AMP: Artists' Meeting Place and Resource Collective

Nordic Festival of Contemporary Art
Moss, Norway
2 September - 15 October

http://www.momentum.no

For press enquiries contact Ragna Kronstad, Head of Communications
(+ 47 93 49 74 25 / rk@momentum.no)

Momentum 2006 is the Nordic festival of contemporary art held in Moss in Norway. The exhibition includes 31 artists and artists’ groups from across northern Europe, and the majority of the works have been made especially for Moss. Many of them touch on the theme of absurdity – as reflected in the title of the exhibition, which comes from the writer Samuel Beckett.

The town of Moss is famous for its smell, derived from a paper factory, and Tue Greenfort has created a work in which he uses a byproduct of this factory to make ice cream. Many ex-industrial spaces in Moss are being re-developed, but Lara Almárcegui’s work moves in the opposite direction, preserving a piece of wasteland for a year. Ragnar Kjartansson is creating an ongoing performance in an old barn on the edge of town, acting out the life of a stereotypically miserable Scandinavian male. And in a reversal of the usual model for site-responsive works, Phil Collins has travelled to Kenya to create a bittersweet account of Norwegian aid projects in the country.

In its previous incarnations Momentum has been a festival of emerging Nordic artists, but in 2006 the event has been expanded to include a wider range of participants. The main exhibition is divided between the Moss Brewery, the long-established Gallery F15, and a number of outdoor sites. The festival also includes a number of independent projects and events.