Experience the synergy of history and contemporary creativity during this summer’s Nice Surprise street art festival with BSA in this Norwegian city. Join us as we celebrate Stavanger’s 900-year milestone with a new cadre of artists and programming that continues the modern heritage of this fortunate city on the North Sea with street art and graffiti.

The street art community is abuzz with anticipation for the newly sprung Nice Surprise! street art festival taking center stage in Stavanger, Norway (pop 150,000). Stavanger, as a champion for street art and graffiti, is perhaps better known for Nuart, the long-running transformative event that breathed new life into the city, attracting acclaimed artists from around the world and elevating intellectual discourse studying graffiti and street art. Now the city is giving the seal of approval to Nice Surprise to bring its own distinctive blend of artistic brilliance and community-based camaraderie to this oil capital of Scandinavia.

Nice Surprise likes to say that it is a festival organized by artists for artists. Pøbel and Atle Østrem are artists, co-founders, and part of the team. They are internationally known as pioneers and proponents of the street art scene and have been active for at least two decades. Nice Surprise is working this summer to bring some high-profile international and local artists – and some surprises – to the city from June through September.

In addition to being a meeting place for like-minded individuals passionate about street art, Stavanger is preparing to commemorate its 900-year anniversary. Nice Surprise will embrace historical neighborhoods like Pedersgata, Domkirken, and Ullandhaug to bring fresh ideas and art into these cherished locations. By merging contemporary street art with the city’s strong cultural legacy, the festival hopes to honor Stavanger’s past while sparking excitement with relevant new works that blend artistic brilliance with historical reverence, possibly provoking some introspection.

This summer BSA will be in Stavanger to bring you images and developments of Nice Surprise as an international and local roster of names come through town. Today we begin with a collaborative train piece by Sofles, Smug One, Milliana, and Norse. The train is what we believe is to be the first legal whole train to be put in regular traffic, where it will run over the entire festival period.

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