Sophia University Institute of Comparative Culture and the European Institute present a talk and a film Screening with Dr. Elisabeth Brun
April 21, 2025 / 18:00-20:00
Room 301, building 10, Sophia University
In person only / No registration required
Talk title “Utopian Signals : Reactivating a 1980´s Ecotopia through Archive & Media Art”
Dr. Elisabeth Brun will talk about the the International Nyksund Project—an EU-funded yet largely forgotten ecotopian experiment that took place in an abandoned fishing village in Northern Norway during the 1980s. Initiated by pedagogues, engineers, and architects from Technische Universität West Berlin, the project was both a lived utopia – an international eco-city for youth - and a testing ground—a site where youth pedagogy, environmental activism, technological innovation, and alternative living practices converged with local culture. Using images, videos, and VR works Nyksund Reloaded (NODES Collective 2022-25), explores how past utopian desires remain legible in contemporary ecological and artistic imaginaries, resonating with what Ruth Levitas calls “Utopia as method” – a tool for critically probing alternative futures.
After the talk we will screen a short film-essay Big Tech Blues (2025) (see below).
Elisabeth is a filmmaker, visual artist, and researcher working at the intersection of media theory, artistic research, and public space. She specializes in how technology, mediation, and form shape cultural and ecological imaginaries. She holds a PhD in Media Studies from the University of Oslo, 20 years of industry experience as a documentary filmmaker, and a post-master’s in Public Art from the Royal Institute of Art in Stockholm.
Currently a visiting scholar at The School of Arts, Design and Media at Kristiania University College, Oslo, Elisabeth’s work spans film, installation, and 3D media. Her films and artworks have been shown at Oberhausen International Short Film Festival, Seattle Art Museum, and Lofoten International Art Festival, among others. She has received awards including the Ivan Juritz Prize for Creative Experiment and the Emerging Artist Award at Mimesis Doc Fest.
About “BIG TECH BLUES”
Big Tech Blues is a film-essay reflecting on life in rural communities in the age of Tech Giants. When the filmmaker’s abandoned childhood school in a small village in Northern Norway was bought up by Elon Musk’s SpaceX Starlink programme, the event sparked reflections on what is at stake as rapidly evolving digital technology infiltrates all aspects of human life.
Weaving personal narrative with existential reflections on freedom, nostalgia, and progress, the film explores dilemmas of place, digital technology, and the significance of bodily experience for how we remember and attach to the places that we call "home". Both perspective and sound are central to this exploration, as the film asks: what is the sound of a vibrant place?
Big Tech Blues offers an insider’s view on the subtle encroachment of digital industry into rural areas, exploring the double bind of technology: our dependence on it, as we confront its consequences.
The film is developed with visual artist Eivind H. Natvig (cinematography), with music by Alexander Rishaug.
This event is organized by John Williams (Professor, DES, Sophia University).