OUR FRIENDS IN THE NORTH, THE GUARDIAN
Updated 2008-01-16
South African puppets, a light show with lighthouses, and lots and lots of trolls ... Alfred Hickling reports from Stavanger - Europe's other Capital of Culture It is a freezing January weekend and a crowd is staring upwards at the crowning moment of their city's inauguration as European Capital of Culture. But it's not Ringo drumming on the roof of Liverpool's St George's Hall - it's Norwegian stuntman Eskil Ronningsbakken cycling along a wire suspended over the tip of the icy fjord that bites into Stavanger harbour.
Ronningsbakken appears to lose his balance. The crowd gasp then cheer as he executes a confident handstand. It's a spectacular moment that seems to sum up Stavanger's bid to become European Capital of Culture for 2008: a feat of almost preposterous audacity.
The fact that Norway's fourth largest city was also celebrating over the weekend was, unsurprisingly, eclipsed in this country by coverage of Liverpool. But there is some reluctance on Liverpool's part to acknowledge that it is sharing its big year. Although the Stavanger 2008 website features a page wishing good luck to Merseyside, the Liverpool Culture Company's 200-page brochure does not make a single reference to its Scandinavian cousin.
The whole article is to be found at http://arts.guardian.co.uk/liverpool2008/story/0,,2241514,00.html
