Bodø
October - December 2023

Bodø’s new district of Hernes is full of infrastructure: shelters, runways, terminal buildings and platforms. How can these resources serve as the premises for the development of the new district, with our ambitions to create modern, sustainable new neighbourhoods with zero emissions and a circular economy?

Brutalist Bodø takes its starting point in our relationship with materials: their technical and aesthetic properties and qualities. Today’s consumerist linear economy has made it commonplace to demolish and rebuild structures, without any particular regard for the production, use and disposal of different materials.

The shift to a low-emissions society requires greater awareness of how we use materials. We must reuse buildings, excavated spoil, asphalt and concrete, in order to reduce our consumption of resources.

Brutalist Bodø focuses in particular on concrete and its role in the construction and reconstruction of Bodø’s urban architecture .

Sverre Gullesen was invited to create a solo exhibition, Strategies in Concrete, in connection with the Brutalist Bodø project. Photographs of Erling Viksjø’s architecture were displayed alongside Gullesen’s concrete installations.

In addition to works by Gullesen and Viksjø, the exhibition included photographs of iconic concrete buildings in Bodø and the construction of the current airport. The photographs were selected from the collections of Bodø City Museum and the Norwegian Aviation Museum.  

A series of seminars and workshops was arranged in connection with the exhibition, with the aim of encouraging reflection, discussion and increased awareness of the materials with which we surround ourselves, particularly concrete.