BLOOD TRACE

Blodklubb is the club for everyone who has blood! It is a series of performances where each performance has its own dramaturgy and agenda. With humor and limited respect for taboos, the relationship between culture and genetics is examined, with the Sami as the pivot point.

Blood Trails at the National Library is a special version on the occasion of the 200th anniversary of Norwegian emigration to America. It will be an interactive party evening when Blodklubb uses the stately rooms of the National Library in surprising ways. It starts with the audience meeting an immigration desk that defines their destination. The performance continues with musical surprises, digital participation, personal stories and competitions. The bar is open all evening and after the performance there will be an immigrant party where DJ Bendiks plays until the doors close.

Blodspror entertains with its dilemmas of emigration to areas inhabited by indigenous peoples. Another word for it is colonization. Who do you choose to be when you get to start over? How do you relate to those who already live there? And where do we go today when we can't or won't stay where we are?  

Background
In the century between 1825 and 1925, approximately 850,000 people with Norwegian citizenship emigrated to the United States. Among these were an unknown number of Sami, but so many that today we estimate that there are between 30,000 and 70,000 Sámericans.

Many viewed with great concern that the fledgling nation-state of Norway was losing its young brains to the United States. Both the state and private sectors ran advertising campaigns to get the emigrants to contribute within Norway's borders instead. Not without success: In the same century, the number of Norwegians settling in the north, in the Norwegian part of Sápmi, increased by over 900%.