Velferden is an arena for artistic expression rooted in the site-specific context of the historic mine Titania AS in Sokndal. Since its founding in 2008, Velferden has served as a meeting point between contemporary art and the unique character of Sokndal as a place. Over time, the scope of Velferden has expanded to include interdisciplinary dialogue across art, culture, science, society, and industry.

In 2023, we launched the multidisciplinary research program Avgang / Deponi, focusing on the monumental tailings left by local mining companies. The program emerged from a desire to provide our community with a deeper understanding of the environmental situation in Sokndal and other places like it. At first glance, the massive dunes of sand waste create a surreal, almost seductive landscape, a desert appearing where none should exist. But these dunes are just a small representation of a global problem, one full of complexity and questions waiting to be explored.

As we began to investigate, fundamental questions arose: Who bears ultimate responsibility for this waste? 

As we began to investigate, fundamental questions arose: Who bears ultimate responsibility for this waste? Why do we as a society allow companies to deposit waste on such a massive scale in natural environments? How do the rapid and violent changes to the landscapes affect our relationships to nature? And, crucially for us as artists, what role can creative practice play in such a context?

Approaching these challenges from an artistic and cross disciplinary dialogue allowed us to engage with the place and its problems in a nuanced way. While acknowledging the scale of the issues, we aimed to move beyond polarized narratives of industry versus environment, instead mapping the complexities, contradictions, and potentials inherent in the situation.

Avgang / Deponi, which loosely translates as Waste / Deposit, carries the connotation of potential. Like a deposit at a bank, waste holds future value. Inspired by the idea that "waste is a design flaw," we embarked on a three-year journey of fieldwork, meetings, scientific surveys, workshops, experiments and artistic production. Like all Velferden activities, Avgang / Deponi is open-ended and collaborative.

Over time, we developed methodologies for integrating our shared experiences, knowledge, and perspectives. A series of research meetings approached the site from multiple angles: art, geology, business management, ecology, industry, sociology, and history. These events were followed by communal dinners, where participants were invited to reflect on the day's discoveries without the pressure of reaching consensus. At its core, Avgang / Deponi is about dialogue: exchanging perspectives to imagine better ways of managing waste and relating to it in the world. We welcomed guests to explore the creative potential of the tailings. The waste deposits functioned simultaneously as problem, material, and location, and we sought to explore each dimension.

At its core, Avgang / Deponi is about dialogue: exchanging perspectives to imagine better ways of managing waste and relating to it in the world.

Participants came and went, some returning repeatedly, each leaving behind crystallized moments of insight along the way. Though focused on Sokndal, Avgang / Deponi has also fostered a network of international collaborations with individuals and organizations engaged in similar work. By raising awareness of mining waste, we join other voices around the world highlighting this global issue.

While we hoped to share the wealth of information we compiled over the course of the program, we quickly realized this was a monumental task. We decided to try anyway. What follows is a curated selection of research, processes, and reflections, presented in all their messy, unfinished glory. Avgang / Deponi is a process-oriented program, fostering ongoing interdisciplinary dialogue, and as such no single conclusion is ever reached. We aim to make as much of the material public as possible, highlighting the diversity of voices and the complexity of the program. We hope this resource will continue to inspire long after the program concludes in the summer of 2026, even though no program like this can ever truly end.

While the sand deposits were a starting point, the program also encompasses the buildings, the town, and the wider landscape as all bear witness to the history and ongoing activity of the mining industry. Their presence permeates our studios, homes, and streets. We live alongside the shudder of explosions and the constant grinding of rock into gravel. There is no escaping the reality that Sokndal is a mining town. Our hope is that this work will raise awareness and visibility to the issue, continue to foster connections across disciplines, and encourage creative approaches to waste management that benefit both humans and non-human life, here in Sokndal and beyond.