Take a look at this years Programme Launch Video and get a feel of what awaits you in March – Live&Online. The video is edited by intern in Borealis Émilie Fanor-Fontaine and the music is by composer and drummer Øyvind Skarbø for PSST2 –  the commission he’s currently working on with Øyvind Hegg-Lunde and Fredrik Rysjedal for Borealis 2021.

2020 will soon be over, and we feel ready to step into the New Year – with a festival! We were the last festival in Norway that could happen as normal before Corona turned our life upside down. Since then we have looked under every stone to find the best ways to arrange a festival in a world where excessive socialising is not recommended. We are ready for the challenge and are super excited to invite you to our festival in 2021! There will be live concerts and delicious physical listening experiences, but also a lot of goodies you can enjoy through the screen, whether you’re at home in Bergen or wherever you are in the world.

Borealis 2021 will be:
Safe & Weird
Live & Online
Home & Away 
Kind & Wild

The programme for Borealis 2021 will be released in January together with a brand new website – we’ll let you know when it’s ready for you to explore. We wish you a very Happy Christmas whether you’re taking a proper break, working, or if you’re closing your eyes until the new year is finally here.

Digital hugs and a Happy Christmas from all of us in the Borealis Team ❄️

In the sixth episode of our podcast Borealis Samtale you can hear composer Jana Winderen in conversation with Knut Korsbrekke from the Norwegian Institute of Marine Research and Geir Pedersen from the Christian Michelsen Research Institute about what they have learned through listening underwater. Jana Winderen works with a sound fixated and creative practice while the researchers work with a computer driven scientific research based project. Listen to Jana and the marine biologists discuss to what degree their work overlaps, and the importance of listening to understand what is happening under the ocean’s surface.

Christmas holiday is right around the corner. Although Christmas food is yummy we also need some food for the soul – which the holiday actually gives time for.

We recommend you listen to Beatrice Dillon’s debut album Workaround which is listed on The Guardian’s Best Albums of 2020.

Maybe you also need to rebel a bit during the holidays – in that case you can drop by Galleri Entrée where artist Lin Wang has transformed the gallery into a tattoo shop: Exotic Dreams Tattoo Shop. You pay in personal stories and get a totally real tattoo in return.

If you wish you can then continue over to Bergen Kunsthall where the exhibition Basically by Nikima Jagudajev is on. This is an ongoing live event where you’re invited to experience choreography, rehearsal, discussion and staging of movement based work. The exhibition is made specifically to work with Covid regulations.

If you’re struggling with Christmas presents for your artistic friends, what about giving an artist book? Bergen Art Book Fair is selling books online this year. We can for instance recommend Can You Make The Band Name Bigger? – The Poster Art of Luke Drozd, a result of 15 years of work with poster design for the music industry.

The german music magazine POSITIONEN features a review of Borealis 2020 in its newest issue! A much needed reminder that beautiful things happened in 2020… 

“In the city of Bergen, surrounded by the rugged fjord landscape of Western Norway, the festival for experimental music was dedicated to the most urgent and topical social issues, something I have never seen at other music festivals. In the 5 days of the festival trending topics such as the climate crisis, racism, inclusion and gender issues were not sketched out superficially, but had actually influenced the details of the festival planning.”

Borealis 2021 is on its way! We were the last festival in Norway to be held before the lockdown in 2020, and since then we have all had a different year. The situation has influenced us to think in new, local and sustainable ways. We have planned for a festival that can take place even under strict infection control measures, with a digital and physical, indoor and outdoor presence. The volunteers are an important part of what we know as the Borealis atmosphere, and we are very happy that we’re able to invite you along this year too!

Read more and register as a volunteer!

In the newest episode of our podcast Borealis Samtale Australian curator Joel Stern discusses the intersection of the sonic and the political, as explored through the Australian curatorial platform Liquid Architecture. Framed by the context of two fundamental and ongoing struggles in Australia – for the recognition of Indigenous sovereignty, and for the rights of refugees in detention – Joel Stern shares ideas and works by artists participating in the curatorial project Eavesdropping, and opens a broader discussion not just about sound, but about the politics, ethics and responsibilities of listening. 
Listen and learn on our Soundcloud –
or wherever you find you podcasts!