Stavanger: The world capital of urban art

The construction worker sits exhausted in front of the fuse box, his yellow protective suit glows, his hands hold a coffee cup, he dreams a little. Next door, a young girl is holding her arms in the air, she has funny dolls on her hands. And opposite in the pub mile, a girl stands on the wall, looking guiltily down at the ground, a sad teddy bear in her hand.

Welcome to Stavanger! Welcome to perhaps the greatest art gallery in the world. What a surprise. Southern Norway has fjords and mountains, the sea and beaches, museums, hiking trails and with the Lysefjord, Preikestolen and Kjeragbolden two world-famous spectacular destinations. But Stavanger, the capital of the region and the oil capital of the whole country, has even more variety to offer. Even if when asked which city in the world has the most, most beautiful and most impressive exhibition of street art to offer, perhaps New York, Berlin or London are more likely to be mentioned - the world capital of urban art is to be found here in the scandinavian north, on Norway's stormy west coast.

Everywhere in this extremely prosperous city you can find art. Sculptures and bronze plaques, monuments and paintings. But it was the NuArt Festival that made Norway's perhaps most beautiful city became the capital of street art. Since the international street art festival was first held in 2001, Stavanger has opened up to artists from all over the world - and because the art festival is repeated every year in the first week of September, new, fantastic works of art are added every year.

Everything is public, for everyone to see and free of charge, all the way to the neigthbor suburbs of Bryne- Only the pictures out on the old World War II bunkers on the beach near the airport they don't show to visitors. The aim of the festival is to bring together artists from all over the world to create new street art in the city, stimulating a debate about art that is not only the eternal specialists in the galleries.

While during the festival weeks there will also be workshops, film screenings, art talks, exhibitions and performances, and curious sprayers and painters will be able to observe how they create new street art images, what remains is always there to be seen. The tiny little girl old the old nazi concrete, smilingt to the waves of the ocean. The giant guitarrist with his fork guitar on the small scyscraper. The two blind tennis players. The blood red heart on a wall next to the beach.

And it is always impressive. Especially in Stavanger, a city that is not spoiled by the weather, because rain and storm fronts often come in from the Atlantic, the colourfulness of the facades is particularly striking. What has to be sprayed secretly in other cities, has here the official permission of the authorities - with the result that there are no nasty graffiti on the walls, but only remarkably beautiful and high quality pictures. With the "Kannik fotgjengerundergang street art" there is even a tourist program of its own that passes the best pictures. On the way you can see everything that you can imagine as art: Glued walls, painted trees, graffiti, drawings on walls, cartoon characters, stencil art and also political statements or criticism.

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