Whilst planning for, and considering what Knutepunkt 2005, will/would be, I wrote this text.
The word 'knot', if pronounced in Norwegian, means something like 'verbal mess' or 'incomprehensible speech'. Thus my current notion of 'The Knot' in Oslo 2005 is perhaps coloured by this strange coincidence? Presently I feel I am going to something I don't quite understand, it's all 'knot' to me…
But I do understand what Knutepunkt is in a rational and straightforward practical way. It's a gathering of people from (mostly) the Nordic countries with one thing in common: an interest in live-action role-playing or LARP. These people apparently find it worth while to travel great distances to meet others of their kind and do… something concerning LARP. They actually look forward to it, and seem to think that it will cause LARP to become better.
Already I feel the questions stack up; Why is there a Nordic gathering, whilst Norwegians don't seem to bother with just a gathering amongst themselves? God knows, LARPers of Norway are diverse enough both in style and most other things that such a gathering should be of some kind of interest. But no, apparently the thing is to meet with others from Sweden, Finland and Denmark. And, oh yes, let's add some Russians, a few wayward Italians and French, sundry Germans and English and anyone else who cares enough to go to dreary Oslo. Whether or not any of these nations have national or regional gatherings of their own I do not know, but even if they do, some of them still find it worth the trouble going to a fringe gathering in Oslo.
Yes, I said 'fringe' and I mean fringe. If you scan the world for signs of LARPing you will find that Nordic Style is very rare, and the artistic fringe-of-the-fringe that make up a lot of the Nordic 'image' in the world is even rarer, if not non-existent, in other countries and regions. So is Knutepunkt just a matter of fringe-enthusiast meeting other fringe-enthusiast? On the whole, yes. The gathering is of no real importance to anyone other than those attending and to their home-'scenes' (nod to Böckmann) in their native countries. To society in any magnitude it is of no importance what so ever. What happens at Knutepunkt will probably not change anyhting at all in any context.
Mind you, I said it will probably not change anything. The people gathered in the Norwegian woods may of course stumble upon some vital and all-encompassing world-changing philosophy or activity, but I doubt it. I don't think there will be scholars of any science hundreds of years from now making profound statements about the Great Gathering of Minds and Artists in Oslo in 2005. I don't even think that the fish in my own little pond - affectionately knows as Reluctant Trondheimians, will think of this event as a world-shaker two months from now. In fact I actually doubt they will remember anything at all about it. They just won't care - as I think will be the case with 95% of the total world of LARP.
This may sound blunt and brutal, and may display a kind of arrogance and belittling of the efforts made by delegates and organisers of Knutepuinkt 2005. It is not intended as such. I have the utmost respect for anyone who selflessly devote time and energy to Knutepunkt in any way. No, what I've just done is state my mind. This is what I perceive is the importance of Knutepunkt - nothing more, nothing less.
On a different level, the importance and benefits of Knutepunkt is of course huge. This is of course the personal and private level of those attending Knutepunkt, and this year it includes me. This means that WE will get something out of it, and as we are morally obligated to bring something back home, I think also our home-scenes will benefit. But what? I personally hope to bring back great ideas of how to do this or that. Perhaps the wayward French have got the solution to any long-standing problem we've faced over the years in Trondheim? Maybe some German knows how to do what I do not know? Maybe a Finn can tell me something I've never thought of? I will bring the answers to these questions back home, tell my fellows in Trondheim, and maybe somehow our events get better from me and the three others going to Knutepunkt? Let's hope so.
Now that I've said that the importance and benefits will be great - even to me - I should perhaps start looking forward to it? Well, I do, of course I do.
It will be fun to go to Oslo with the two or three companions from my pond.
It will be fun to meet up with Ingrid and Ragnhild and the other girls and boys of Oslo.
It will be fun to drink wine with a Finnish girl who chastised me for being preoccupied with language.
It will be interesting to see Mike Pohjola's hair.
It will be fun to meet again the two Danes I meet in Ragnhild's garden last summer (if they are there).
It will be fun to see if Elge survived his surreal sojourn to Trondheim and the drive home.
It will even be fun to see if Erlend gets naked. All though I must say I slightly dread this.
So, there will be fun. Will there be anything else?
If I could understand the workings of Knutepunkt, I might be able to answer this question. Currently the whole thing appears a bit jumbled and chaotic to my simple mind. There are workshops and talks, and small and large gatherings of all kinds. But what can I expect from these? What will I learn? Will I have shattering moments of revelation? Will I experience what artistic LARP is all about? Will I find out why I should stop berating theorists? Will I learn the true meaning by diegesis? If any one of these questions have simple answers, could somebody please try to spell them out to my empty head during Knutepunkt? But please do so in a nice way, because - contrary to popular opinion - I'm really quite a nice guy.
Okay, I exaggerate. I DO think I will reap personal benefits from Knutepunkt. After all, why else do I go? I will probably have lots of nice experiences that I may or may not benefit from immediately or over time. Maybe in about six months time, some revelation will come, whilst I run around in the woods wearing wool and army-boots. And in a year, I might even be preparing my self for yet another bout of strangeness somewhere else, at the next Knutepunkt. Who knows, this may become a regular event for me?
One thing though; What is expected of me?
Hmmm… that's a knotty one… Well, on a practical basis I know what is expected of me: I'm, to put in a period of work at the Inn, serving up beer and wine (presumably). That will be nice.
What else is expected of me? I will of course have to work with Sunniva and Helge to present The Village. Incidentally, having been told by Elge that Dragonbane plans to build their six or seven LARGE houses in two months, our own efforts over the last couple of years seems rather piddling. We've yet (after two years) to celebrate our first roof… Oh, well, at least we're trying, and i DO think The Village will become he realisation of the dream we have for it. It will just take time. And anyway it's such a unique project that I think it will be of interest to many people, so I look forward to explaining it.
Other than the Inn and The Village, I presume it's expected of me to defend my, sometimes rabid, attacks and rants directed at theorists of most stripes. I may even be asked to explain why I did or said this or that. I guess I will just have to sit back and take it. Blow by blow. And then make some kind of effort to explain. Oh well, I actually look forward to this. Maybe I will even make some kind of difference? Maybe I'll contribute to a sort of theoretical basis for non-theorists? Maybe those (other) estranged ones can come together somehow - if there are others there?
That is, if anyone really cares. Maybe I'm just considered a weird sideshow to the olympian arena of high-browed and intellectual discourse going on about LARP. Maybe 'this weird and quarrelsome Norwegian using Arman as a pseudonym' is someone not to be bothered with? Maybe I'm the odd man out? The odd man out in a group of oddities? That might be an interesting experience.
In roughly three weeks time I will be on my way home. Presumably tired and also a bit numb from Knutepunkt 2005. Possibly the bus or the car I'm in will stop at a rest stop somewhere in the loooong valley of Østerdalen. I'll get out, and I'll run into a friend from Trondheim, someone who's not a LARPer, but who knows that I am. He or she will ask where I've been? I think I will pause a bit. I will consider my response. I think my answer will be:
"I've been to the Knot…"
Arman
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