GRINI AND THE FUTURES OF NORWAY
a 45 min. agit-prop performance
by Rose Hammer for osloBIENNALEN
What is at stake when history is written? The most defining moments in a nation’s history often unfold in a few minutes, are decided by a handful of people, behind closed doors, removed from public institutions or momentous historic speeches in public arenas.
Rose Hammer is a collective artistic persona who has set out to draw attention to this phenomenon, specifically those key moments that have shaped the Norway of today and its possible futures. For osloBIENNALEN Rose Hammer will produce a series of performances – entitled National Episodes – in the Brechtian Lehrstücke (lesson play) tradition. These will revisit low-key but transcendent episodes in Norwegian history, such as the mythical meetings that took place at Grini prison camp Barrack 12 during the Nazi occupation of Norway. It is a historical fact that networks of political prisoners during the WWII shaped what Norway has become today. Hence the title of this first National Episode: Grini and the Futures of Norway.
After the Grini narrative, Rose Hammer will move on to other episodes, both mythical and historic, until completing a trilogy of 3 episodes.
Episode 1 will be performed at the biennial opening on 26 May.
Read the script here.
Sing the songs here.
Rose Hammer 