Luleå Biennial 2020:
Time on Earth
21.11.2020~14.2.2020

Information regarding Covid-19

Last chance The Luleå Biennial 2020: Time on Earth

Wednesday February 10, 16~20 and Saturday February 13–Sunday February 14, 12~16
Galleri Syster is open. Group show with Augusta Strömberg, Susanna Jablonski and Ana Vaz.

Thursday February 11–Sunday February 14, 12~16
Havremagasinet länskonsthall in Bodenis open. Group show with Beatrice Gibson, Susanna Jablonski, Birgitta Linhart, Fathia Mohidin, Charlotte Posenenske, Tommy Tommie and Danae Valenza.

Saturday February 13–Sunday February 14, 14~18
The former prison Vita Duvan is open with an electro acoustic installation by Maria W Horn.

Saturday February 13, 15~19
The artist Markus Öhrn and the poet David Väyrynens sound installation "Bikt" is exhibited on the ice by Residensgatan in Luleå. Listen to older generations of Tornedal women and their testimonies.

Book your visit via Billetto. Drop in is possible as far as space allows.

For those of you who do not have the opportunity to physically visit the Luleå Biennale on site, a radio show including artist talks, sound works and specially written essays will be on stream on Saturday February 13–Sunday February 14. Visit our radio page here.

The exhibitions at Norrbotten's Museum, Luleå konsthall, Välkommaskolan in Malmberget and the Silver Museum are unfortunatly closed.

The Lion and the Monkey
Ida Börjel

Extract from “Miximum Ca Canny Sabotagemanualerna – you cutta da pay we cutta da shob” H//O//F, Moss, 2013. Translation by Jennifer Hayashida – published by Commune editions, Berkeley, 2016.

The Lion and the Monkey and the Tree

It was when all the animals lived together
the Monkey took a loan from the Lion and
the Lion was always asking for the money back
time and again the Monkey answered you will
get your money

one day the Lion turned to the Boss the Fox
mister Fox the Monkey has taken my money
even now he has not repaid me

all the animals were summoned to The Frequency
the Cow the Sheep the Goat the Rat the Hyena
the Buffalo and everybody else sat silent beneath
the tree and heard the proceedings
if the Monkey did not pay he would be eaten
by the Lion so read the verdict
it was the only way no one can
beat the Lion’s strength
the animals all knew to be afraid of the lion
and fear spread in The Frequency fear
sentenced the Monkey

if you do not pay all the animals spoke with one
voice the Monkey would be eaten everyone
was afraid

when the Fox the Boss saw the convicted Monkey
he did not like it that the Monkey would be eaten
he was not interested in this he said

you Monkey are sentenced to be eaten by the Lion
but you see the tree here at the center of The Frequency
I the Fox sentence you like everyone else so there is
consensus about that but you cannot eat
something with the tree in mind

and the Monkey understood the Fox and he climbed
the tree in The Frequency and all the animals
left The Frequency and scattered in the wind

and the Lion could not eat the Monkey up there

then even a child understands what it means
to borrow money another thing is that the Fox was not
so democratic in his view of the weak but that the Monkey
would suffer all his days in his refuge.

The Lion is king of everything. But in the crown of the tree
sits the Monkey. And so the Lion became the hungry one.

~

The Lion and the Monkey Who Pulled the Strings

Vladislav Surkov First Deputy Chief of
the Presidential Administration seated before the Lion
on TV your assessments are obviously correct
I would never dare to question them

the Lion sat down in the royal seat and counted
the dinner guests one he said and pointed with his
lion claw that’s me the Lion two that’s
the Wolf there who makes three with the Bear and
then the Monkey that’s four

the Lion an apparently perfect mix of
propaganda and showbiz the Lion
the central image at the heart of the show the Lion

an action figure on a tiger hunt the cool kid who
straddles a Harley but also
the housewives’ mouthpiece in the lament over
the cost of milk

the highlight of the program is when the Lion in a
televised ritual pillorying sits
eye to eye with his ministers how they
sweat and tremble with fear and shame for you
have betrayed me and your country says the Lion

the Lion thereafter divided the prey in four equal
parts I am King of the Lions so naturally I
get the first piece the next one is mine since I am
stronger and the third is mine since I am
braver than any of you as for the
fourth piece it is mine because it is
the last I need a proper meal

The Lion thinks he is always on the savannah,
even though he is cage-fed.

~

  • Ida Börjel (b. 1975) is a poet and translator based in Malmö.*

Radio 65.22 is an auditory cross section of the biennial’s theme and contents, which amplifies and makes accessible written texts, framed situations and artistic voices. Radio 65.22 also enables an encounter with chosen parts of the Luleå Biennial’s activities for those who cannot experience the biennial in situ.

With Radio 65.22, we want to inscribe ourselves into an experimental and exploratory radio tradition, where the media itself becomes a platform for our ideas on radio and its capacity to depict and mirror the world around us. The task of Radio 65.22 is to tell of reality, in further ways that may not be possible through the image or the text.

Under Fragments: Time on Earth you will find radio programmes and sound pieces in different genres and forms that reflect this year’s biennial in various ways. Spirit of Place is a touring series of literary conversations on language and place. The culture journalist Kerstin Wixe takes us along to places that have played a significant part in an author’s stories, or carries the story’s history. Woven Songs is a deepening series of radio programmes that accentuate singing, the voice and the role of storytelling in the creation of new world views and orders, produced in collaboration with Public Art Agency Sweden.

Listen, reflect, enjoy!