All posts tagged: Norse

Nice Surprise Festival / Re-Cap

Nice Surprise Festival / Re-Cap

As the ‘Nice Surprise’ Street Art Festival wrapped up, Pobel’s impressive mural on Stavanger silos brought a bit of theater and activism to the fore. With a short lead time and a lot to learn, this first-time run festival was a heartfelt invitation to twelve talented artists from around the world, asking them to share their creativity from a variety of different vantage points in the street art/graffiti parlance with folks in Stavanger. It’s been a journey of unveiling and discovery, and here at BSA, it’s been our pleasure to travel alongside, capturing every mural and sharing it with you. Today, we give you a one-stop recap of all the pieces from the first ‘Nice Surprise’ festival.

Tito Ferrara (Brazil). Nice Surprise! Festival. Stavanger, Norway. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

We want to say thanks to Atle Østrem, Pøbel, Tore Pang, Izabell Ekeland, and Stine Oliversen for their gracious hospitality, enthusiasm, and attention to detail. We also wish to express our gratitude to Ian Cox, Tor Ståle, and Ludvig Hart for sharing their photographs with us. Thank you also to the great people we talked with on the streets and at our formal presentation at the theater. Perhaps we’ll see you next year!

Tito Ferrara. Detail. Nice Surprise! Festival. Stavanger, Norway. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Pøbel. (Norway). Nice Surprise Festival. Stavanger, Norway. (photo © Ian Cox)
Pøbel. Detail/WIP. Nice Surprise Festival. Stavanger, Norway. (photo © Ian Cox)
Kjell Pahr Iversen (Norway) & Atle Østrem (Norway). Nice Surprise Festival. Stavanger, Norway. (photo © Ludvig Hart)
Kjell Pahr Iversen & Atle Østrem. Nice Surprise Festival. Stavanger, Norway. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Kjell Pahr Iversen & Atle Østrem. Detial. Nice Surprise Festival. Stavanger, Norway. (photo © Ludvig Hart)
Gary Taxali (Canada). Nice Surprise! Festival. Stavanger, Norway. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Gary Taxali (Canada). Nice Surprise! Festival. Stavanger, Norway. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Gary Taxali (Canada). Nice Surprise! Festival. Stavanger, Norway. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Tamara Alves (Portugal). Nice Surprise! Festival. Stavanger, Norway. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Tamara Alves. Detail. Nice Surprise! Festival. Stavanger, Norway. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Tamara Alves. Detail. Nice Surprise! Festival. Stavanger, Norway. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Doze Green. (USA). Nice Surprise! Festival. Stavanger, Norway. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Doze Green. Detail. Nice Surprise! Festival. Stavanger, Norway. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
TelmoMiel. (The Netherlands). Nice Surprise! Festival. Stavanger, Norway. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
TelmoMiel. Detail. Nice Surprise! Festival. Stavanger, Norway. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Belin. (Spain). Nice Surprise! Festival. Stavanger, Norway. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Sofles (Australia) Mathis (Norway). Nice Surprise! Festival. Stavanger, Norway. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Sofles & Mathis. Detail. Nice Surprise! Festival. Stavanger, Norway. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Sofles (Australia). Nice Surprise! Festival. Stavanger, Norway. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Sofles. Detail. Nice Surprise! Festival. Stavanger, Norway. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Sofles, Smug One, Milliana, and Norse. Nice Surprise! Festival. Stavanger, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)
Sofles, Smug One, Milliana, and Norse. Nice Surprise! Festival. Stavanger, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)
Sofles, Smug One, Milliana, and Norse. Nice Surprise! Festival. Stavanger, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)
Sofles, Smug One, Milliana, and Norse. Nice Surprise! Festival. Stavanger, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)
Nychos. (Austria). Nice Surprise! Festival. Stavanger, Norway. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Nychos. Detail. Nice Surprise! Festival. Stavanger, Norway. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

In case you missed any of them, here are our postings from the festival:

Nice Surprise! Stavanger, Norway – Sofles & Friends Paint a Train for New Festival

Sofles & Mathis – Nice Surprise – Stavanger

Nychos Surprises Surreally – Nice Surprise Festival, Stavanger, Norway

Doze Green Spirits – Nice Surprise Festival – Stavanger

Belin and Ragnar Lodbrok: Tribute to a Viking in Battle at Nice Surprise Festival – Stavanger

Tamara Alves, a Car Engulfed in Flames – Nice Surprise Festival – Stavanger

“Re-Shaping Reality” with Telmo Miel at Nice Surprise Festival in Stavanger

Toilet Paper, Sparrows, and Neighbors: Telmo Miel Pt 2 in Stavanger

Gary Taxali at the Podium and on the Wall at Nice Surprise Festival – Stavanger

Tito Ferrara, Two Jaguars, and a Brazilian in Stavanger – Nice Surprise Festival

Faces from the Streets of Stavanger

Taxali Sails Into Street Art at “Nice Surprise” – Part 2

Unveiling Atle Østrem: A Fusion of Urban Narratives and Personal Expression

Unveiling Atle Østrem: A Fusion of Urban Narratives and Personal Expression

Modest Stencils to Towering Facades: Pøbel’s Path to Creation, Curation, Community

A Surprise Collab on Three Walls: Kjell Pahr Iversen & Atle Østrem in Stavanger

Norwegian Generations: Kjell Pahr Iversen & Atle Østrem Create Triptych in Stavanger :Part II

From Grain Silos to Grand Canvases: Pøbel’s Tribute to Norway’s Farming Frontline

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Nice Surprise! Stavanger, Norway – Sofles & Friends Paint a Train for New Festival

Nice Surprise! Stavanger, Norway – Sofles & Friends Paint a Train for New Festival

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.


Sofles, Smug One, Milliana, and Norse. Nice Surprise! Festival. Stavanger, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

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.

Sofles, Smug One, Milliana, and Norse. Nice Surprise! Festival. Stavanger, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

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.

Sofles, Smug One, Milliana, and Norse. Nice Surprise! Festival. Stavanger, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)
Sofles, Smug One, Milliana, and Norse. Nice Surprise! Festival. Stavanger, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)
Sofles, Smug One, Milliana, and Norse. Nice Surprise! Festival. Stavanger, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)
Sofles, Smug One, Milliana, and Norse. Nice Surprise! Festival. Stavanger, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)
Sofles, Smug One, Milliana, and Norse. Nice Surprise! Festival. Stavanger, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)
Sofles, Smug One, Milliana, and Norse. Nice Surprise! Festival. Stavanger, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)
Sofles, Smug One, Milliana, and Norse. Nice Surprise! Festival. Stavanger, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)
Sofles, Smug One, Milliana, and Norse. Nice Surprise! Festival. Stavanger, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)
Sofles, Smug One, Milliana, and Norse. Nice Surprise! Festival. Stavanger, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)
Sofles, Smug One, Milliana, and Norse. Nice Surprise! Festival. Stavanger, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)
Sofles, Smug One, Milliana, and Norse. Nice Surprise! Festival. Stavanger, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)
Sofles, Smug One, Milliana, and Norse. Nice Surprise! Festival. Stavanger, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)
Sofles, Smug One. Nice Surprise! Festival. Stavanger, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)
Milliana, and Norse. Nice Surprise! Festival. Stavanger, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)
Seagulls like to build their nests next to the tracks to keep warm from the heat that emanates from the rails and the stones. The trains move at a very slow pace in this area going in and out from the workshop buildings. The area is not too busy with almost no predators to fend off. Nice Surprise! Festival. Stavanger, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)
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