Symposium Program
Welcome to a unique and rich program
We invite you to an inspiring program set in - and between - two distinctive places in Nordland; Røstriket, located at the very edge of Lofoten where the Norwegian Sea and the Vestfjord are the closest neighbors, and Bodø, Nordland's exciting capital! Over the course of three days, our guests will experience both Røs's magnificent nature and Bodø's vibrant cultural life, in a combination of art and knowledge dissemination, dialogue and social experiences.
Røst is a small island community, and we want our guests and residents to meet with respect and care for each other. We divide visiting guests into two smaller groups, a Wednesday group and a Thursday group with a roughly identical program. Welcome, performing arts and a tour of Røstlandet, a three-hour archipelago trip out to Skomvær, meetings with local actors and a magnificent dinner is on the program. Along the way you will experience MiN (Music in Nordland); 3 - 4 string players will play music on board the speedboat, perhaps at Skomvær in the afternoon (weather permitting) and during the festive meal in the evening. Otherwise, the day is packed with impressions big and small; bird and fish life, iconic islands, artistic expression and pleasant company. Duration: Departure Bodø at 08.00 - return, expected arrival Bodø at 23.00
The day(s) you are not on Røst you can explore hospitality at different venues in Bodø; Jektefart Museum, Stormen bibliotek and Nordnorsk kunstmuseum Lectures, conversations, film, performing arts, visual arts and music invite reflection and dialogue about hospitality as it can be expressed; varied and from different perspectives.
Friday, the last day, is a joint session; first at the newly opened Nordnorsk kunstmuseum , Bodø and then on Stormen bibliotek often called Nordland's great hall. Both are spectacular, inviting buildings and institutions, right in the center of Bodø. You will experience contemporary art, artist talks, mini-concerts, panel discussions, sharing experiences and maybe even some unexpected perspectives from one of Norway's warmest and most respected comedians as she talks about (the absence of?) hospitality. The evening ends with a thought-provoking and great concert!
Check out the exciting program below. More details will be added as time goes on - stay tuned, stay tuned!
June 3 Røst
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Directions: https://maps.app.goo.gl/tZiJjVqUMiqXS7pw5
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Shared trip from Bodø to Røst by speedboat, weather permitting**. On board there will be light refreshments, cultural highlights and plenty of time to enjoy the spectacular journey.
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The performance Q(uerini) revolves around how movement happens, whether we want it to or not. Sometimes invisible, other times very visible, and palpable, as in a crisis.
Q(uerini) is the story of movement. Of course the obvious one - the journey you embark on. But also the one you get, which you don't choose - the world that moves you.
Movement is value-neutral, it can lead to both desired and unwanted places, both adventure and shipwreck, both solitude and community. It depends on what you put into it.
Q(uerini) is the story of some people who chose to fight to survive, and a people who chose to help others.
Q(uerini) is also the story of a people free from xenophobia, or fear of the other. What is hospitality, if not opening up to the other, which the movement demands?
It takes a certain kind of courage to be in motion.
Both to embark on a journey in unpredictable waters
and to welcome travelers from unknown waters.
Maybe these people meet in this courage?
Because what if it had been different?
That we never set out on journeys. That we never accepted what was not invited.
“Q” is a performing arts production organized by Den kulturellter skolesekken (DKS). The performance will be shown both to the participants of the symposium and to the primary school students at Røst . DKS is a unique model in Norwegian cultural policy, and a particularly important offer for students in rural areas, who do not have the same access to professional art and cultural experiences as children in larger cities. Through the scheme, children and young people throughout the country are ensured equal access to high-quality artistic and cultural expressions.
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Lunch will be served at Brygga Hotel. If time permits, it will also be possible to row over to Kårøya and see the Ettertanken located there. The water tower at Lyngvær was built in 1962 as part of the modernization of Røst's water supply. The tower ensured water pressure and stored up to 80,000 liters of water until it was taken out of use in 2002. After several years of disrepair, the building was given new life through the Ettertanken project, which opened in 2024 as a place for views, peace and reflection - and as a continuation of the tower's role as a landmark in the local community.
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Local host and guide, Hildegunn Pettersen , provides an insightful look into today's Røst -society and the island's development.
The tour includes visits to the area that is locally referred to as “old Røst ”. Hildegunn follows the group further and shares historical perspectives and local stories that put the landscape and cultural heritage in context. Along the way, a stop is made at Røst church, where participants will hear the story of the altarpiece from the 16th century and the peculiar tale of a seasick princess.
