Street Art and renewable energy at Utsira

The Lighthouse on Utsira is a landmark and the main attradction on the Island

While I was travelling in europe this summer, something happend on Utsira in Norway. Utsira is a small Island far out in the north sea and is the smallest municipal community in Norway. The population is about 215 on about 6 square kilometers (2 sq miles) land. The first days of august street artists from UK, Norway and Spain transformed the Island with their art. Stik (uk), JPS (uk), 3Fountains or 3F (uk), ATM (uk), Pichi&Avo (spain) and LaStaa (norway) painted on literally everything on the Island, e.g Stik painted on two 26 m high wind turbins and LaStaa painted two silo towers on a farm house.

Hopscotch by 3F or 3Fountains

TOROS: The Oslo Stew and the Utsira Lobster Soup! LaStaa transformed two farm house silos into soup boxes inpired by Warhol and Campbell's soup

Sheep with wool knittet with traditional patterns by LaStaa

The ferry trip to Utsira takes about 1 hour and 10 minutes. And just off the boat I'll meet this sheep from LaStaa. The ferry usually comes in on the northern part of the Island ( the northern bay) and I am heading for the south bay to "Sildaloftet" a hostel on the very South edge of the Island. The Island is perfect for biking and the is only one real road, and this road is the North - South connection. In addition there are a few small side roads. It takes about 10 - 15 minutes to cross the island by bike, but the street art along the way, requires several stops.



War victim by 3F (3Fountains)

Fox by JPS

Stencil work on a private house by 3F (3Fountains)

A heart constructor by 3F (3Fountains)

The white building is 'Sildaloftet', an old fish factory is now a great place to stay at Utsira. I'ts beautifully located on the south tip of the Island

View from 'Sildaloftet'. Work by LaStaa

Modalities of art! A coop by Pichi&avo and 3F (3Fountains)

Batman and Loki seen on 'Sildaloftet' by JPS

Girl in traditional costume, painting a traditional pattern in a traditional environment by LaStaa

At the south side of the Island, a small side road leads to the eastern part of the Island, toward the windmills. There is two wind turbins on the island and since 2004 the windmills have provided stable power supplies for 10 homes. I've heard that Stik has painted the towers of the turbins, but again several stops are made on the way.

Work by JPS

Work by 3F (3Fountains)

The artis ATM is known for painting endangered birds and Utsira is known for beeing a good place for birdwatching

Finally the towers comes up, bu it's quite a challenge to photograph the works by Stik because of the light from the sun created a strong baklight that day, but I tried.

tower 1 painted by Stik

Tower 2 painted by Stik

Windmills and windpower are becoming more and more common, and provide carbon dioxide free power. But the wind is unreliable, and stabile energy supplies are one of the preconditions for a sustainable society. So what do you do when the wind stops blowing? They have solved this problem at Utsira (on a small scale). Surplus wind energy is used to make hydrogen in an 'on-site' electrolyser. The manufactured hydrogen is compressed and stored in tanks, and when needed, fed into the plant’s fuel cell, or a hydrogenbased generator, to provide the homes with power until the wind resumes blowing. The plant is completely emissions free. The only residual is water. The significance of Utsira is that it’s a model for sustainable renewable energy supplies of the future, and the world’s first hydrogen society.

Work by LaStaa

Statoil is the main owner of the wind/hydrogen power plant and I wonder why this idea haven't been developed further at Utsira since 2004 and to other parts of norway. Our coastline is about 103,000 km long. My theory is of course that since Statoil is the major and biggest oil company in Norway, it's not in their interest to develop and use this technology 'big scale'.

After visiting the windmills, the trip goes west on the Island, to the lighthouses. They buildt two lighthouses around 1843 and one of them (the red lighthouse above) is still in use. The other one still stands, but is inactive.

The old lighthouse at Utsira

Inside the old lighthouse, LaStaa has made is own version of the official norwegian coat of arms were the lion holds an oil pump instead of an axe

Near the lighthouse, Pichi&Avo has painted a portrait of Usira's first female mayor: Aasa Helgesen (mayor from 1926 to 1928). The work is made after a bronze statue of the mayor.

I hade a great time on Utsira and the island is really beautiful. During my stay the weather conditions chaged rapidly, from sunny and warm to rain, thunder and strong wind. Climate can be harsh on the Island at times, I guess, but people I met was very friendly and welcoming. I photographed about 35 unique pieces of street art at the Island, some are unfortunatly gone because of demolition work and some I probably didn't find and are still there to discover.