PRODUCTION- process - økern fieldwork  

_ ØKERN WALK -
I took a little walk on my own on a sunny warm day around økern, beginning at the Økern metro station, up through the back close to the  old market place and the senior center, then to the right through the senior center garden and the  streets of individual suburbia houses, then cut across to the old and new apartment blocks next to the Lørenishall/Lørenbanen.
I then went all the way around through the back where the new Refstad Skole is being built, down to the Lørenbanen where schoolchildren were playing football, through to the Selvbyggeren building, the Løren Skole and back at the Økern metro station and BYLAB.


_ ON THE WAY
- multitude of reinfann!
- more berries I wasn’t familiar with    
- contrast between surbubia houses and apartment blocks, separated by a street.
- contrast of new apartment blocks and old apartment blocks, also separated by a street.
- in either cases, the residential areas were pretty quiet
- loads of barnehages, private ? I suppose there would be some public.
- lovely walk through a green area (down from the new Refstad skole through the Lørenbanen and to the selvbyggeren building).
- Resirquel tent is massive!




screenshot from google.maps- to map out my walk
Pictures from the Økern walk-

clovers, little nitrogen in the ground, field next to BYLAB
Rowan berries!
field next to BYLAB
field next to BYLAB has tons of reinfann!
near the new Refstad skole, mini-forest path
super majestic trees!
little sti going through the field, shortcut made from people walking through the grass over time ?
Reinfann near new Refstad skole site
Treestump seat
Reinfann field near new Refstad skole site
Chosen site for artwork, owned by Statens vegvesen + Bymiljøetaten
The chosen site is full of reinfann, some clovers and the soil is sandy in some areas.

-Reinfann (Tanacetum Vulgare) can be used for making yellow (just the flowers) or yellow/green (flowers and stems).

-Rogntre (Sorbus aucuparia), gives white flowers that look like hylleblomst (to me) the berries are eaten by birds, beetles, insects. the tree was sometimes seen as a sacred tree, touch of witchcraft. a tree full of berries signified a cold winter and a lot of snow. was used as winter food for the farm animals and also added to flatbread as emergency nutrition. ADD INFO FROM ROLV.NO

- Rødklover,  (Trifolium Pratens) nutrition for farm animals. gives a protein and mineralrich fôr, binds nitrogen from atmosphere and traps it in the soil (therefore good indicator of nitrogen in soil). deep root systems avoids erosion (was produced for fôrindustry before pesticides). only bumblebees and some butterflies can pollinate it (and therefore spread it), the pollen is too ‘deep’ into the flower for other insects. ADD FROM ROLV.NO

-  Fuglevikke(Viccia Cracca), wild herb but likes similar conditions to dyrket planter so it tends to follow humans around. grows in calcium-rich soils.

- Hagelupin (Lupinus polyphyllus),  no species is originally wild, it has been cultivated. mostly as sand and grus binders-to avoid  sand drift and erosion near jerbane and veiskråninger.  ADD FROM ROLV.NO

- Villapal/Crab-apple (Malus syvestris)?, mainly used for apple cider and gele,  

- Hagtorn (Cratægus monogyna)

- Aronia berries



NOTES FROM MARI F. SUNDET’S PRESENTATION-
KEY TAKE-AWAYS

- how OKK works: an element of collaboration with artists’s societies/associations. the projects they had at Økern already (Mia Habib, Lars Ramberg, Selvbyggeren,  Studio Assemble).

- aim to: do more types of art, more projects that are site-specific. want people to volunteer for comissions, put money in the time spent for artists to spend time in the space, expand they way they collect art and develop new ways to archive.

- how can art contribute to the developent of the city?  art work can act as a room for context. art work never cures an area in transformation.

- publicly available space isn’t the same as publicly owned.

- irritation in the Bjerke district on people making an identity in areas that already have identity.

- developers want to change the idea that Hovinbyen is a suburb, connect the values of these districts to be part of oslo sentrum. they’re doing things for the people who are going to live here: ‘but what about the people who already live here?’

- ØKERN: cross-road, a place of connection between communities. working class/middle-class

- the strategisk plan of Hovinbyen is not legally binding

- investment art budget is allocated only to public buildings, private investors don’t have to allocate a buget for art (art isn’t a ‘necessary’ enough part for most developers/investors).

- still struggling with the participatory part of art in public space

- when one is working with art in public space: permissions to set up the artwork and all its details, money to rent the public space itself, and for how long, and the process from start to finish (oppdragsgiver, bidragsytere, prosjekter/forankring, finansiering, utganspunkt, formål, osv..)


NOTES FROM BYLAB PRESENTATION- KEY TAKEAWAYS



- their aim: kartlegge the nærmiljø, who lives, there, what people use to space for etc... a meeting place between plan og bygg/municipality and the inhabitants. fill up with activities to knytte sammen the community.

- 36400 inhabitants, fast growing district, large development area under planning/construction. homes w/ variety sizes to live in the same area, in different phases of life.

- SOCIAL INFRASTRUCTURE/LIVING STANDARDS ARE LOW IN SOME AREAS

- need for social infrastructure NOW, meeting places, sports, activities. there’s also issues with noise pollution. There’s some frustration and protests have taken place. BYLAB wants to create an arena for discussion to address problems.

- want to contribute to creating a PLACE/IDENTITY, good environment, stable/safe residential business areas, green spaces. walking distance to culture, bring in green spaces

- Hovinbyen plan done in 2018 but hasn’t been followed up.
RESEARCH FROM PLAN OG BYGG, OSLO KOMMUNE, ØKERN LØREN nettside+fb group, etc..    

- DEN GRØNNE RINGEN:  a ‘green walk’ connecting the four different districts, the current and upcoming boområder, green areas, pathways with Økern as its center point. and will include parks and squares, beplanting, belysning, merking og møblering.

ref: https://magasin.oslo.kommune.no/byplan/den-gronne-ringen-blir-tydeligere#gref

- PLAN OG BYGG:  from the ‘Strategisk plan for Hovinbyen’.
ref: https://innsyn.pbe.oslo.kommune.no/saksinnsyn/showfile.asp?jno=2020010672&fileid=9127592

- OSLO KOMMUNE