Refuge from Reality – An Essay on Digital Life

December 22 2015

With the project Digital Life, the Fritt Ord Foundation has invited the public to a debate on the place of computer games in culture and society. In addition to a series of events in the winter 2015/2016, the project includes of an essay competition with a deadline for entries on Friday, 15 April.

Help influence how gaming culture is covered in the public space. The texts can deal with anything from the history of gaming media, tools and potential, to personal experiences and experience of games and gaming.

Prompted by the Fritt Ord Foundation, Martin Bergesen has written a personal text about computer games and his own childhood. It serves as a model for how the assignment can be done. You can either be inspired by “”http://digitaleliv.no/virkelighetsflukten/“>Refuge from Reality” in form and content, or you can opt to move in entirely different directions when you write your entry.

Read more about the call for entries on http://digitaleliv.no.

Twelve texts will be selected for a digital anthology. They will also be given eternal life by professional illustrators. The best text will win NOK 25 000, while the other texts selected will win NOK 5 000.

News

Civitates' Tech & Democracy open call

March 6 2025

Civitates – The European Democracy Fund is a pooled philanthropic fund that was set up in 2018 for the sole purpose of addressing democratic decline and closing civic space in Europe. The case for confronting these threats is growing increasingly urgent. Fritt Ord Foundation is one of the initiators and partners of Civitates.

Civitates has launched its Tech and Democracy open call to support organisations working to ensure safer, more inclusive online spaces (social media platforms, search engines etc.) by improving the enforcement of EU tech regulations at the national level.

This open call offers a unique opportunity to strengthen civil society’s role in holding the tech sector accountable, with a focus on key EU regulations such as the Digital Services Act, GDPR, AI Act or the European Media Freedom Act to name a few.

Call for nominations: Free Media Awards 2025

March 3 2025

In collaboration with the ZEIT STIFTUNG BUCERIUS of Hamburg, the Fritt Ord Foundation has allocated the Free Media Awards annually since 2004 to Eastern European journalists and media that defy every obstacle to tirelessly ensure independent press coverage. Russia’s war against Ukraine and the subsequent wave of disinformation clearly demonstrates the need for independent reporting in the region. Journalists and media in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Russia, Ukraine and Hungary that promote freedom of the press through their investigative and independent reporting are eligible to be nominated for the Free Media Awards.

Art and Institutions: “I Demand a Museum to Feel its Own Floors Tremble When Other Museums are Destroyed in War”

February 12 2025

Saturday 22 February 2025 at Kunstnernes Hus, Oslo, from 14.30 to 16.30 h.

Conversation with Adam Budak (Poland/Germany), Stefanie Carp (Germany), Matej Drlička (Slovakia), Andrea Geyer (USA) og Sarah Lookofsky (USA/Norway). Ingerid Salvesen is moderator.

Across the world, cultural institutions are under increasing pressure. Censorship, self-censorship, drastic funding cuts, and political and sponsorship interference are on the rise. Former and present institutional directors – with personal experiences of political pressure, cancellation and censorship from different geographic contexts – will discuss the limitations and capacities of art institutions in the present.

Freedom of Expression Foundation Tribute to Sara Gaulin

February 5 2025

Sarah Gaulin (30) is being awarded the Freedom of Expression Foundation Tribute for her courageous and principled defence of freedom of expression in the face of extremism, gang crime and negative social control.
As a prominent voice, Gaulin has drawn attention to some of the most demanding and controversial social challenges of our time.