness to experiment, flexibility in action to co-create a safe space for art.

Who will go to Hvitsten?
Out of over 140 applications from artists living in Poland, we selected six artist representing various visual arts, such as photography, sculpture, textiles, illustration and new media, and one artist from the open call fort a residency placement organized by Safemuse. Chosen artists have repeatedly emphasized their desire to create projects in harmony with nature, referring to the relationship between man and the natural environment.

Here are the participants of the residency in Hvitsten, Norway:

Anastasia Jechorek / Taso Pataridze (Tbilisi, Georgia)
Georgian intermedia artist active in Poznań and Leipzig. She draws inspiration from the weaknesses of man in the modern world suffering from information overload and rapid development of technology. Anastasia’s works deal mainly with the gloomy aspects of the new reality. Presenting a vision of the future, she often uses photography, changing its traditional forms and other media.

Dawid Puszyński (Poznań, Poland)
Graphic artist, sculptor and educator. The portfolio of the artist based in Poznań includes projects of spatial activities and traditional media. His works often touches on the sphere of the human figure, its transformations and adaptations to existing situations, analyzing the chaos of modernity and pop culture transformations. During the residency, he wants to create a sculpture/installation, directing the audience to reflect on the exclusion and isolation of LGBTQ+ people.

Kate Ngan Wa Ao (Macau)
Kate comes from Macau and has been living in Poland, in Wrocław, for eight years. Her work is inspired by different visual cultures, childhood memories, issues of racial identity, and the complex issues of post-colonialism and irredentism in Macau. She often transforms and remakes archives, photographs and everyday objects, combining different materials and cultural symbols to discover intricate meanings in the process. During her Norwegian residency, she wants to deconstruct the question “where do I come from?”; is it a national concept or an individual experience? The artistic process will be connected with dialogues, locally written answers, as well as stories of collections of locally found objects that carry the idea of identity. As a result, we can expect an installation in an engaged art form.

Saitip Majewska (Nakhon Si Thammarat, Thailand)
Saitip is a PhD student at the Academy of Fine Arts in Wrocław. She uses her work for art therapy, focusing on the interactivity of art and connecting people. Her activities on the borderline of ceramics, drawing, graphics, sculpture and artistic installations, focus on experiencing through the sense of touch. She often works with textiles. They are flexible, susceptible to changes, deformations, have shape memory, and their materialism gives many messages. Giving fabrics new forms, it lures recipients with softness, color, and ideas. In this way, she offers new experiences to those interacting with her art.

Oleksandra Balytska (Kiev, Ukraine)
Ukrainian graphic designer and illustrator. She has been passionate about drawing since she was a child, although at the time she thought it was just a hobby, an extra job. After obtaining her master’s degree at the Academy of Fine Arts in Wrocław, she began illustrating books and magazines. Her visual world is characterized by surreal figures, distorted human silhouettes and pastel colors. She experiments with proportions without breaking the rules of composition and color theory. Oleksandra’s drawings resemble movie scenes.

Viktoriia Toofan (Dnipro, Ukraine)
Viktoriia is a Visual artist, who lives and work in Wroclaw. Graduated with a master’s degree in painting in 2019 at Eugeniusz Geppert Academy of Fine Arts in Wrocław. She explores the possibilities offered by language as a response to a profound sense of alienation, which she shares with deaf persons. Tofan uses embroidery as well as a wide variety of materials and techniques in her work.

One additional from the open-call by Safemuse.
Due to the security of the artist, the artist’s identity cannot be revealed before the artist is safely arrived in Norway.

Who will go to Wroclaw from Norway
The following artists have been chosen for the exchange residency stay with Wrocław Institute of Culture in Poland from Norway: Kine Michelle Bruniera, Lill Yildiz Yalcin, Aliona Pazdniakova, Yachi Shian-Yuan Yang, Ghawga Taban and Ingrid Frivold Storli.

