Bergen International Wood Festival 2012

Bergen International Wood Festival (BIWF) has its focus on the use of wood as material, and its constructive and moulding qualities. As a part of this we arrange a bi-annual competition in construction of experimental spatial structures in wood. Designers, architects and artists from all over the world are hereby invited to a grand competition in May 2012 in Bergen!

Read the invitation here (pdf).

Theme
This year's theme is "the portal". Vågsbunnen will, after closing of this year's wood festival, become a
venue for Bergen Jazz Festival for ten days. During this time the sites will be visited by thousands of
spectators. BIWF, which is held the week before the Jazz Festival intends to offer exciting, innovative
and stunning structures which will supplement the festival and become its stage design. The choice
of theme "portal" allows the wooden structures to welcome people to the festival and to add a new
dimension to the old city structure.

Site
This year's festival will be held in Vågsbunnen, the historic city centre near the Fishmarket and Harbour.
The constructions will all be built within its ancient streets and places. The site will, in other words,
be accessible to the public at all times - participants must keep their worksites tidy, pay particular
attention to on-site safety and be heedful of curious bystanders, local deliveries to shops in the area
and local businesses.

A new feature for this biennale is the collaboration with the City Conservation Office and the music festival Nattjazz. This means that the structures will form part of the music festival after BIWF itself is over - quite literally forming the portals into the festival area. Nattjazz (www.nattjazz.no) takes place back-to-back with BIWF, 23 May - 2 June.

Participants
The participants will consist of teams of 3 persons. The invitation will be distributed both nationally
and internationally to institutions of design, architecture and fine art. In addition to the competition,
the programme also has a social and networking dimension. We also want you to get to know Bergen
and its surroundings! This is the fourth consecutive Festival, and so far we have had participants from
26 different countries.

Economy
BIWF covers food and accommodation for participants, and if necessary, local transportation in Bergen.
The participants must cover travel expenses to/from Bergen.

Exhibition
The completed constructions are the property of the Municipality of Bergen. The works will remain
on the site two weeks. The Bergen International Wood Festival exhibition has, during the last three
festivals, been a great success.

The process and projects will be documented. This documentation will be made available to the
participants after the project period is over.
More information: www.bergenwood.no

Registration deadline: 20 April 2012
Sketches deadline: 31 April 2012

Registration and sketches must be submitted to:
anders.berg@khib.no tel. +47 907 39 322
petter.bergerud@khib.no tel. +47 994 14 107