about the Project

Who says I‘m an outsider?

The key idea of the festival is „Norway and Iceland meet Slovakia“ which thanks to cooperation with partners from Norway and Iceland will take a place on 22 – 24 February 2017 in Bratislava. The idea of the festival was created during many discussions which we lead as a team týždna, the key role was played by Juraj Kušnierik, who absolutely loved Iceland. When last year Juraj suddenly left us, the festival has become our way to honor him.

By means of journalism, photography and film, we will bring you an array of personal stories – stories of artists who have integrated into a new community through art, adapted to the foreign culture and managed to succeed. We will bring examples of valuable artworks from Norway and Iceland focusing on the integration of minorities and socially disadvantaged groups. This issue is currently highly topical and the festival "Norway and Iceland Meet Slovakia" will strive to show the beauty and depth of these people, who make our world more varied and interesting.

In November 2016 our reporters will visit the cultural organisation Fargespill in Bergen, Norway. For years it has been successfully dealing with the cultural adaptation of minorities in Norway, with the main "tool" being a multicultural choir called Fargespill, which means "Kaleidoscope". We will primarily be looking to find out how culture – in this case music – helps the integration of minorities in the mainstream society. The visit will result in a high-quality inspirational documentary and a photo reportage.

We will also visit Reykjavik, Iceland, which is doing a lot of particular things in order to make the city open and accommodating towards foreigners and other disadvantaged groups of citizens (especially physically or mentally impaired citizens and old people). We will focus primarily on multiculturalism, which doesn’t seem to be anything out of the ordinary in Iceland. Where are its roots, though? What problems does it have to tackle? What role does "Iceland’s cultural miracle" (the fact that a country with only 320 000 inhabitants has produced such a large amount of quality music, films and literature) play in all this? How has Icelandic music become an economically significant export product? Furthermore, we will talk to musicians, filmmakers and prominent figures of Iceland’s cultural life and society.

We will share with you all our findings from Slovakia, Norway and Iceland in February 2017 at the multicultural and multi-genre festival "Norway and Iceland Meet Slovakia", which will take place in Bratislava. The festival will bring offer discussions about the issue of integration of people from foreign cultures and about the creation of a city that is open to everyone, whether it be a native-born citizen, a foreigner or a disabled person. Guests from Iceland will introduce us to the local film and music scene, focusing on the way music and film may turn apparent outsiders into quiet heroes. The festival will include a launch of a book containing an aesthetically pleasing selection of photography and stories which will be collected in Northern Europe by our redactors. Visitors can look forward to film screenings, a photography vernissage, concerts, theatre, public filming of the programme .pod lampou and inspirational panel discussions with foreign as well as local guests. We believe that mutual exchange of experience and giving way to dialogue will contribute, at least to some extent, to a society that is more open and free.