The residency program has already started in Poland for some of the artists, and will continue throughout the summer – early autumn this year.

12 November, Album release of “Qaf” by Ghawgha @Nasjonal jazzscene, Oslo

“Qaf” – New album release from Ghawgha

“The Common Enemy” by Nikan Khosravi

Altyn Kapalova – A fearless advocate for feminist & queer art

21 September, “Dancing Into Fire” – Audiovisual performance @National Opera, Oslo

14 September, Concert by Pouya Pour-Amin at the Ultima festival @Trekanten, Oslo

OPEN CALL – Oslo and Hvitsten Art Haven 2025!

Når kunsten er å gjøre motstand

Skal UDI ødelegge for kunsten?

I hope to rediscover freedom of speech

© Safemuse Organisation - Oslo/Norway

News Safe Havens

Safe Havens 2021: WHAT WE RISK FOR ART

Post author By sina@upnorthfilm.no
Post date December 20, 2021

Safe Havens 2021:
WHAT WE RISK FOR ART

December 20, 2021

Safe Havens is the annual summit of the artistic freedoms sector, convened each December since 2013. It provides a unique opportunity for artists and those who defend them to network and build collaborations across the entire globe.

After last year’s Safe Havens Global Stream 2020 focused on a necessary improvement of cultural and artistic policies, this year’s Safe Havens Conference 2021 over 2 – 4 December focused on the artists themselves and the challenges they face at this stressful time of pandemic and creeping authoritarianism. A web-based summit with the overarching theme of Recentering Artists’ Rights in a Time of Crisis.

The program had three key design components, each with its own objectives:

Artistic Interventions: starting with a Keynote Performance instead of a speech, and closing with a multi-disciplinary artistic event live at Sentralen, Oslo. In addition, the conference featured several Artistic Interventions with the aim of re-centering focus on the artists themselves.

“Hive” Discussions: convened by key grassroots regional organizations in Africa, Latin America, and the Middle East, and followed by an Asia Report.

Artists’ Round Tables: two in-depth engagements, one on perceptions of artistic freedoms and introducing the Majlis concept for the voices of the artists community, and the other on repetitive patterns of definitions of who is “at risk” in arts and culture.

To these were added two debates, one by on Risk, Safety and Wellbeing on managing our mental and spiritual health during current conditions, and the other on the Safe Havens Next Steps and the artistic freedoms sector.

The conference was a closed event for participants only, due to safety for partaking artists at risk. But the closing event was a live performance at the brand new ‘Kronesalen’ at Sentralen in Oslo, titled ‘What We Risk for Art’, featuring the following performing artists:

– Carlos Catun aka Gato (Guatemalan breakdancer)
– Yasmine El Baramawy (Egyptian musician, Oud performer, composer)
– Per Oddvar Johansen (Norwegian jazz percussionist/drummer, composer)
– Ahmed Tobasi (Palestinian actor, director and educator)
– Rezan Betula (Kurdish performance artist)
– Hamid Sakhizada (Afghan musician, dambura performer and singer)
– Naïd Mubalegh (French/Hazara, flute player)
Artistic director: Hooman Sharifi
Moderator: Ingeborg Moa (director of the Norwegian Human Rights Fund)

You can see the full stream of the event here

A big thanks to all making the Safe Havens Conference possible in 2021, and see you all next year.

Safe Havens Conference 2021 was produced by Safe Havens and Freedom Talks (SH|FT) with support by The Fanak Fund, Swedish Arts Council, Swedish Institute, Artists at Risk Connection and Safemuse.

More about SH|FT here

12 November, Album release of “Qaf” by Ghawgha @Nasjonal jazzscene, Oslo

“Qaf” – New album release from Ghawgha

“The Common Enemy” by Nikan Khosravi

Altyn Kapalova – A fearless advocate for feminist & queer art

21 September, “Dancing Into Fire” – Audiovisual performance @National Opera, Oslo

14 September, Concert by Pouya Pour-Amin at the Ultima festival @Trekanten, Oslo

OPEN CALL – Oslo and Hvitsten Art Haven 2025!

