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The Cultural Frontline: Inside Norway’s future library

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Photo: Future Library, Oslo Photo

09/07/2022 GMT

Inside Norway’s future library

BBC World Service - The Cultural Frontline, Inside Norway’s future library

How a forest near Oslo is being transformed into a future library

Artists, musicians and writers reflect on the mythical and often magical nature of forests.

In Nordmarka forest just outside of Oslo, one thousand trees have been planted to supply paper for a special anthology of books to be printed in one hundred years' time. Every year over the next century, a leading writer is selected to contribute a text, with the writings held in trust, unpublished, until the year 2114. Writers so far have included Margaret Atwood, Han Kang and David Mitchell. Catharina Moh speaks to two of the creative forces behind the project, the artist Katie Paterson and the urban planner Anne Beate Hovind.

It's often advised that you should talk to your plants, but what about playing them music? We revisit Barcelona's Liceu Opera House where, in 2020 following lockdown, Spanish conceptual artist Eugenio Ampudia created a very unusual new performance: a special concert for an audience of 2,292 plants. 

The award-winning Australian writer Robbie Arnott discusses his novel The Rain Heron and reflects on how the forests in his home state of Tasmania have shaped his outlook as a writer. 

Producer: Sofie Vilcins and Simon Richardson

(Photo: Future Library, Oslo.  Photo Credits: Rio Gandara / Helsingin Sanomat)

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