Barents Travel Diaries, Murmansk
04 May 2009, Murmansk, Norway Days 2009
We used the theme «Barents Travel Diaries»
for one of the Transborder Cafés under Barents Spektakel 2009 in Kirkenes. It was the first meeting for Kjartan Fløgstad and Viktor Erofeev. The writers had an interesting dialogue about litterature, about life on the border, about discovering new countries.
Five months later they meet again to continue their dialog on traveling, writing and borders.
This time KJARTAN FLØGSTAD will present his book “Pyramida – a portrait of an abandoned utopia” to the Murmansk audience together with his Russian translator Evgeny Shaulsky. Pyramida is a Russian mining settlement on Spitsbergen. It was abandoned in 1998 and is per today a real “ghost town”. Kjartan explores Pyramiden and discusses its past when it was “socialistic model town that was build to last for ages”, he studies town’s present as a “spectacular industrial ruin”; the book ends with a futuristic chapter in which Fløgstad launches idea of a cultural festival in the abandoned town.
The Russian writer VIKTOR EROFEEV will meet Murmansk audience for the first time. He will tell about his voyages to the far North, across physical and imaginary borders, as well as about his recent works and future plans.
Håvard Wiik – piano
Håkon Kronstad – saxophone
Ole Morten Vågan – contrabass
Håkom Mjåset Johansen – drums
Four of Norway´s most talented jazz musicians will present their fantastic and intense sound. Forget about the “Nordic cool” style and enjoy the expressivity of this wonderful improvisation!