Når kunsten er å gjøre motstand

Skal UDI ødelegge for kunsten?

I hope to rediscover freedom of speech

Safe Havens

SAFE HAVENS & FREEDOM TALKS – MOVING ON

Post author By sina@upnorthfilm.no
Post date June 10, 2021

SAFE HAVENS & FREEDOM TALKS – MOVING ON

June 10, 2021

Photo Credit: Fredrik Elg

Safe Havens & Freedom Talks is now established as a new Swedish NGO, with Safemuse as fiscal sponsor, or step stone for the build-up of the new organization.

The now well-established international conference initiative Safe Havens is moving into a new phase. From being an annual conference on culture and human rights gathering annually around 200 participants in November/December from all over the world, from changing organizing host environments, Safe Havens is now moving on.

The initiative is now securing the continuity by forming its own administrative body, a non-profit NGO under the name Safe Havens & Freedom Talks (SH&FT).

In Safemuse we are proud and humble being asked to take on the role as fiscal sponsor for the period of establishment. Together with the SH&FT team we are developing the base for the annual conference and associated initiatives like Freedom Talks. And there is more to come – if donors join in.

Yesterday the conference team gathered to start planning for the coming event – probably as earlier, in November / December. Dates will soon be launched. Parallel we are working hard to secure the financial base both for the new NGO, for a new edition of the conference and other activities.

Fredrik Elg – Photo Credit: Sofia Elg

In a newly published article at the Bangladesh independent magazine Shuddhashar.com, the Safe Havens initiator and never resting driver, Fredrik Elg, describes the background and motivation for the Safe Havens initiative and development:

“The goal of all initiatives within the Safe Havens concept is to strengthen the international network, which advocates and protects artists and cultural creators at risk at all levels.

Read the Shuddhashar article HERE

12 November, Album release of “Qaf” by Ghawgha @Nasjonal jazzscene, Oslo

“Qaf” – New album release from Ghawgha

“The Common Enemy” by Nikan Khosravi

Altyn Kapalova – A fearless advocate for feminist & queer art

21 September, “Dancing Into Fire” – Audiovisual performance @National Opera, Oslo

14 September, Concert by Pouya Pour-Amin at the Ultima festival @Trekanten, Oslo

OPEN CALL – Oslo and Hvitsten Art Haven 2025!

Når kunsten er å gjøre motstand

Skal UDI ødelegge for kunsten?

I hope to rediscover freedom of speech

News

Safe Havens Global Stream 2020

Post author By sina@upnorthfilm.no
Post date December 18, 2020

Safe Havens Global Stream 2020: A BROAD VARIETY OF ARTISTIC INTERVENTIONS

December 18, 2020

Safe Havens is a once-a-year conference opportunity where arts and human rights activists share and use their experience. This year organized as a two-stage series of online seminars under the title Safe Havens Global Stream. Prioritising artists, smaller organisations and individuals working in the field of artistic freedom and human right.

Phase one of the conference took place between 10 and 13 November with a series of workshops. Then, based on issues and questions that came up during these workshops, phase two of the conference took place on 3 December 2020 with two round-table discussions.

A very fruitful and inspiring gathering all together, although this year as webinars on the internet. 164 registrations in November, and during the streamed round table-sessions 3. December we registered 250 visitors through the streaming partner HowlRound, 154 live views on Facebook, and 214 views on the conference Vimeo-stream. 18 nations with US on top including 17 US states.

Museum of Movement in Malmö, Sweden, was the main organizer (closing down 31 December due to a total budget cut from the Ministry of Culture in Sweden !) with Safemuse as close partner, and a long row of supporters within the Safe Havens international network.

A comprehensive report is on its way.

INSPIRING ARTISTIC INTERVENTIONS

Safemuse organized a bouquet of artistic interventions presented both during the November and December sessions.

