Preview: Nuart Festival 2009

Chris Stain

AM is very excited about Nuart 2009, one of the most celebrated annual street art festivals. Based in Stavanger, Norway, it has attracted some of the world’s finest over the years, including Herakut (07, 08) (interviewed), Chris Stain (interviewed) (08), Blek le Rat (07, 08), D*Face (06, 07, 08), Eine (07, 08), Slinkachu (07), Know Hope (interviewed) (08), Word To Mother (interviewed) (07, 08), Dotmasters (06, 07, 08), Logan Hicks (interviewed) (07), Nick Walker (interviewed) (06, 07, 08), M-City (07), Sten and Lex (08) and Zeus (08).

While past installments have had a very international flavor, 2009 is an all-Brooklyn affair starring David Choe, Swoon (interviewed), Skewville, Brad Downey, Leon Reid aka Darius & Downey, Chris Stain, Judith Supine, Logan Hicks, Graffiti Research Lab and Benjamin Wolf. Nuart opens on September 10th and runs through October 9th. Highlights this year include city-wide street work, screenings of New Brow and Beautiful Losers, panel debates, workshops by Chris Stain and Leon Reid at the local art school, public presentations by Logan Hicks and Brad Downey, and the many events associated with sister festival Numusic, which will celebrate its ten year anniversary.

Stavanger

This year’s festival will take place in and around Skur 2, a former warehouse centrally located on Stavanger Harbour. We are excited to hear that there will be more artwork than ever before this time around, both inside and outside the gallery space, as well as an increased focus on getting walls for the artists to paint on around the city.

Herakut

For those wondering why Nuart chose to spotlight Brooklyn this year, festival organizer Martyn Reed offers some insight into the historical connection between these two very different cities.

“Organized Norwegian immigration to North America began in June 1825, when several dozen Norwegian Quakers left Stavanger bound for North America on the sloop named “Restauration.” They arrived on the 9th of October – on the very date Nuart 09 will close, exactly 184 years later.

Norwegian Immigrants established their largest colony in Brooklyn. In its heyday, over 200,000 first generation Norwegians lived in the area, making Brooklyn second only to Oslo in size and population. Between 1825 and 1925, more than 800,000 Norwegians emigrated to North America—about one-third of Norway’s population. With the exception of Ireland, no single country contributed a larger percentage of its population to the United States than Norway. For almost 100 years, Norwegian was spoken in bars, shops and the streets of Brooklyn, and traces of the painted street and factory signs can still be found in around the borough.

With this in mind, we thought it only right that we should invite them back to Stavanger to get their own back.”

Chris Stain

Ian Cox has provided AM with a terrific selection of images from the 2008 event. Take a look at some of the fantastic work last year’s artists created and stay tuned for further coverage of 2009 as September draws near.

Know Hope

Herakut

Sten and Lex

Blek le Rat

Word To Mother

Zeus

All images courtesy of Ian Cox. See more of his coverage of Nuart 2008 here.