Protect or eliminate – salmon splits local community in two – NRK Vestland

– I intend to give in a little on time, hire Olve Grotle (H), mayor of Sunnfjord.

It is Thursday morning and the Sunnfjord City Council is in session. There are several items on the agenda, but everyone knows why the mayor will be generous with time.

The reason is simple. It is a case that is much more than politics, but it also hides deep existential questions: What are we going to live on? And to?

What is it about? Stone figure of a salmon 65 meters long.

A bridge is going to be built and something has to give: the salmon sculpture or a part of the football field beyond.

There is no room for both.

And that is why there are riots in Førde. With torchlight processions, “mobilization of the heart”, counter-demonstrations, outbursts against “cultural women” and denunciations of a “sports mafia” that held elected officials hostage.

I can’t move, just ruin

The fronts have been so steep that the daily Firda spoke in favor of postponing the entire decision, “so that the Førde community can advance in a good way.”

The municipal board begins with the same appeal.

– We need a timeout, Åsmund Berthelsen (SV) said.

The Green Party joined (“until all the stones are turned”), but both were rejected.

Now it was better to solve the case. After five years of deliberations and political revenge, that was enough. (See the result of the vote below).

How about just moving the salmon instead of destroying it? No, the mayor had explained. One of the paradoxes of the Copyright Law is that the municipality does not have the right to move the work, only to destroy it.

Førde – a social democratic fiction

Gunn Merete Paulsen (V) was among those who voted to protect salmon.

– For me, salmon is part of Førde’s cultural heritage and a creator of identity for a rapidly growing and developing city, he says.

The Førde salmon dispute cannot be understood without two underlying stories.

One is the amount of traffic and the need for a new bridge after the number of inhabitants in Førde “exploded”.

The other is related to the reputation of ‘Norway’s ugliest city’, most recently repeated in a survey in Dagens Næringsliv in 2007.

A seal that the city has struggled to shed since the 1980s.

“Many rural towns in Sogn og Fjordane are so insipid that one wonders if there is an office in a city, in a long dark corridor, behind huge gray brick walls, where they work day and night to put the tasteless in the system”wrote journalist Jan Nyberg, when Bergens Tidende reported on the cities of Sogn og Fjordane in 1988.

The worst was beyond Førde:

“More than one people, Førde is today a social democratic fiction, created by the idea that things are the goal of all people, rather than the goal of all things is the human being”, Nyberg wrote.

When Danish artist Jørn Rønnau the following year came up with the idea of ​​a salmon sculpture along the river that winds through the center of Førde, it was well received.

Now the Fordians could show that the automobile and the social democratic logic had not invaded all aspects of their lives and that they still had the common sense to build small cathedrals.

With “Miljøkunstveka 1989” as a springboard, primary school pupils and teachers were sent to participate in the big charity event, a concept that the Danish artist was unfamiliar with, but quickly became enthusiastic.

– One night I realized that it was no longer just my job, but also the job of the inhabitants. We had created it together, he says in Firda.

Two years later it was complete. The mayor threw away a blanket and the fisheye looked forward. Would the rest of the country see how beautiful Førde could be?

A signature of granite against the sky

– Miljøkunstveka 1989 set the agenda for the development of “Fagre Førde”, says Hans Jakob Reite, who last week took the lead in the torchlight procession for the conservation of Laksen.

– Sculpture must be cleaned, cared for, cared for and rebuilt in the collective consciousness, says Helge Johnsen, calling Laksen a reminder that Førde can be “more than just commercial houses, cars and commerce.

This spring, he resigned as a political commentator in Firda, after a 30-year service.

– The salmon is a signature written in granite against the sky, and then it is seriously discussed to remove it? Such a decision will be a choice of value that will make the party’s speeches about the cultural city of Førde shameful, he says.

But how good is Førde at taking care of salmon?

– It is fair to say that the municipality has not used the potential of having such a sculpture in the city, says Leiar from Sunnfjord Labor Party, Helge Robert Midtbø.

– Personally, I don’t have a strong relationship with sculpture, but I think it’s great to have such a work of art in Førde, and I have a great understanding of the arguments to keep it where it is today.

He noticed Laksen after 20 years.

Still, on Thursday he voted for the soccer field, along with the rest of his party group.

The same did the representative of the municipal council of Frp, Terje Helgheim.

– Only now have I noticed Laksen, he said, when he spoke.

He was followed by Kjell Navelsaker, who resigned from the Conservatives last year:

– I didn’t know about Laksen even though I’ve been bidding here for 20 years, he said.

A few hours later it was time for the vote. When the votes were counted, they were divided 26-19.

In favor of the soccer field.

And so it was when Laksen in Førde was slow. OR?

It happens like a phoenix

– Salmon is a neglected work of art that emerges like a Phoenix when those who mean a lot get something to gather around, says Elin Haugen, who has been involved in soccer.

– Block Y is a parallel. The difference is that very few know that salmon exists.

Does Laksen still have a Phoenix pants on him? Can be.

In the decision of the municipal board meeting, there is a question for the Norwegian Public Roads Administration if they can pry off the bridge road outside or over Laksen.

– If you haven’t received national attention before, then you have received it now, says Tore Fossen (H), who voted to take care of salmon.

He adds:

– For me, Laksen is the same as a painting on the wall: I don’t look at it every day, but the day the painting is awake, it will be one thing.