Winner of 2014 South Bank Sky Arts Award Announces 100-year-long Artwork in Oslo, Norway

BRISTOL, England, June 12, 2014 /PRNewswire/ --

Situations  announces a new public artwork by Scottish artist Katie Paterson which will unfold over the next 100 years in the city of Oslo, Norway. Every year from 2014 to 2114, a writer will be commissioned to contribute a new text to a growing collection of unpublished, unread manuscripts held in trust in a specially designed room in the new Deichmanske Public Library in Bjørvika until their publication in 2114.

Watch a short online film of Katie Paterson introducing Future Library

As Paterson prepares to announce the first writer, a forest of 1000 trees has been planted in Nordmarka, just outside Oslo. It will be 100 years before the trees are cut down to provide the paper on which the texts will be printed as a limited edition anthology of books - a Future Library for the city of Oslo - read for the first time in 2114. 

Known for works which make use of sophisticated technologies and specialist expertise to stage intimate, poetic and philosophical engagements between people and their natural environment, Paterson has envisaged this work in response to the development of Oslo's transformed former container port, as part of Slow Space, a programme of public art projects produced by Situations and commissioned by developer Bjørvika Utvikling.

Claire Doherty, Director of Situations, says, "Future Library challenges our preconceptions about where and when public art takes place. Just as the new development of Bjørvika causes us to reimagine the future of Oslo, so this work compels us to think about what we might tell a future reader about our time."

For Anne Beate Hovind, Bjørvika Utvikling's Project Manager, "Future Library is beyond what we could ever imagine or hope for. The longevity of this artwork will make it resonate with the people of Oslo for the next 100 years and it holds a treasure for future generations to enjoy."

The first writer to contribute a text for Future Library will be announced in September 2014, with the handover of the first manuscript marked by a special event a year later.

Sign up to hear in September of the first author contributing to Future Library and follow http://www.futurelibrary.no  online for added content.

NOTES TO EDITORS 

Conceived by Katie Paterson- winner of the Visual Arts category of the 2014 South Bank Sky Arts Awards, Future Library is produced by Situations, commissioned by Bjørvika Utvikling and managed by the Future Library Trust. Supported by the City of Oslo, Agency for Cultural Affairs and Agency for Urban Environment.

Guiding the selection of authors is the Future Library Trust, whose trustees include artist, Katie Paterson; Literary Director of the Man Booker Prize, Ion Trewin; Publishing Director of Hamish Hamilton, Simon Prosser; former Director of the Deichmanske Bibliotek, Liv Sæteren; Publishing Director of Forlaget Press, Håkon Harket; Editor-in-Chief of Oktober Press, Ingeri Engelstad; Director of Situations, Claire Doherty and Bjørvika Utvikling's Project Manager for the Slow Space Programme, Anne Beate Hovind.

Katie Paterson has also created a limited edition artwork - a certificate that entitles the owner to one complete set of the texts printed on the paper made from the trees after they are fully grown and cut down in 2114.

Works from Future Library will be presented as part of Ideas, a solo exhibition by Katie Paterson taking place at Ingleby Gallery opening in Edinburgh on 27 June as part of the Scottish nationwide project GENERATION. Ideas will be accompanied by a summer-long performance of her 2008 work Earth-Moon-Earth at Jupiter Artland, Edinburgh, as part of the Edinburgh Art Festival (31 July to 31 August).

NOTES TO EDITORS  CONTINUES, CLICK TO VIEW & DOWNLOAD PRESS RELEASE IN FULL

http://www.futurelibrary.no/Future_Library_Press_Release.pdf

SOURCE Situations