LB°27 — News
The upcoming edition of Luleåbiennalen will be its 20th. We are taking the opportunity to reflect on the years that have passed. In this first throwback, we look back on how it all started and on the snow and ice sculptures of the first editions.
The long history of Luleåbiennalen begins in early 1990. Luleå based artist group Kilen, initially consisting of artists Ricky Sandberg, Dan Lestander, Jan-Erik Falk and Maria Lundström, took a trip to Japan and ended up at a festival where people created sculptures out of the ice along the shoreline. Inspired by the format and struck by the fact that it would suit the cold winters in Luleå perfectly, they went home with the ambition to create their own version.
In early 1991, the very first biennial edition took place at Gültzauudden ("The Gültzau Bay") in Luleå, under the title ARcTic Festival Luleå.
Untitled, Jaak Soans & Lembit Palm, ARcTic Festival Luleå 1996. Photo: Kilen Art Group
ARcTic Festival Luleå 1991 presented an international snow sculpture symposium, a photography exhibition on the ice and a Norrbotten championship in snow sculpture, with competitors from all municipalities in the county. Artists with local ties as well as international artists were invited from all over the world and given a 3 cubic meter block of snow to create their sculptures from. The entire festival was built up on site during just a few days in February.
For several years, the main focus of the biennial remained on providing snow for each invited artist to work with on site, but soon the format expanded. Ice and fire became recurrent materials used for the sculptures presented on the Gültzau Bay. Soon, Kilen decided to try out summer biennials as well, and to present exhibitions within the now emerging art spaces around the city. With this development followed artworks of all kinds and materials.
Today, Luleåbiennalen retains much of the heritage left by Kilen. We remain intent on presenting art outside of the traditional exhibition spaces, to present content of local relevance and to include a variety of perspectives through the works and projects we include.
Untitled, Nitko Dinev & Ivan Natchev, ARcTic Festival Luleå 1996. Photo: Kilen Art Group
If you want to read more:
In 2011, author Ann-Katrin Hansson published the first retrospective story of the biennial, in celebration of its 20th year. You can read her article here.
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We are continuously working on adding information about previous editions to the Luleåbiennalen Archive on our website. If you have your own stories or images that you would like to share with us, please feel free to send them to paulina.granat@konstframjandet.se