Bybanen in Bergen is the first light-rail system of its kind in Norway and will serve as the backbone in the city’s future infrastructure for collective transport. The first phase will be opened for traffic in the summer of 2010. Bybanen has its own art program which receives significant financial support from KORO’s (Public Art Norway) program for art projects in outdoor public spaces.

The Good Meeting Place
Art can contribute to creating identity for the stops along Bybanen’s route. We hope Bybanen’s art program will inspire contemplation and experience. As a meeting place for people from a wide variety of backgrounds, Bybanen offers an intriguing opportunity for artistic investigation of the function of public space. Art can build identity and relationships and can represent a counterweight to the alienation often associated with the transience and at times hectic pace of mass transport.

Variety, vitality and innovation are central concepts in Bybanen’s art program which aims to provide a wide specter of contemporary art of high quality. A vigorous dynamic will be created by the inclusion of changing, temporary installations alongside permanent works.

The City of Bergen Public Art Commission has accepted the plan for Bergen Light Rail Art Program. The plan, drawn up by the Bybanen Art Committee, consists of separate projects to be implemented successively. some will be completed by the opening of Bybanen in the summer of 2010, others will be realized afterwards. In june 2009 an international prequalification for a limited competition in one of the projects, Florida, was announced. Another project, Tunellene (The tunnells) has also commenced. ______________________________________________________________________________

In the summer 2009 an international prequalification for a limited competition was announced for Bergen Bybane Art Project Strømmen;  monumental art project which will be realized in Strømmen, close to the Bybanen stop Florida.

By the deadline for the prequalification round, announced summer 2009, we had received 106 applications for participation in a closed (limited) competition. The applicants hold a high professional level. During the coming month, the Art Committee will nominate five of the applicants for a closed competition. Both individuals and groups are among the candidates, of which 25 come from Norway and some 50 from the rest of Europe. Twenty seven are from the USA and Canada, whereas two candidates are from Australia and one from Asia. Sixteen countries are represented in this material.

The names of the five participating artists or groups will be announced soon. 

The budget for this project is NOK 3 million and it is is realized thanks to a generous donation from the foundation Sparebankstiftelsen DnB NOR, together with public funding. It is expected to be completed in 2011.