Norway Introduces First Official Street Art Trail, Nuart Sandnes

The hardworking team behind one of the world’s longest lasting street art festivals, Nuart in Norway, covered here over the years, recently announced the launch of yet another public art project. Nuart Sandnes Art Trail is Norway’s first official Street Art Trail, and its main goal is to connect Sandnes’ urban center with the city’s surrounding rural areas.

Polish artist M-city at work.

After organizing Nuart for 15 consecutive years in Stavanger, the team behind the festival was looking into ways to include nearby Sandnes into their efforts. Its abundance of walls or concrete “canvases”, young population (30% of the population are 20 and under), and upcoming Norwegian Youth Festivals of Art in 2017, make it a perfect setting for the creation of site-specific murals, installations and public interventions. With this in mind, the team came up with an idea of an unique art trail with biking and walking tours, that will be “activated’ using new technology.

Art by Norwegian artist Nipper.

The first works of this ambitious project were created recently by Polish artist M-city and Norwegian artist Nipper. Old friend of Nuart, M-city, created a large stencil piece titled “Conoe”. Depicting a group of surreal seafarers working together to move their canoe along the water, the work fits perfectly the project that relies on community and collaboration.

Nipper used this opportunity to continue his Mission Directives project he introduced in Stavanger earlier this year. By placing free artworks along with instructions on how to continue the project, he is creating alternative zones of communication through the installation. These 2 works are the first to be included in a trail, with more to come in the following months, further confirming Norway’s reputation of public art eldorado.