Luleå Biennial 2022, Craft & Art
Artistic Director

Luleå Biennial 2022, Craft & Art, was hosted by Konstfrämjandet (The Peoples Movement for Art Promotion) Norrbotten and took place throughout the region from October 15, 2022 – January 15, 2023. Artistic directors, Onkar Kular and Christina Zetterlund expanded its contemporary art remit to include crafts of many types and aimed to sustainably represent the richness of creative activity of Norrbotten and beyond. The biennial was presented through three interconnecting formats of Exhibitions, Festival and Learning Room.

The biennial hosted Exhibitions at Luleå Konsthall, Norrbottens Museum, Galleri Syster, Pontusbadet and Havremagasinet Länskonsthall. Shaped through listening and learning with Norrbotten’s history and creativity, the biennial weaves together local stories with global questions to form threads emerging from Ice and Snow, Extractivism and Crafting beyond the wasteland.

Through installations and activities, invited practitioners and organisations to the biennial exhibitions included: Berit Kristine Andersen Guvsám, Aunesgården, Berit Berin, Liu Chuang, Silje Figenschou Thoresen, Tekeste Solomon Gebremariam, Gunvor Guttorm, Karin Keisu & Josse Thuresson, Korpilombolo Art Association, Laila Susanna Kuhmunen, MADAM Snickeri & Restaurering, Tomas Magnusson, Olof Marsja, Elena Mazzi, Erika Nordvall Falck, Helmer Osslund, Katarina Pirak Sikku, Julia Rensberg, Johannes Samuelsson, Susan Schuppli, Himali Singh Soin, Katarina Spik Skum, Søstrene Suse, Rosa Taikon, Post Workers Theatre, Georg Tiller, Mikhail Tolmachev, Rosa Tolnov Clausen, Ida Isak Westerberg, Doris Wiklund and Lena Ylipää.

The biennial opened with a Festival stitching a relational map of geographic connections through workshops, exhibitions, seminars and performances across regional venues and organisations. Here the biennial has attempted to decentralise its normal operation to go to places where craft and art practices in-situ tell their own compelling stories. Collaborators included Berits Straw Craft Museum at Sörbyn-Sundsnäs Homestead Museum, Jukkasjärvi Church, Kiruna City Library where works from Kiruna Municipality Art Collection are exhibited, Korpilombolo Art Association, Sameslöjdsstiftelsen Sámi Doudji in Jokkmokk. The Sami Center for Contemporary Art, Karasjok, Norway.

Recognising the expansive geography of Norrbotten, the Learning Room was a testing ground to generate new insights and knowledge with crafters, artists, and regional organisations. Operating both as a physical and virtual space the Learning Room invited guests to artist talks, making circles and workshops. The Learning Room was made possible through collaborations with Aine Art Museum, Garland Magazine, Haparanda Municipality’s Cultural Department, KUBN (Culture organisation for young people and children in Norrbotten), Norrbotten’s Crafts Advisor and Resurscentrum för konst.

Throughout the biennial the Learning Room screened loaned and commissioned films by filmmaker Karl-Oskar Gustafsson,Gulahallan ja birgen produced by Luleå Biennial in collaboration with Berit Kristine Andersen Guvsám, Gunvor Guttorm and Laila Susanna Kuhmunen and Good luck with your car! in collaboration with Region Norrbotten's Craft are available online. Loaned films included, Duoji máttut – Vætnoen maadtoe – Duoje máddoinformation and A conversation about leather tanning produced by Sameslöjdstiftelsen Sámi Duodji.