And as a ‘Great Thank You’ to all Safemuse’s friends and partners for this odd year’s cooperation, and not the least a Grateful Gesture to all the artists we have collaborated with throughout 2020, we’ll bring you here the artistic interventions presented during Safe Havens Global Stream 2020. Some strong and beautiful artistic interventions from artists with very different backgrounds, but also a common ground in the urge to express themselves freely – in spite of great difficulties.

Hamid Sakhizada is a highly acknowledged musician from Afghanistan, specialized in the Hazara traditional music and the instrument dambura.
Hamid has a large fan base in Afghanistan and abroad, and has participated in the 2012 ABU Annual Song Contest and Afghan Star, the equivalent to the Idol song contest. He has performed in several countries, as well as having produced three albums.
Hamid’s all-consuming passion for the Hazara music has cost him dearly. The Hazara-people is a minority in Afghanistan, and due to his tireless efforts to preserve the tradition, Hamid became subject to a steady campaign of threats and violent harassment from groups who oppose the minority Hazara culture, as well as from religious traditionalists.
Hamid was forced to leave his country, and in 2016 he came as guest musician to Safe Music Haven Harstad, Norway, where he still lives and continues to perform his music openly and keeping the Hazara tradition alive.
The album Dai Raft was released in Nov 2019 (LIDIO/Safemuse). With help from an all-star team of musicians Hamid brings old traditions alive through new collaborations, interpretations and expressions. And his artistic intervention during Safe Havens Global Stream is from the release concert of Dai Raft.

Hamid Sakhizada/Dai Raft: ‘My heart’
Hamid Sakhizada (vocals and dambura), Harpreet Bansal (violin), Birger Mistereggen (jew’s harp and rope tensioned drum, percussion), Kaveh Mahmudiyan (tombak, daf and bandir)
Video by Freemuse/ Ingvar Kolbjørnsen

Hamid Sakhizada/Dai Raft: ‘Dambura’
Hamid Sakhizada (vocals and dambura), Harpreet Bansal (violin), Birger Mistereggen (jew’s harp and rope tensioned drum, percussion), Kaveh Mahmudiyan (tombak, daf and bandir)
Video by Freemuse/ Ingvar Kolbjørnsen

Mai Khoi is a Vietnamese celebrated pop star, singer and musician. She has been playing music professionally since she was 12 – in her father’s wedding band, and in 2010 she was awarded the Vietnam Television Song and Album of the Year Award, the highest award for song writing in her country. Her music is distinct in terms of its emotional range, her wide vocal register and the distinct tonal qualities of her voice.
Mai Khoi is somewhat of an anomaly for a celebrity in a Communist country like Vietnam, for having spoken out about sexuality, LGBT rights and violence against women. And in 2016 Mai Khoi broke international headlines after she became the first Vietnamese celebrity in history to nominate herself for the National Assembly on a pro-democracy platform.
After this she has been banned from performing in Vietnam, harassed and detained. Even the closed recording session of her first album after changing from pop icon to artist activist, with only invited friends and supporters in the studio, the police showed up and obstructed her work (‘Dissent’ LIDIO/Safemuse 2018).
The music Mai Khoi will perform during Safe Havens Global Stream is from a project that was planned premiered in Oslo in may this year. Together with Norwegian musician and composer/ music arranger Julie Ofelia Østrem Ossum the stage production ‘Mai Khoi Song Cycle’ is still in the making, with Mai Khoi in New York and Ofelia in Oslo – due to corona. So, this is a sneak peek into what will be on stage when the world again opens up after the pandemic.
Mai Khoi is for the time being an Artist Protection Fund Fellow.

Mai Khoi: ‘Lanninh’ & ‘Meow’
Mai Khoi (vocals and keybord), Julie Ofelia Østrem Ossum (cello)
Video by the artist/Safemuse.

Mai Khoi: ‘Love’ & ‘Just be Patient’
Mai Khoi (vocals and keybord), Julie Ofelia Østrem Ossum (cello)
Video by the artist/Safemuse.