Throughout the tour, Hildegunn combines local knowledge, cultural history and live communication in a way that gives participants a holistic and close encounter with both the island's history and today's local community.
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Experience the sea and islands surrounding Røst . The trip is conducted by speedboat, and we dock outside the lighthouse at Skomvær. If weather conditions permit, it will be possible to take an optional trip by small boat to the island.
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Back in Røstlandet, the trip takes us to John Greger AS, one of the traditional fishing lodges in Røst . Here you will meet Sara, who will take you both into the production premises and up to an authentic stockfish loft. As a knowledgeable communicator, she provides an insightful insight into stockfish – both as a one hundred percent natural food product and as an important part of our shared cultural history. During the visit, you will have the opportunity to taste local stockfish, accompanied by something good in the glass.
After the tour, we invite you to a dinner where the unique story of the 11 sailors from Venice, who were shipwrecked and rescued on Røst in 1432, is conveyed through song, music, food and drink. The evening is rounded off with a three-course dinner based on local ingredients, where stockfish takes center stage.
We welcome you to a true taste experience and a lively encounter with the stockfish tradition at Røst .
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Shared journey by speedboat back to Bodø.
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June 3 Bodo
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Shared bus to Jektefartsmuseet .
Directions: https://maps.app.goo.gl/iaG9aoRiUYd7vsVN8
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Erika Søfting gives an Introduction to Jektefartsmuseet and information about how hospitality has been important in meetings and contact during the time of jetty shipping and at northern Norwegian trading posts. How were "strangers" met when they traveled north? What contact did northerners have on jetties and trading posts south and out into the world? How were they connected with Europe?
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Benedicte Gamborg Briså from the National Library of Norway will give a lecture on how trade, travel and stories have shaped the development of maps. Using examples from the High North, she shows how maps are built on knowledge, interpretations and ideas that have developed over time.
The lecture also includes the story of Pietro Querini who was shipwrecked Røst in the 15th century. His account became a central source for how Norway and the coastal communities in the north were perceived in Europe. Briså shows how such narratives have influenced both contemporary understanding of the country and the maps that were created.
This is an opportunity to explore maps as storytelling and as an expression of the encounter between experience, myths and reality.
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An international panel consisting of Tone Bringa, Claire Judde de Larivière and Stefania Montemezzo explores the concept of hospitality from a historical and societal perspective. The conversation sheds light on how encounters between people – through travel, cultural contact and everyday life – shape understandings of community, care and communication across time and place.
Panelists
Claire Judde de Larivière
A historian at the University of Toulouse, France, and a member of the Via Querinissima scientific council, she presents perspectives on the experiences of others, hospitality, and communication based on Pietro Querini and his crew's expedition.Stefania Montemezzo
An Italian historian and member of the Via Querinissima scientific council, she shares insights from her research on relationships and care practices in Renaissance Venice .Tone Bringa
Social anthropologist at the University of Bergen, Norway. She draws on experiences from fieldwork in Bosnia and Norway, with a particular focus on community, hospitality and ethnic complexity .
Moderated by Stefano Agnoletto.
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Lunch is served in the cafe at Jektefartsmuseet It will also be possible to see the museum's exhibition during the break.
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Randi L. Davenport from UiT talks about her findings of the influence of Querini's story on Cervantes. Today is Røst on the cultural map of Europe thanks to the stories of Pietro Querini's shipwreck in 1432. We have performed stockfish opera in the Arsenale Nord in Venice and we are in the process of developing the European cultural heritage route Via Querinissima. But in what way did the stories leave their mark on the Renaissance? Have Røst and the Røstværingen have a place in European Renaissance literature? Most people know Don Quixote as a literary figure and symbol of Spanish culture. Less well known is that Miguel de Cervantes himself considered his literary testament to be the posthumously published The Trials of Persiles and Sigismunda. A Northern History [Los trabajos de Persiles y Sigismunda. Historia Setentrional] (1617). In this lecture we will explore some possible connections between the stories, Giovanni Battista Ramusio's edition of the stories in Navigationi e viaggi (1559), and Cervantes' "northern novel".
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A lifetime on the Lofoten Sea
Line fisherman Roy Rønneberg talks about a long life at sea, skrei, quotas – and the major changes in the sea in recent years.
Filmmaker: Tore Berntsen
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How can tourism become a force that regenerates communities and territories?
