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Verdensrommet is an artist-powered mutual support network by and for non-EU/EEA creative professionals based in Norway. The network is a grassroots and volunteer-led group of 200+ creative professionals across the country. The network was initiated in March 2020 to address the precarious conditions of visual artists whose citizenship led them to slip through the state’s support net. The low-income levels, highly bureaucratic regimes, unrealistic immigration policies, limited accessibility to social assistance, and the cultural deficit in public life accentuated by the Covid-19 pandemic have worsened the already precarious cultural workers’ economy.

Manifesto Allies Advocacy History Timeline

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  • we just won the **Oslo Opens hederspris** for our contribution to improving the non-EU/EEA artists’ working situation in Norway!       we just won the **Oslo Opens hederspris** for our contribution to improving the non-EU/EEA artists’ working situation in Norway!

Verdensrommet Manifesto

Post-Capitalist Lexicon for Immigrant Artists
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To address the precarious conditions of non-EU/EEA creative professionals in Norway, we call for fairer immigration policies and better living and working conditions. This Manifesto exposes a number of systemic contradictions and structural inequalities which are urgent to the network. Hereby, we encourage new imaginations of the future of cultural work.

X/ The creation of a fair and inclusive immigration visa for non-EU/EEA creative professionals in Norway that takes into consideration their working conditions: fluctuating income levels and a “patchwork economy”.

X/ The formulation of a White Paper on a solidarity economy model for self-employed creative professionals that enables more equal income redistribution. The resource should propose commons-oriented protocols and encourage a hybrid economy through cooperative configurations that put community currency, affective economies, and blockchain technology at the heart.

X/ We should remain proactive in challenging and questioning current power structures, bureaucratic regimes, and institutionalized exhaustion. We reject the system of high-performance which is imposed upon artists (and others), demanding them to be hyper-productive in the pursuit of capital, the only non-negotiable means of sustaining a livelihood.

X/ The creation of a mutual-aid and retirement fund to help the management of economic uncertainty for artists in the present and in anticipation of the future.

X/ The creation of a fair and inclusive immigration visa for non-EU/EEA creative professionals in Norway that takes into consideration their working conditions: fluctuating income levels and a “patchwork economy”.

X/ The formulation of a White Paper on a solidarity economy model for self-employed creative professionals that enables more equal income redistribution. The resource should propose commons-oriented protocols and encourage a hybrid economy through cooperative configurations that put community currency, affective economies, and blockchain technology at the heart.

X/ We should remain proactive in challenging and questioning current power structures, bureaucratic regimes, and institutionalized exhaustion. We reject the system of high-performance which is imposed upon artists (and others), demanding them to be hyper-productive in the pursuit of capital, the only non-negotiable means of sustaining a livelihood.

X/ The creation of a mutual-aid and retirement fund to help the management of economic uncertainty for artists in the present and in anticipation of the future.

Allies

Allyship and internationalism are at the core of Verdensrommet’s work—we have found solidarity in the following artists groups and organizations in Norway and abroad:

Verdensrommet is part of the network AOOO (Arts Organizations Out of Office) and part of Hypermates.

We welcome anyone who would like to co-create a blueprint for how we can emerge from simultaneous crises by shaping new community economies as well as by putting care at the heart of artistic and social debates.

Advocacy

Verdensrommet engages in advocacy around immigration and labour conditions in the art and cultural sector. Here you will find documentation of older actions, petitions, responses, correspondences and necessary documents that are important to our advocacy work.

UKS Letter of Support (2020)
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Petition to Protect non-EU Artists and Cultural Workers in Norway (2020)
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UDI Public Hearing Note/Høringsnotat (2021)
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VR, UKS, NBK etc Response to Høringsnotat (2021)
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Banners to Support Non-EU Artists
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History

Verdensrommet is a pandemic native network founded in March 2020. Verdensrommet originally addressed the precarious conditions of Norway-based visual artists whose citizenship led them to slip through the state’s support net. Later, this was expanded to include all creative professionals of non-EU/EEA backgrounds sharing similar experiences. The network is not based in a physical space but on a resource-sharing online group and web platform.

For the past two years, Verdensrommet has addressed immigration, economic, and labor concerns pertaining to more than 180 creative professionals through advocacy, guidance, cooperation, and network-building. Furthermore, we have worked in collaboration with local and international artist unions and organisations that work for bettering the cultural sector like Norske Billedkunstnere (NBK), Unge Kunstneres Samfund (UKS), Balansekunst, Unge Kunstnere og Kunstformidlere (UKK), among others.

Our mission is to establish a sustainable solidarity network between artists and cultural workers from this minority group. By providing assistance in navigating rules and regulations within the bureaucratic systems we aim at demystifying immigration procedures and successfully lobbying for better living and labor conditions. As many live in the country without the security of citizenship, our ultimate goal is to effect change in Norway’s immigration policy for artists, cultural workers, and other self-employed groups in society.

Verdensrommet was co-initiated by artists Rodrigo Ghattas-Peréz (Peru-Palestine) and Gabrielle Paré (Canada), and the first Verdensrommet working group was formed together with artists Anthony Morton (South Africa) and Prerna Bishnoi (India).

For more insight, please read Verdensrommet's Collaborative Protocols.

Timeline

Year one [2020]

WHO (World Health Organization) declares COVID-19 a pandemic

Norway announces a national lockdown

Rodrigo Ghattas-Pérez writes a FB post outlining some of the immigration struggles of a group of international artists in Norway

An online mutual support group is created to welcome all non-EU/EEA artists in Norway [currently, 220 people are affiliated with the network]

Verdensrommet is co-initiated by artists Gabrielle Paré and Rodrigo Ghattas-Pérez, and it is born as a grassroots mutual support network for non-EU/EEA artists

The first survey on living, working, and immigration conditions for non-EU/EEA artists are published

Rodrigo Ghattas-Pérez writes a text commission for UKS (Unge Kunstneres Samfund / Young Artists' Society) about the immigration situation of non-EU/EEA artists in Norway

A petition campaign is launched asking the Norwegian government to attend to the struggles of non-EU/EEA artists in Norway [2028 signatures have been gathered so far]

The first Verdensrommet working group was formed with the artists Rodrigo Ghattas-Pérez, Gabrielle Paré, Anthony Morton, and Prerna Bishnoi.

Year two [2021]

Verdensrommet launches its temporary website

Verdensrommet submits a høringsbrev in response to The Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs’ proposal to change self-employment regulations.

Verdensrommet resource compilation becomes available to everyone

  • Verdensrommet is constantly gathering support from ally individuals and institutions
  • The law firm Bull&Co starts to represent Verdensrommet

Verdensrommet has received grant support from Norske Billedkunstnere (NBK) and UKS (Unge Kunstneres Samfund / Young Artists' Society), KORO - Public Art Norway, BKH - The Relief Fund for Visual Artists, Kulturrådet - Arts Council Norway, and Balansekunst.

Verdensrommet is now part of the Nordic network AOOO (Arts Organizations Out of Office)

The podcast series Conversations with Aliens of Extraordinary Ability is aired

Verdensrommet manifesto is officially published as part of UKS’ seminar - 100 years of conviviality, Artists Organizing Artists

Year three [2022]

Verdensrommet new web project + White Paper on Alternative Economies are launched in collaboration with Oslo-based studio Blank Blank.