The following text was produced by invitation of artist Andrea Jespersen for a publication on the topic of "Healing" currently in the works.
My immediate reaction from a background in architecture and heritage planning to the subject matter was to think of the strong need to expurge material remains associated with painful events from the built environment and the conflicting need for ontological security through continuity of the built environment on the other. These conflicts between continuity of use and function (re-appropriating a site, demolishment and new construction) and continuity of the physical building elements (listing as a heritage site) are expressed in the recent public discussions on the future of Utøya, the site of the mass murder of 69 persons in the summer of 2011. For a background summary of the Norway attacks including the bombing of Oslo government quarters, trial and public reactions follow this link.
SCARS,
SCABS AND PHANTOM LIMBS IN THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT
 |
| Utøya the day of the attack, July 22, 2011, photo by Niclas Hammarström, World Press Photo 2012, Spot News, 2nd prize stories |
Utøya […] an island in Tyrifjorden lake, Norway […] owned by AUF, the youth
wing of the Labour
Party, which holds
annual summercamps there […] On 22 July 2011, a mass shooting took place at AUF's summer camp, where 650 young people
were staying […] arrived on Utøya dressed as a police officer […] then began
shooting […] attacks in Oslo and Utøya left 77 dead, with 69 killed on the
island, 33 of whom under the age of 18 […] The future of Utøya has been the
source of disagreements among the victims and family of the attacks. While
AUF's plan is to rebuild and return to Utøya, others want to leave the island
as a memorial to the dead.
 |
| "Utøya- your own island!" Summercamps on Utøya were held since 1933. A series of historic photographs from the archives of the Norwegian labour movement |
“New Utøya” for 60 million Norwegian kroner to be completed by 2015 […] The background for this work is sinister, but we hope to rebuild Utøya, says[…]at the press-conference[…]We wish to honour the victims by keeping the island in use. It would be sad if the island became derelict and overgrown […]
Excised from
 |
| Plans for New Utøya. Copyright and Credit MIR AS and Fantastic Norway AS. Click for link to project description Official website of Utøya ww.utoya.no |
[…] no demolishments on Utøya before consensus
of all concerned parties is reached […] presented plans
for “New Utøya”. The previous day, the organisation applied for permission […] to demolish the cafeteria and pumphouse, locations where a large number
of youth were brutally shot and killed on July 22, 2011. Psychologist […] thinks the opinions of the bereaved families should weigh most” […] experienced as the location of many execution sites, it is not easy to re-imagine
it as a public place for recreation […]
Excised from http://www.tv2.no/nyheter/innenriks/22-juli-terror-oslo-og-utoya/auf-faar-ikke-rive-noen-utoeyabygg-3886624.html
Traumaexperts
ask to postpone Utøya-plans […] Several
bereaved experience new summercamps on the islands as a transgression. At the
same time many in AUF want to return to the island to honour the dead […] “I advise not to force decisions too heavy to bear for survivors and bereaved
families. It is important to take the time needed to really think through if
the island is to be used as before […]
Excised from http://www.aftenposten.no/nyheter/iriks/22juli/Traumeeksperter-ber-AUF-vente-med-Utoya-6935505.html
[…] “If they demolish
the cafeteria and pump-house as planned, we will also demolish parts of their
associated history. July 22 is part of our history, but it is also part of
Norway´s history” […] lost their
daughters in the atrocious attack on the island on July 22 last year. Together
with 200 other bereaved they sent letters to AUF, county and municipal
government and the Directorate for Cultural Heritage, requesting for Utøya to
be listed as a heritage site […]
[…] lost her son […] on July 22 last year. She reacts strongly to the plans for Utøya
presented today. “My message to […] is that he can forget
about rebuilding Utøya. This island should be listed. You can´t trample on the
grave of 69 people[…]have spent lots of time and resources on
the rebuilding of Utøya. I consider it naïve of them to believe that we who
have lost our children will accept this.” […] She is
supported by Utøya-survivor[…]who commented
on twitter “ […] shocked over how fast […] wants to start building work on the scene of massmurder, such politics
are inhumane” […] survived Utøya himself, but lost several
friends at the summercamp. He approves of the plans […] considers it important that Utøya continues to be actively used for
AUF´s political and social gatherings. “Some think leaving Utøya creates a memorial for the fallen […] this would be equal to making the island a trophy for the perpetrator” […]
 |
| An obvious association: "Die Toteninsel" by Swiss Symbolist painter Arnold Böcklin |
[…] Utøya is the scene of the biggest
peacetime massacre in Norway. It is our Auschwitz […] It would be
disrespectful against the dead and bereaved to arrange summercamps, parties and
recreation in such a place […] Utøya should be
preserved; it should be a site for silence and remembrance […] A monument against all the perpetrator stood for and did […] Let Utøya have the value it now has as symbol. Don´t trample on the
graves of the dead. Don´t open the scars after this national trauma. We should
let the dead rest in peace […]
 |
| Plans for New Utøya. Copyright and Credit MIR AS and Fantastic Norway AS. Click for link to project description |
[…] these acts of terror were public, but the killings of our loved ones and the grief over their loss are experienced privatly […] Utøya does not have to be listed for our loved ones to be honoured and remembered. Utøya is a crimescene, not a gravesite […] We wish that Utøya will be used to honour and remember our loved ones, by remaining a living island filled with active and dedicated youth. Excised from
 |
| Documentation of crimescene by the Norwegian Police, shown under the trial in 2012. The cafeteria building, where 13 bodies were found on the left. |