This event will explore the potential of Regenerative Tourism, including concrete examples, showing how it can help care for the local communities and places, create new opportunities and build a better future for the people who live there.Event curated by Marzia Liuzza.
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This period is set aside for individual recovery and activities. Participants are free to use the time as needed, for example for reflection, networking, or a break from the program.
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We invite you to the performance “La Perle”, followed by dinner. La Perle’s meaning is profound and universal: pain changes us. It reminds us of how a pearl in an oyster, over the years and with great patience, can evolve from being a foreign element to becoming a beautiful but resilient wonder. The universal concept of “suffering” is a recurring theme that philosophers, poets and psychologists have worked on.
The performance La Perle , influenced by both Middle Eastern culture and art and the magic of puppetry, addresses the universal theme of “suffering.” It is not about wishing for suffering, but about accepting it, learning to live with it, and allowing ourselves to be transformed by what it can teach us. The poetic narratives, music, and images in the performance are woven together to show how pain – like a pearl – can be transformed into strength and courage.
LA PEARL
by Compagnie 1001 and Figurteateret in Nordland
Duration 1h
June 4th Røst
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Directions: https://maps.app.goo.gl/tZiJjVqUMiqXS7pw5
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Shared journey from Bodø to Røst by speedboat, weather permitting**. On board there will be light refreshments, cultural events and plenty of time to enjoy the spectacular journey. For those who do not wish or are unable to travel by boat, there will be the option of flying.
-
The performance Q(uerini) revolves around how movement happens, whether we want it to or not. Sometimes invisible, other times very visible, and palpable, as in a crisis.
Q(uerini) is the story of movement. Of course the obvious one - the journey you embark on. But also the one you get, which you don't choose - the world that moves you.
Movement is value-neutral, it can lead to both desired and unwanted places, both adventure and shipwreck, both solitude and community. It depends on what you put into it.
Q(uerini) is the story of some people who chose to fight to survive, and a people who chose to help others.
Q(uerini) is also the story of a people free from xenophobia, or fear of the other. What is hospitality, if not opening up to the other, which the movement demands?
It takes a certain kind of courage to be in motion.
Both to embark on a journey in unpredictable waters
and to welcome travelers from unknown waters.
Maybe these people meet in this courage?
Because what if it had been different?
That we never set out on journeys. That we never accepted what was not invited.
“Q” is a performing arts production organized by Den kulturellter skolesekken (DKS) . The performance will be shown both to the participants at the symposium and to the primary school students at Røst . DKS is a unique model in Norwegian cultural policy, and a particularly important offer for students in rural areas, who do not have the same access to professional art and cultural experiences as children in larger cities. Through the scheme, children and young people throughout the country are ensured equal access to high-quality artistic and cultural expressions.
-
Lunch will be served at Brygga Hotel. If time permits, it will also be possible to row over to Kårøya and see the Ettertanken located there. The water tower at Lyngvær was built in 1962 as part of the modernization of Røst's water supply. The tower ensured water pressure and stored up to 80,000 liters of water until it was taken out of use in 2002. After several years of disrepair, the building was given new life through the Ettertanken project, which opened in 2024 as a place for views, peace and reflection - and as a continuation of the tower's role as a landmark in the local community.
-
Local host and guide, Hildegunn Pettersen, provides insightful insights into today's Røst -society and the island's development.
The tour includes visits to the area that is locally referred to as “old Røst ”. Hildegunn follows the group further and shares historical perspectives and local stories that put the landscape and cultural heritage in context. Along the way, a stop is made at Røst church, where participants will hear the story of the altarpiece from the 16th century and the peculiar tale of a seasick princess.
Throughout the tour, Hildegunn combines local knowledge, cultural history and live communication in a way that gives participants a holistic and close encounter with both the island's history and today's local community.
-
Experience the sea and islands surrounding Røst . The trip is conducted by speedboat, and we dock outside the lighthouse at Skomvær. If weather conditions permit, it will be possible to take an optional trip by small boat to the island.
-
Back in Røstlandet, the trip takes us to John Greger AS, one of the traditional fishing lodges in Røst . Here you will meet Sara, who will take you both into the production premises and up to an authentic stockfish loft. As a knowledgeable communicator, she provides an insightful insight into stockfish – both as a one hundred percent natural food product and as an important part of our shared cultural history. During the visit, you will have the opportunity to taste local stockfish, accompanied by something good in the glass.
