In connection with the Forbidden City project initiated by Bodø City Council and KORO, Dan spent eight months working inside the military air station in Bodø, Norway since its closure. The work that Dan has made focuses on the harsh intervention of the military infrastructure on the surrounding landscape and the secrecy that surrounds the highly secure facility, located in such close proximity to a large, densely populated city. The ambition of the work is to raise questions about the forced appropriation of public land for military activity and infrastructure, how global security influences the topography of a nation and the invisible game of cat and mouse being played out by nation states on a daily basis. At a time where national security is in the spotlight due to turbulent global politics. Is it in our interest to give up public land for the use of clandestine military operations? And is the use of military infrastructure close to populated areas a necessary risk that citizens must endure in order to enjoy secure sovereign borders?

Dan Mariner (b.1983)
Dan is a British documentary photographer based in Bodø, Norway. He works across Europe and specializes in editorial photography, shooting for renowned international magazines and publications. Mariner’s quiet and methodical way of making pictures is born out of his education in documentary photography at the internationally acclaimed Newport University in the United Kingdom, where he honed his skills in color analogue film techniques and social observation. His rigorous attention to detail and sharp eye allows him to capture moments that pass many others by, enabling him to produce imagery that illustrates his subject matter in an honest and intriguing manner. Dan’s personal work sees him working on long term documentary projects focusing on themes around global security and human interventions in nature. His work has been exhibited in the United Kingdom, U.S.A and Norway, as well as being featured in many of the top photographic outlets like IGNANT, BJP, Adobe. In addition to his photographic work, Dan runs NŌUA in Bodø with his wife and fellow photographer Marianne Bjørnmyr. NŌUA is an artist-run institution for photography as contemporary art.