– For my part, it was nice to be able to look back on everything that happened in peace. I never made it along the way because there was so much that I couldn’t breathe. But now I got the composure to look back on it. That’s what Sara Baban says when news asks her what it was like to write a book about everything that happened. She is one of the actors behind the controversial play Ways of Seeing, which was first staged in autumn 2018. The play was created by Baban, Hanan Benammar, Pia Maria Roll and Marius von der Fehr. I was going to say storm. The book on Ways of Seeing tells the artists’ story of the vision for the play and the experience of the events that followed. “Ways of Seeing” at Black Box Theater in Oslo. Photo: Leif Gabrielsen The theater that led to the resignation of the Minister of Justice When the performance premiered in the autumn of 2018, none of the artists could have imagined what part of Norwegian cultural history the theater would become. Their idea was based on a desire and attempt to “map the networks that have an interest in making Norway a more racist society”. Pia Maria Roll Jessen, the theater director behind the play “Ways of Seeing”. Photo: Ole Berg-Rusten / NTB As a visual and political move, they used pictures and video recordings of the houses of several well-known people in the Norwegian public. Among them was the house of then Minister of Justice Tor Mikkel Wara (Frp) and his family. The move provoked Wara’s wife, Laila Anita Bertheussen, who sued the creators behind Ways of Seeing and the theater manager at Black Box for violating the right to privacy. – In this type of large public conflict, things are simplified and reduced to stupid details as in our case, for example whether we had secretly filmed or not. So one of our motivations was to go back to the complexity and bring out some of the many voices who have thought, said and written interestingly about the show and the case, says Roll. This is the Bertheussen case Laila Anita Bertheussen is the cohabitant of former Minister of Justice Tor Mikkel Wara (Frp) and was sentenced on 15 January 2021 to one year and eight months in prison for attacking democracy. She was charged under Section 115 of the Criminal Code for attacking the activities of the highest state bodies, after several threats and vandalism against her own and Wara’s home in the winter of 2018/2019. FRP politicians Ingvil Smines Tybring-Gjedde and Christian Tybring-Gjedde will also receive threatening letters, according to the indictment. The judgment stated that Bertheussen presented the threat in a way that gave the impression that they came from the people behind the play Ways of Seeing. Bertheussen originally appealed when the verdict was handed down. She later withdrew her appeal, but has continued to plead not guilty. Bertheussen reported Black Box Teater in Oslo for having filmed their house for the performance Ways of Seeing. This case was dropped after a short time. The report was quickly dropped, but throughout the autumn there were several “attacks” on Wara’s home. Powder in the mailbox, threatening letters and a car on fire were among them. 14 March 2019 was a turning point Bertheussen was arrested after a fire in the family’s car. About two weeks later, Tor Mikkel Wara resigned as Minister of Justice. Only then did the artists behind Ways of Seeing feel that the media understood the seriousness of the matter. Sara Baben and Hanan Benammar during the trial against Laila Anita Bertheussen. Photo: Ole Berg-Rusten / NTB – We understood very well that these were fabricated stories that had a political motivation. But the journalists should have realized that before us. That is what journalists should be trained to do: expose how power operates. That’s their job, says Roll. – But do you understand that some criticize you for secretly filming the houses of these politicians? – We are ready to take criticism on it. It may well be that we were wrong and would not have done the same now. But that’s not what this is about. It’s about the fact that if you don’t have a public that manages to expose false narratives about those you disagree with, then you don’t have a conversation, Roll replies and adds: – We are open to criticism of our methods. But when someone criticizes us based on lies, such as that we had called the Minister of Justice a Nazi, then it is not criticism – then it is a false narrative. The verdict was handed down on 15 January 2021. Bertheussen was sentenced to one year and eight months in prison for attacking democracy. The court also found evidence that the motive for the actions was Bertheussen’s commitment to the show Ways of Seeing. – The defendant used all available channels to create awareness about “Ways of Seeing”. The intensity of Laila Anita Bertheussen’s involvement illuminates the motive in this case, said judge Yngvil Thue in the reading of the verdict. In all the noise that followed the theatrical performance, the creators behind Ways of Seeing felt that their message was being drowned out. – When journalists called us, we felt that they already had a clear idea of what had happened. It felt like our story was drowned because we felt we didn’t come to terms with our experience of what had actually happened, says Baban. The book is made up of several essays that shed light on the events from different angles. It contains contributions from, among others, Dagsavisen commentator Hege Ulstein, columnist Mohamed Abdi, author Jonas Eika, art professor Asbjørn Grøstad and Supreme Court judge Ketil Lund, who in his time led the Lund Commission – and is also involved in the piece. In addition, the book also contains the entire original script. – People deserve to see all aspects of what happened, says Benammar. – A witch hunt Professor Tore Slaatta in media studies at Oslo Met agrees. Professor Tore Slaatta at Oslo Met. Photo: Private – In this case, no one stood up for art to be complex and full of contradictions. It just turned into a witch hunt, and the artists didn’t deserve that. Slaatta is, among other things, the main author of a report on artists’ freedom of movement and has become involved in the debate around Ways of Seeing. The events surrounding the performance showed how wrong it can go when political circles make artists or works of art their main enemies, he believes. – Politicians will probably be more careful in the future. Even if one were to be opposed to state-supported art, one should take art seriously. He also points a finger at the media’s coverage: – Neither the media nor commentators understood what the artists and Black Box were exposed to before PST brought charges against Bertheussen. It was easy to be in hindsight, but we must learn from the fact that society can lose its way in this way. But from small and large tragedies, lessons also come, the professor points out. – The book testifies that art survives even the strangest things and will remain as a reference work to the strange events that haunted us around the turn of the year in 2018 and 2019. Not only news’s cultural commentator, Inger Merete Hobbelstad, disagrees that the coverage was one-sided. – It is not entirely true when the theater group says that they stood alone against the superior force. Heavy, national media were on the artists’ side, she says. The storm surrounding Ways of Seeing exposed some unpleasant aspects of society, believes news’s cultural commentator, Inger Merete Hobbelstad. But the artists also received a lot of support from the public, she points out. Photo: INA STRØM Hobbelstad points out that several media demanded that then Prime Minister Erna Solberg apologize after suggesting that they were responsible if politicians were attacked as a result of their art. But the storm surrounding Ways of Seeing exposed some unpleasant aspects of society, explains Hobbelstad. – A minister and the partner of another minister are discussing how to use their connections to take the financial basis of life from a theater group that has political views and methods they don’t like. It is serious, she says and adds: – In a democracy, no one should fear that those in power will come after them if they do not like their message. It was the law firm Elden that represented Bertheussen’s defenders in the trial. news has been in contact with representatives from the law firm, who do not wish to comment on the case. Laila Bertheussen in court. Illustration: Esther Maria Bjørneboe Back at the Black Box Theater on Grünerløkka in Oslo, Benammar, Roll and Baban are preparing for two new performances of the play which will be performed next week. We ask them if they think the book is the final piece in the great puzzle that is Ways of Seeing. – We don’t know that. You never know what can happen when it comes to Ways of Seeing. We have learned that something new can always happen. But hopefully, says Benammar on behalf of the three artists.
ttn-69
– It was so much that I couldn’t breathe – news Culture and entertainment