After the tour, we invite you to a dinner where the unique story of the 11 sailors from Venice, who were shipwrecked and rescued on Røst in 1432, is conveyed through song, music, food and drink. The evening is rounded off with a three-course dinner based on local ingredients, where stockfish takes center stage.
We welcome you to a true taste experience and a lively encounter with the stockfish tradition at Røst .
-
Shared journey by speedboat back to Bodø.
-
June 4th Bodo
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Shared bus to Jektefartsmuseet .
Directions: https://maps.app.goo.gl/iaG9aoRiUYd7vsVN8
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Magnus Sivertsen Sørvig gives an Introduction to Jektefartsmuseet and information about how hospitality has been important in meetings and contact during the time of the Jektefart and at northern Norwegian trading posts. How were "strangers" met when they traveled north? What contact did northerners have on Jektefarts and trading posts south and out into the world? How were they connected with Europe?
-
Benedicte Gamborg Briså from the National Library of Norway will give a lecture on how trade, travel and stories have shaped the development of maps. Using examples from the High North, she shows how maps are built on knowledge, interpretations and ideas that have developed over time.
The lecture also includes the story of Pietro Querini who was shipwrecked Røst in the 15th century. His account became a central source for how Norway and the coastal communities in the north were perceived in Europe. Briså shows how such narratives have influenced both contemporary understanding of the country and the maps that were created.
This is an opportunity to explore maps as storytelling and as an expression of the encounter between experience, myths and reality.
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What does hospitality mean in the encounter between a persecuted writer and a new country? Here, voices from the practitioners themselves, from hosts, politicians, bureaucrats, local communities and researchers are gathered – to explore how community, responsibility and belonging are created in practice.
Moderated by Christian Torset .
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Lunch is served in the cafe at Jektefartsmuseet It will also be possible to experience the museum's exhibition during the break.
-
A lifetime on the Lofoten Sea
Line fisherman Roy Rønneberg talks about a long life at sea, skrei, quotas – and the major changes in the sea in recent years.
Filmmaker: Tore Berntsen
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What happens to the idea of the good life when an economic ecologist, a Sami artist and architect, a historian – and a stranger we don’t yet know – are allowed to gaze at it? This event goes straight to the heart of the matter: How does hospitality challenge our notions of what really matters?
You will hear presentations from Professor of Ecological Economics Ove D. Jacobsen and the Sami artist and architect Joar Nango, who will then be in conversation with Professor of History Steinar Aas.
Moderated by Steinar Aas .
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This period is set aside for individual recovery and activities. Participants are free to use the time as needed, for example for reflection, networking, or a break from the program.
-
We invite you to the performance “La Pearl”, followed by dinner. La Perle’s meaning is profound and universal: pain changes us. It reminds us of how a pearl in an oyster, over the years and with great patience, can evolve from being a foreign element to becoming a beautiful but resilient wonder. The universal concept of “suffering” is a recurring theme that philosophers, poets and psychologists have worked with.
The performance La Perle , influenced by both Middle Eastern culture and art and the magic of puppetry, addresses the universal theme of “suffering.” It is not about wishing for suffering, but about accepting it, learning to live with it, and allowing ourselves to be transformed by what it can teach us. The poetic narratives, music, and images in the performance are woven together to show how pain – like a pearl – can be transformed into strength and courage.
LA PEARL
by Compagnie 1001 and Figurteateret in Nordland
Duration 1h
June 5th Bodo
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Learn about the history of the Nordnorsk kunstmuseum and experience their exhibition. In April 2026, the museum in Bodø will open an exhibition with works by the Dutch artist, filmmaker, sexological body worker, somatic intimacy coordinator and educator, Melanie Bonajo. The exhibition's main work is the video installation When the body says Yes, which was shown in the Dutch pavilion at the Venice Biennale in 2022. The work, which was created during a gathering with gender-queer people from several parts of the world, explores touch, consent, bodily autonomy and intimacy. The exhibition also invites the audience to reflect on these themes, including by sitting in a playful and soft scenography created by the artist in collaboration with Théo Demans.
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In this artist talk, Kajsa Zetterquist and Anja Kath Lande meet for a conversation about how art can open paths towards community across time, place and experience, as a language that both protects and challenges, connects and changes.
Kajsa Zetterquist is a Swedish-Norwegian visual artist with deep roots in the nature and culture of northern Norway. Through a long artistic career together with her life partner Per Adde, she has been a supporting figure in the Nordland and Northern Norway art scene – and continues to be so to this day. Their shared commitment to nature conservation, animals, Sami culture and Sami rights and, not least, artistic freedom has left lasting traces – not as memories, but as living impulses in the landscape and art.
