Do you give a shit?
- a performance done in the fjord of Hardanger Norway, July 2021
by the Norwegian artist Gitte Sætre
Curated by Kjell-Erik Ruud
Commenting on ocean pollution and how the municipalities are left to decide whether to take care of nature- the biodiversity, the health of the oceans or gain jobs and short turn benefits for their community. The artist asks if you give a shit while she is taking a dump. She is one and the farmed salmons are millions.
While some enjoy Norway others take a shit in the fjord.
UN and The Global Marine Panel, headed by Jonas Gahr Støre, with Norway at the wheel, want to protect the sea, as do large parts of the population. But what about the municipality of Norway, who together with thirteen other countries have taken the lead in a global initiative concerning the health of our seas? They have committed themselves to a planned and magnificently sustainable management of their sea and coastal areas by 2025. If this is supposed to be more than a charade requirements must be set for cleaning up the emissions from the fish farms, as is done for emissions from humans.
To reach these goals the merging of municipalities is not a sufficient measure. The communes must also enable themselves to collaborate when it comes to sustainable local coastal management. The industry must generate national zoning plans without local dispensation options. Today, municipalities can decide whether they want fish farms, whether they should be closed or open, with or without new technology and varying treatment plants of chemicals and nutrients. National guidelines are needed, just as it is perfectly appropriate to let nature prevail when applying for dispersion for roads, cottages and industry.
According to the Marine Panel, 40% of the world's coastlines and 30% of the exclusive economic zones should be subject to comprehensive management plans. They encourage all other coastal states to do the same. Prime Minister Solberg said at the time it is a necessary and demanding restructuring to secure the sea and the future of the marine economy. She's absolutely right, but the least she could do was to talk to her mayors.
The Marine Panel's package of measures is ambitious, even realistic, more than anything absolutely necessary to achieve the Sustainability Goals. Solberg challenged the world to go full throttle in sea protection and claimed Norway will contribute with its knowledge, support and leadership.
Challenge local democracy now!
Under normal circumstances Gitte Sætre is a caregiver, but she threw away her washcloth in her last performance in the Woman Cleaning series, where she scouted out various sites and situations that needed a new beginning. In Hardangerfjorden, an election ago, she created an image with strong remedy; she made a shit in the fjord, asking the commune through this image if they too give a shit about the fjord.
Enjoy Norway While You Give a Shit might awake the ones asleep. Sometimes it is an absolute necessity to give a shit about politics. No need to be afraid of neither free speech or the banal. What we need to fear is no one listening.
The Coronavirus gave us a chance to wake up, to correct our course, which has not come to be under any circumstance. Just look at communal Norway, who has given out license after license for unbearable and unsustainable interventions in nature. This forces the question: Do they give a shit about the fjord?
UN and The Global Marine Panel, headed by Jonas Gahr Støre, with Norway at the wheel, want to protect the sea, as do large parts of the population. But what about the municipality of Norway, who together with thirteen other countries have taken the lead in a global initiative concerning the health of our seas? They have committed themselves to a planned and magnificently sustainable management of their sea and coastal areas by 2025. If this is supposed to be more than a charade requirements must be set for cleaning up the emissions from the fish farms, as is done for emissions from humans.
To reach these goals the merging of municipalities is not a sufficient measure. The communes must also enable themselves to collaborate when it comes to sustainable local coastal management. The industry must generate national zoning plans without local dispensation options. Today, municipalities can decide whether they want fish farms, whether they should be closed or open, with or without new technology and varying treatment plants of chemicals and nutrients. National guidelines are needed, just as it is perfectly appropriate to let nature prevail when applying for dispersion for roads, cottages and industry.
According to the Marine Panel, 40% of the world's coastlines and 30% of the exclusive economic zones should be subject to comprehensive management plans. They encourage all other coastal states to do the same. Prime Minister Solberg said at the time it is a necessary and demanding restructuring to secure the sea and the future of the marine economy. She's absolutely right, but the least she could do was to talk to her mayors.
The Marine Panel's package of measures is ambitious, even realistic, more than anything absolutely necessary to achieve the Sustainability Goals. Solberg challenged the world to go full throttle in sea protection and claimed Norway will contribute with its knowledge, support and leadership.
Challenge local democracy now!
Under normal circumstances Gitte Sætre is a caregiver, but she threw away her washcloth in her last performance in the Woman Cleaning series, where she scouted out various sites and situations that needed a new beginning. In Hardangerfjorden, an election ago, she created an image with strong remedy; she made a shit in the fjord, asking the commune through this image if they too give a shit about the fjord.
Enjoy Norway While You Give a Shit might awake the ones asleep. Sometimes it is an absolute necessity to give a shit about politics. No need to be afraid of neither free speech or the banal. What we need to fear is no one listening.
The Coronavirus gave us a chance to wake up, to correct our course, which has not come to be under any circumstance. Just look at communal Norway, who has given out license after license for unbearable and unsustainable interventions in nature. This forces the question: Do they give a shit about the fjord?
