OPEN CALL: KORO-Public Art Norway Call For Artists To Design National Memorial

In commemoration of the victims of the terror attacks of July 22, 2011, Norway will establish a national memorial in connection with the new Government Quarter in central Oslo. KORO—Public Art Norway invites artists and architects to submit entries to an international open call.

Application deadline: 1 November 2023, 1 pm (cet)

Background
The bombing in Oslo and the massacre on the island of Utøya on July 22, 2011 were the worst terrorist attacks in modern Norwegian history. Eight people were killed in the Government Quarter in central Oslo, and 69 were gunned down on Utøya, an island outside the capital that is the historic home of a summer camp organised by the Norwegian Labour Party’s youth wing (AUF). Most of the victims were young people. Many more were injured and subjected to life-threatening danger, both in the Government Quarter and on Utøya. The damage was enormous.

The attacks were politically motivated, carried out by a Norwegian right-wing extremist targeting democratic institutions, the Labour Party in particular, and politically involved youth. The terrorist’s atrocities lack precedent in Norwegian history.

In 2012, the government decided to establish two official memorials, one in connection with Utøya, the other in the Government Quarter in Oslo. The permanent memorial at Utøyakaia, the mainland berth for the ferry to Utøya, opened in the spring of 2022. A temporary memorial opened in the Government Quarter in 2018, which the permanent memorial resulting from this process will replace.

The project
The Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development (KDD) has commissioned KORO to develop a preliminary project for the permanent national memorial in the Government Quarter in central Oslo.

The government has set off an area for the memorial within the Johan Nygaardsvolds plaza. At the foot of the historic Høyblokka building, the area is close to where the bomb was detonated and to where the entrance to the new July 22 Centre, a national remembrance and learning centre dedicated to the legacy of the attacks, will be.

The commission includes certain frameworks for the memorial, including that it should be accessible 24 hours a day, that it should be a suitable environment for commemorative events, and that the names of the 77 victims shall be part of the remembrance site. KORO’s website has more information on these prerequisites.

The preliminary project will be carried out as an open call for expressions of interest, followed by a subsequent two-stage art competition for selected artists and architects. The winning proposal will be chosen by an interdisciplinary jury consisting of experts from the fields of art and memory studies as well as persons from relevant interest groups and affected persons.

Memorials and Society
The process towards realizing the memorial will involve the public, and KORO will facilitate open events with the aim of supporting public discussions and critical discourse around the histories and possibilities for memorials today. The conversation series “Memorials and Society: expectations, negotiations and artistic articulations” will be a forum for professionals in the fields of public art and memory work to share knowledge with the public and the jury.

The first event will take place on September 21, 2023 with contributions by Mathias Danbolt, Jørgen Watne Frydnes, Trude Schjelderup Iversen, Mari Magnus, Camille Norment and Mechtild Widrich. The events will also be streamed and documented. As part of this series, in June 2024, KORO will host a seminar where the selected artists and architects in the competition will be expected to present their proposals in a public setting.

Progress
September 18–November 1, 2023: open call for expressions of interest

December 2023: Selection of up to ten artists for competitions first phase

June 2024: Selected artists share their proposals with the jury and the public

September 2024: Up to three proposals selected to move on to stage two

Spring 2025: The winning project selected

A date for the completion of the memorial is not yet set. When a winner proposal is selected, phase two of the process will commence, and a plan for further progress and finalisation will be decided.

View more information and submission guidelines here.