On Valentine's Day, Friday, February 14, Sunbear releases their first album, "Catamaran". It's an album about love, flowing rivers and acceptance, about leaving your old iceberg behind. Or as Bruce Lee said: "Be like water"...

That same evening, Sunbear, in collaboration with Velferden, invites you to a release concert at Direktørboligen where they will play some songs from the album. It will be in trio format this time, with Hanna and Bjarke on vocals, keys and guitar, and Anders Maggaard who will come with his saxophone from Denmark.

Doors open at 7:00 PM
The concert starts at 8:00 PM

The address of Direktørboligen is Skogliveien 7, 4380 Hauge i Dalane. It is a large yellow/orange house and hard to miss.

There will be soft drinks and snacks, and free admission (donations welcome).

Here's a live video of a song from the album to warm up with

VELFERDEN PRESENTS #1 2025

We are starting the year by inviting you to a conversation with the guests who are currently on a production residency at Velferden. 

Come to Velferden and meet Emma Arnold & Qi Tan, Monday, February 10th at 6:00 p.m.

There will be light refreshments, and everyone is welcome. The event will be held in English. 

VELFERDEN PRESENTS is a series of events where artists and researchers present themselves and their work, creating a space for joint dialogue.

Time and place: the Velferden building at Sandbekk, February 10th at 6pm! Welcome!

Emma Arnold, PhD (b. Montréal, Canada) is an interdisciplinary artist, researcher, and writer working at the intersection of art and environment. She leads the Institute for Art & Environment, an independent research platform conducting projects with environmental, social, and urban themes. She blends academic research with artistic practice and is concerned with how environmental crisis can be understood through art. Her current research focuses on contemporary art and extractivism in industrial and post-industrial landscapes.

Emma’s work centres on photography as an immersive and investigative tool for place- and sense-making. Inspired by the setting of Velferden and the presence of tailings and landfill sites, Emma will use this opportunity to research, write, and create in a place deeply affected by mining activities. Emma plans to explore the otherworldly landscape of Sokndal through image-making, publish an article drawing on this research, and develop a series of photographs, illustrations, and prints that reflect the area’s unique geology and history.

emmaarnold.org

Institute for Art & Environment

Qi Tan (b. 1994, China) is an artist based in Oslo. In her work, Qi delves into nature’s mystique and the imaginative potential of digital world-building, bringing extraordinary creatures and complex mythologies to life. A graduate of the Oslo Academy of Fine Arts, she has recently exhibited at Atelier Nord (Oslo), Forum Box (Helsinki), Galleri Ask (Horten), Tegnerforbundet (Oslo), Studio 17 (Stavanger), Bærum Kunsthall, Østlandsutstillingen 2023, and Høstutstillingen 2022.

Qi's goal is to create sculptural installations that respond directly to the residency’s surroundings, incorporating found materials and video projections.

qitan.no

THE SAND SCHOOL

During the first half of September, an unusual experiment will take place at Velferden, as six visual artists, namely -Siri Austeen, Stefan Schröder, Agnes Mohlin, Naomi Fisher, Maiken Stene and Hans Edward Hammonds- will study the material qualities of a 7 million ton pile of sand that we have laying around in our backyard at Velferden. The sand is called tailings, and is an accumulation of waste materials from the production of the white pigment titanium dioxide in Sokndal Municipality.

During the two-week workshop The Sand School; we will carry out physical experiments on the sand by making art with it, trying to make glass out of it, sculptures, extract sound and metals, and generally study its internal composition in conference with experts from the mineral industry, and through talk with locals - whose walking shoes regularly fill with sand. Together, we will engage in a process-oriented exploration of tailings as a material for art production and a metaphor for broader environmental and industrial issues.

PROGRAMME SATURDAY 14 SEPTEMBER:

09:30 - Bus departs Stavanger bus terminal to Velferden - (reserve a free place by contacting us at +47 984 79 704)

11:15 - 11:30 - Presentation by Maiken Stene and Hans Edward Hammonds

11:30 - 11:45 - Introduction to the exhibition 'Hidden Stone' by Marte Johnslien

11:45 - 12:30 - Lunch at Velferden - (available for purchase)

12:30 - 13:30 - Artists talks by participants at the Sand School: Siri Austeen, Stefan Schröder, Agnes Mohlin, Naomi Fisher, Maiken Stene and Hans Edward Hammonds

13:30 - 16:00 - Workshop in groups with field walks and performance by Marie Ronold Mathisen and John Derek Bishop

16:00 - Bus departure from Velferden to Stavanger - (reserve a free place by contacting us at +47 984 79 704)

18:00 - Arrival in Stavanger

After the two-week exploration, The Sand School join forces with Jøssingfjord Vitenmuseum and the research project NorWhite, and welcome you to Sokndal for a two-day programme with an international symposium, exhibitions, performance and artist presentations September 13-14! The programme will be conducted in English to accommodate our international guests.

Details of the entire two-day event

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KHALED HABEEB & JOHN DEREK BISHOP PLAY CONCERT AT VELFERDEN MARCH 13TH AT 7:00 PM

John Derek Bishop appeared on Velferden in November 2023 with Bishop & Breistein where he played alongside saxophonist Inge Weatherhead Breistein.

Now he's returning with Khaled Habeeb (oud), a duo that combines Arabic folk music with electronic music (live sampling). They play improvised tones with roots from traditional Arabic music combined with ambient and experimental electronic music.

They have performed at Victoria National Jazz Scene (Oslo), Punkt Festival (Kristiansand), Riksscenen (Oslo), Sølvberget (Stavanger) and Folken (Stavanger).

https://bishop.no/habeeb

On March 13th they will play with us at Velferden - Welcome to the concert!

Doors open at 1830.
Concert start 1900.
Tickets cost 50 kroner (Vipps) and can be purchased at the door.
We have coffee and tea.

COME to VELFERDEN for a very special experience!

The concert is supported by Kulturdirektoratet