Yasmine Baramawy is an Egyptian musician, sound artist, Oud performer and composer based in Malmö. She develops an original sound universe around her practice of the Oud (modified and augmented by a low string) but also around concrete music and other electronic experiments. She plays one of the world’s oldest instruments yet she manages to work with a curious blend of different approaches and genres like oriental, rock and classic music. She builds sound installations mingling with poetry and spoken word added to her Oud live manipulations, her approach is characterized by a permanent sound research exploring both the acoustic tradition of the oud and the adventurous and transversal sound practices. She composed and performed live with experimental and dance theatre plays and wrote scores for film production in the alternative scene in Egypt.

Yasmine Elbaramawy: ‘about to’
Yasmine Elbaramawy (oud)
(Egypt/Sweden)
Video by the artist/Safemuse.
Special thanks to Ahmed Hararah.
Thanks’ to Inter Arts Center Malmö for providing the studio facilities.

Confess is originally an Iranian heavy metal band. They are known for having faced charges in Iran for their music, in which they expressed anti-religious and anti-government views. Confess in Iran played together for 10 years, and released 2 albums, an EP and several singles.
Khosravi and Ilkhani were arrested in November 2015 and held in solitary confinement. At that time, they potentially faced execution after being charged with blasphemy for “writing Satanic music and speaking to foreign radio stations”. In July 2019, the Islamic Revolutionary Court of Tehran handed Khosravi and Ilkhani a combined sentence of 14 1⁄2 years in prison for the crime of playing metal. Khosravi was also sentenced to 74 lashes. Nikan managed to escape the country and landed in Safe Music Haven Harstad, and a while later, it also became possible for Arash to come to Norway. They have teamed up with by Norwegian musicians, and are developing their distinct and powerful metal music and are planning a tour in the spring of 2021.

Confess: ‘Evin’ & ‘I am your god’
Nikan Khosravi (vokals/guitar), Arash Ilkhani (keyboard/dj), Roger Tunheim Jakobsen (drums), Steffen Normark (guitar), Erling Malm (bass)
Video by the Normark Photography

Lavon Volski an icon of Belarusian rock music, a cultural figure, an author. His songs are anthems of those who dream of a democratic and free Belarus. Thus, Volski since many years has been on the regime’s infamous “black list” of artists never played on national radio and banned from performing. Lavon Volski has created several successful solo projects and he founded bands such as Mroya, N.R.M., Zet and Krambambulya, which all made a huge impact on the development of a Belarusian-speaking rock music and of Belarusian culture in general.
Lavon is awarded numerous musical awards, and he received the Freemuse Award 2016.

Lavon Volski: ‘Air Balloon’ & ‘Enemies of the people’
Lavon Volski (vocals/ guitar), Paval Tryputs (guitar), Siarhei Adamovič (bass), Paval Mamonaū (drums)
Film/video production: Kanstancin Siarohin, Valery Kandracjeu
Studio: EverestMedia by Paval Sinila

Safe Havens Global Stream 2020 organized by Museum of Movements in corporation with Safemuse, and with kind support from Fritt Ord, Norwegian Arts Council.

Full program here:
http://rorelsernasmuseum.se/publikationer/safe-havens-conference-global-stream

12 November, Album release of “Qaf” by Ghawgha @Nasjonal jazzscene, Oslo

“Qaf” – New album release from Ghawgha

“The Common Enemy” by Nikan Khosravi

Altyn Kapalova – A fearless advocate for feminist & queer art

21 September, “Dancing Into Fire” – Audiovisual performance @National Opera, Oslo

14 September, Concert by Pouya Pour-Amin at the Ultima festival @Trekanten, Oslo

OPEN CALL – Oslo and Hvitsten Art Haven 2025!

Når kunsten er å gjøre motstand

Skal UDI ødelegge for kunsten?

I hope to rediscover freedom of speech