VIOLENCE AS THE THEME FOR ORDKALOTTEN -
Tromsø International Literature Festival 30.09. – 04.10. 2009

Violence is real, and every representation of reality (artwork) is part of the totality of reality. By focusing on violence in literature, Ordkalotten wants to further the discussion of the reader’s ability and tenacity to being ethically conscious in a time where the aesthetics of violence are predominant, this in an attempt to stop her from becoming a passive consumer of human atrocities.

Can one judge the ethical values, norms and attitudes of literary fiction? When is it important for art to confront us with the horrific, and when does it end up being only speculative? Art has fought for its autonomy in relation to societal forces like religion, politics and economics, but it can hardly be said to be ineffectual. In every attitude there are tendencies towards, if not encouragement to, action.

Like Slavoj Zizek (Violence, 2008), we ask if the structural violence that lies in language does not have an effect. Subjective violence strikes as sensationalist (natural) disasters, like suicide bombers, and youth rebellions in French suburbs. Symbolic violence is built in to the digital aspects of language, and can replace concrete violence through slowly undermining humane values (active or passive nihilism), it can also create fear of the unknown, by creating cultural and religious walls, establishing indifference and insensitivity towards the others (who are different in one way or another).

The ability of art to bring to life experiences of violence by showing unique destinies, all of which can be experiences and recognized as universally human, no matter how distant – in both time and space – the reader is from that destiny. The imagination must be kept alive if thoughts are to be thought and humans are to feel empathy. The person who has no imagination is only able to follow rules and obey orders. Responsibilities crumble, evil is made banal. By its strength, art has the ability to decontextualize, that is, to lift particular experiences and situations up to an universal level.

Program

For the festival program in 2009 we invited approximately 25 authors. In addition to the themed sections – named below – we have recurrent parts of the program, among which are daily presentations of books published this year, as a cooperation with Writer’s Centre North (Norsk Forfattersentrum Nord), collaborations with Tromsø Film club and TIFF (Tromsø International Film Festival) with regards to a series of films related to the theme of violence, and we are also working with Tromsø Gallery of Contemporary Art and Perspektivet Museum about exhibitions within the same subject. In addition, we are working with Tromsø Museum, and Tromsø Library and the City Archives is responsible for activities such as literary lunches and a literary quiz.