There is currently an intensive interest directed at the outskirts of Europe, especially at countries in the far North and the East. In the last decade or so, the European centre of attention has shifted from the ex-colonies of Africa and Asia to the corners of its own backyard, an indication that the stereotypical “exotic” areas might have become too familiar to spark the rush of wonder or curiosity that lies at the very heart of any interest in the Other. Cultural productions from these peripheries were the main locus onto which the exotic was placed, providing an interface between different cultures and producing the binary oppositions that characterise colonial discourse. Today, it seems that the Scandinavian Other has substituted the Primitive Other to some extent (or at least, exists parallel to it) with its vibrant spaces of visual art, film, literature, theater, crafts and music. In these spaces we find a thriving dialectical relationship between local producers and foreign consumers, producing a dynamic discourse of cultural distinctions, locality, globalisation, and alterity.

The Provincialists provide a welcome opportunity to discuss the issues outlined above. The artists put forward some critical preoccupations with the dichotomisation of urban/provincial or centre/periphery, leading to provocative questions about the meaning of these terms. What influence does the contemporary focus on peripheral art have on their own position as artists located on that same periphery? Is the existence of the Provincialists group just another product of a demand for the Other? What strategies do they have for handling their role as an exotic object under external scrutiny?

Even though the artists reinforce the terms by their very use of them, they simultaneously aim for a rethinking of the relationship between centre and periphery, between urban and provincial. By using the name “Provincialists”, the artists perpetuate the differences constructed by this dichotomy, thus inviting a dangerous essentialisation of cultural extremes. At the same time, they do call into question some important issues of value-production in the cultural sphere through which they work. In this way, the Provincialists stage a playful flirtation with these problematic terms, oscillating between denial and reinforcement. It will thus be very interesting to see their works in the context of this exhibition and to see what kind of a debate it will spark at the University of the Faroe Islands.