Spider Tag + NesPoon. Up North Fest X BSA: Røst, Norway. UPN Dispatch 3

July 12, 2017 Artists, Interview

This is the third year for Northern Norway’s UPN Festival and this year it’s on an Island called Røst and includes a collection of artists eager to do site-specific and environmental works – one evolutionary development in the mural festivals that blossom throughout the world right now. This week BSA is proud to bring you images and interviews along with Urban Nation this year at UpNorth, where the seagulls never stop calling and the sun never goes down this time of year.

This year we tried to focus more on installations/sculptures than earlier years,” says Gøran Moya of UpNorth Festival, pointing to a discipline within the organic Street Art milieu that is sometimes overlooked but is elemental to the spirit of free expression that one often discovers in abandoned places. “Spidertag did his light installations in a time where there is 24 hours of daylight, but everything turned out amazing!”

Spidertag. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

He’s speaking of the glowing geometric shapes inside of an old barn structure by the sea which Spanish Street Artist Spidertag has focused on as an enclosed dilapidated stage for this installation.

He began his string art about a decade ago and BSA may have been one of the first to publish it actually, transforming and framing spaces in abandoned or neglected venues, bringing a workman’s toolbox and an alchemists zeal for new astral formations in places where most had given up.

Spidertag. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

Now he has been toying with this glowing string perhaps in the hopes that in six months when this place is purely nocturnal there will be a radiant reminder of the summer in Røst.

BSA: Can you tell us about the piece that you did for UpNorth?
Spidertag: I did 5 pieces in total; 4 interior and 1 outdoor. The challenge for me is that in summer in the north of Norway, there is no darkness, no night time. So, for my light installations it was a difficult…but I made it! And the wall will be turning on in a few month…

Spidertag. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

BSA: How would you describe the environment working in Røst?
Spidertag: Amazing location. The old and abandoned houses made of wood were perfect for my nails and also to contrast styles. Was a nice experience!

BSA: How are you challenging yourself as an artist right now
Spidertag: I continue to keep on developing; growing up and experimenting with my wires.

Spidertag. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Spidertag)

NesPoon. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

Poland’s NesPoon is bringing the decorative element of lace to this Norwegian island, an historical patterning that one may associate with hearth, home, and the finer practices of handicraft.

It is an unusual element in Street Art, though not limited to NesPoon (New York’s Hellbent comes to mind), bringing a sweetness to the urban landscape that befits a feminine character, rather than the hardcore testosterone infused hooliganism that the scene may like to portray about itself.

NesPoon. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

We met NesPoon in Moscow at the Artmossphere Biennale last year when she was doing an installation focusing on the so-called “Precariot”, the current worldwide worker class that is made to be insecure about their jobs, healthcare, shelter, food, future. So don’t think this stencil work is purely about decoration – more likely it is about asserting the feminine into public space and claiming the right to steer the dialogue and set the agenda.