Shared Spaces is a hybrid between an exhibition and a performative event, and includes works which unfold in time and are activated by the body of the visitor to create multilayered, multisensorial experiences of space. The six site-sensitive projects by Knut Åsdam (NO), Maren Dagny Juell (NO), Mihai Pacurar (RO), Lundahl & Seitl (SWE), Stahl Stenslie (NO) and Emilia Tikka (FI) invite new ways of thinking about space beyond its physical and representational boundaries. Through active processes of virtualisation and actualisation, estrangement and familiarisation, they blur the distinction lines between physical and virtual, real and imaginary, immediate and remote spaces.

The ‘visual clutter’ of our day-to-day is replaced by a collection of otherwise neglected proprioceptive, auditive, haptic, and tactile stimuli. While a certain degree of immersion does occur, the visitor is never fully gripped by the display of a technological spectacle. Instead, technology is used to reintroduce us to the abilities of our bodies and stimulate modalities of connection. By the same token, the exhibition opens at nighttime.

Pushing the exhibition outside its usual spatial and temporal coordinates brings new modes of perception, sense-making and conviviality. In search of new modes of togetherness, the exhibition takes up an almost exhausted trope – shared spaces – complicating its meaning and breaking away from the current paradigm in which sharing space is understood as sharing ownership. It sets out to become a testing ground for one’s generative capacity to envision alternative social orders and collective practices in which boundaries are continuously redrawn, and roles are continuously renegotiated.

Curated by: Daniela Duca De Tey & Ana Maria Carabelea

Organised by Fundația Calina & Small Projects Tromso

Funded by: EEA and Norway Grants