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WIZZ MAGAZINE
BELOW:
THE VENUES ARE
DESIGNED TO EMPHASISE
HOWMAGICAL A PLACE
GEILO IS
TheArchitect
“Everythingstartswithasketch,”saysHelder
Neves, thearchitectwhodesigns the festival’s two
outdoorvenues (a third,warmervenue is inside
a localchurch). “We thenhave tofigureout the
amountofsnow thatwe’regoing toneed.”
Whenbuilding thesmall ‘stage’ hostinga
midnight concertduring thisyear’s festival,
snowshouldbeeasy tocomeby. In the
wintertime, there’salwaysplentyof freshstuff
dumpedonto themountains. “It’sacompletely
isolated,magicalplace,”saysNeves. “For two
yearswe’vebeendesigning it so theaudience
willbeable tosee themusiciansplayingand, at
thesame time,watch the fullmoonrising.”
Building the festival’sotheroutdoorvenue
in themiddleof towncouldbea littlemore
difficult.This is the festival’smain stage,with
dreamymood lightingand reindeer skins
covering seatsmadeoutof snow.A teamof
volunteerswill bebrought in tohelpbuild the
arena,whichwill seatup to200.But evenwith
theirhelp, theproject’sexpected to takeaweek.
“We’redealingwith thepowerofnature,”
saysNeves. “With snow, it takesvery little for
things tochange.But it’salsoavery rewarding
material: youcan reuse it; it’sneverdestroyed;
and it’seasy to rebuildor improve things.”
Neves’ loveaffairwith iceand snow is
surprisingconsidering thathe’soriginally from
sunnyPortugal.Hemoved toNorway in2007
tocompleteamaster’sdegree inarchitecture
andnow runsanaurora-spottingcompany in
Tromsø.Wouldheeverconsider leaving for
warmerclimes?“Mywhole lifedependson
snowandnatural phenomena,”he says. “Both
of thosehappen inNorway.”
BERGEN