Anja Kath Lande, curator at Adde Zetterquist Art Gallery, has worked closely with Zetterquist for several years. She has been a key communicator of the couple's artistic legacy, including through memorial exhibitions and curatorial projects that continue their life's work with care and insight.
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Since its establishment in 1992, Music in Nordland (MiN) has produced concert experiences of high artistic quality and ensured that these reach all of Nordland – from coast to mountain, rural and urban. MiN is part of the Cultural Development Section of Nordland County Council, and its mission is to strengthen the professional music scene in the county.
They work across genres and expressions, and develop concerts and performances in close collaboration with local, regional and national actors. Through mobile productions and close dialogue with organizers, they ensure that audiences throughout the county have access to varied and innovative musical experiences.
Music in Nordland is a key player in the development of cultural life in Nordland – with a focus on quality, collaboration and artistic diversity.
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We are having lunch at Stormen bibliotek .
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How is hospitality understood and practiced at libraries in Norway and Sweden ? Both countries see the library as an open and democratic meeting place , with a responsibility to facilitate dialogue, conversation and debate . In Norway, this is enshrined in legislation that requires libraries to function as independent arenas for public conversation, while both Norwegian and Swedish studies show how libraries are developed as social meeting places with a strong emphasis on community and participation.
The session examines how these traditions are managed in practice, and what measures can strengthen the library's role as a hospitable and inclusive institution.
Participants
Stine Qvigstad Jenvin , library manager, Stormen bibliotek
Thea Ytter , advisor, Regional Administration - culture, Västra Gøtaland
Eva Fred , advisor, Regional Administration - culture, Västra Gøtaland
Moderator
Elin Golten , manager, Western Norway library development
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We invite a selection of our guests and members of the reference group to answer questions about their experience of our very first hospitality symposium. For example, they will be challenged to reflect on what they experienced as particularly memorable, and not least; what will they take with them in their future work and perspectives?
The conversation will provide a first indication of what kind of impact the symposium may have – academic, methodological and interpersonal. Can this year's hospitality symposium be considered a foretaste of the development of a meaningful international meeting place?
Participants:
Stefano Agnoletto
and other guests
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Else Kåss Furuseth and Cecilie Ramona Kåss Furuseth discuss how we can show greater hospitality in our encounters with each other. The conversation is set in a larger context where they highlight challenges related to increasing loneliness and the consequences loneliness can have for individuals and society.
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This period is set aside for individual recovery and activities. Participants are free to use the time as needed, for example for reflection, networking, or a break from the program.
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A stranger, a fiddler from Greece, traveled north to the mythical land of Hyperboria. Traveled north expecting wasteland and isolation - freezing cold and loneliness. Despite this, he traveled here, north in search of the shining northern lights that illuminate the dark night sky. But the northern lights that shone brightest here were lighthouses, the lanterns that his people call pháros. Along the coast they stand - silent and steadfast, lit by people who have kept the light alive for each other for generations. The light from the lighthouse invites those who have lost their way - towards a safe harbor, where you can belong. When Michalis, Julie and Andreas meet, musical traditions from Greece and Norway also meet. Stories from the coasts of Greece, Trøndelag and Northern Norway are carried forward and conveyed in this concert experience. Fyr Pháros is a unique musical experience with Celtic harp, bandoneon, the rare instrument tarhu, violin, viola and cello. The concept began in 2019, when siblings Julie Rokseth (harp) and Andreas Rokseth (bandoneon) invited Michalis Cholevas (tarhu) to an artist residency on the small lighthouse island of Sula in Norway. Inspired by stories from the coast of Norway and the coast of Greece – about the sea, life along the coast and the light in the north and in the south – the three musicians create and perform original and evocative music together.
Duration: 60 minutes. The performance is produced by Musikk i Nordland. Location: more info coming soon
Participating Ensemble Phos Michalis Cholevas – Tarhu Julie Rokseth – Harp Andreas Rokseth – Bandoneon Music in Nordland String Quartet
*NFK reserves the right to make minor changes to the program, and states that the event may be canceled if there are too few registrations. NFK cannot commit to holding the event if weather conditions or financial circumstances do not warrant it. If the entire event must be canceled, the participation fee will be refunded in full.
**For those who do not wish or have the opportunity to travel by speedboat, it will be possible to travel by plane. Please contact us if this is desired.