Vardø in Norway feels like a town forgotten by time. Its colourful houses stand in an overgrown field of weeds, overlooking a bay where the seagulls outnumber the people. For the Irish-born artist Conor Harrington, this town is both an inspiration and a canvas. Painting the walls of its abandoned, crumbling buildings, he applies the techniques of graffiti art to images inspired by the Old Masters, bringing a modern aesthetic to a timeless place. In Old Norse, the UK filmmaker Andrew Telling follows Harrington through Vardø, documenting his artistic process, and the landscape that inspires it.
Using street art to bring Regency warriors to an ancient Viking landscape
Director: Andrew Telling
25 July 2014

videoDesign and fashion
Beyond fortune-telling – the enduring beauty and allure of tarot
16 minutes

videoHistory of ideas
How to read ‘The School of Athens’ – a triumph of Renaissance art
25 minutes

videoArt
Finding the spirit of Haiti through a tour of its contemporary art
20 minutes

videoHistory of science
Insect aesthetics – long viewed as pests, in the 16th century bugs became beautiful
8 minutes

videoNature and landscape
After independence, Mexico was in search of identity. These paintings offered a blueprint
15 minutes

videoArt
A young Rockefeller collects art on a fateful journey to New Guinea
7 minutes


