Project of the week – LEGENDS (Odder)

The project 'LEGENDS' is Odder Municipality's contribution to the European Capital of Culture Aarhus 2017. The project is about stories of the city, as told by the citizens, and rethinks the making of new cultural productions. At the same time, it is a collaboration with four other cities in Europe. 2. December 20 artists from five European cities meet in VitaPark in Odder to initiate the project.

From 2.-5. December VitaPark in Odder is buzzing with creativity. Here, 20 international artists meet the citizens of Odder to hear the stories and legends about the city. Using the ‘Culture Kitchen’ (the old hospital kitchen) as the focal point, the artists will meet representatives of the city's politicians, political refugees and a group of invited citizens.

The 20 artists include musicians, actors, lighting designers, filmmakers, installation artists, dancers and composers from Seville (Spain), Salo (Finland), Vänersborg (Sweden), the Faroe Islands and Odder.

The days mark the beginning of the project 'LEGENDS'; a project that runs through 2017. In the years up to 2017, a 'legend' will be created for each city, and elements from one place will be transferred to the next. All the elements are put together in Odder for a final performance in 2017.

Among the participating artists are Lydenskab. Lydenskab is a classic ensemble that specializes in cross-aesthetic constellations with varying artists. One of their tasks are to set up a frame for the meetings between the citizens and the artists. Therefore, one of the members Thea Vesti Pedersen is also the Artistic Director of 'LEGENDS'. She explains about the project:

"The project rethinks the way we make cultural productions. We look at the stories and capabilities in the cities and use them. We hope that we can write ourselves into the cultural history of the cities and create a change and a new look at the importance of culture and understanding who we are. The artists are representatives of a progressive scene and therefore they will deliver something you have not seen before in these cities. It is also an experiment for the artists to work as close to citizens and make the process as open as we do it," says Thea Vesti Pedersen.

A European Project
The idea for 'LEGENDS' bloomed, when culture began to sprout in the abandoned hospital VitaPark in Odder. The Ensemble Lydenskab was the first to move temporarily into the former hospital with a project that introduced classical concert halls in abandoned buildings (supported by Central Denmark Region).

According to Thea Vesti Pedersen culture was not a major priority in the city at that point. But the experience showed that there was a hungry audience and a need for something new. Together with the Director of VitaPark, Lydenskab therefore developed this project. A project, which Thea Vesti Pedersen believes is important as a cultural kickstarter for the city:

"'LEGENDS' is made for Odder and is a desire to cultivate the local environment, focus on the city's stories and create a new legend. For a long time, Odder has been a cultural ghost town – now is time to turn the tides and produce new performing arts about and for the city. It is a European project that will inspire us to see the city with new eyes," says Thea Vesti Pedersen.

Tradition for twinning
One of the cores in the project are the stories from citizens and the anticipated involvement. Thea Vesti Pedersen explains:

"We set up four meetings between the artists and citizens. This time, we work on developing methods for the future project. It is not possible to involve the entire city, but we have meetings with the city's young high school students, a group of political refugees, some of the city's elder and a group of politicians from different parties. Therefore, the project will have a high visibility in the city and we will work to make 'LEGENDS' even more visible in the years to come," says Thea Vesti Pedersen.

The project is also based on a desire to resume the twinning relationships that Odder previously enjoyed. The collaboration with the Finnish town of Salo is thus based on a twinning tradition that goes back many decades courtesy of the Nordic Association. In the nineties, hundreds of Danes and Finns travelled to visit each other and exchange their local culture and traditions. This friendship has enabled the expansion of the European partners:

"Salo has close international collaborations with Swedish Vänersborg, who also joined the project. There, a number of artists that you want to see in the project were chosen. From Spain come a series of flamenco artists who have toured in Denmark over the last few years and have worked closely with several of the Danish artists involved. The singer Teitur represents the Faroe Islands and was asked because his latest album 'Story Music' played so well into the core of the project and because his roots in the Faroe Islands and their way of passing culture on is something that would be interesting and important for other cultures to learn from," says Thea Vesti Pedersen.