My experiences with BEK – Bergen Center for Electronic Art – are the complete opposite from those described in the last entry: It is amazing how they helped me, both with personal knowledge and advice as well as with equipment: I could borrow a professional audio recorder and a super tripod which I could hardly have transported here by airplane. And their animation expert helped me realizing my first little animated cartoon (a ship’s course on an ancient map) within a video. Moreover the Center is characterized by the openness and friendliness of its staff members – mostly artists themselves – who make you feel welcome and take your artistic issues seriously. Thanks BEK!
Bergen University (Universitetet i Bergen, UiB) is also a source of valuable information and footage: The university library ordered the books I needed on Norse history and the Vinland subject from the universities of Trondheim and Oslo, the Maritime Museum (also part of UiB) opened its library specialised on navigation for me and an expert for viking ships from CMS (Centre for Medieval Studies) provided advice as well as his complete data base of ship imagery! Thanks UiB!
And next week I will meet with the advisor of the Bergen University Museum that houses the cultural and natural history collections to see if we have an overlap in interest.
