Oslo SusCon

Since the very first year in 2002, Oslo SusCon (OSC) has been an international gathering with two main purposes: first and foremost, it is an opportunity to suspend; secondly, it is a meeting place to share knowledge among practitioners of all levels. The convention is also a social arena for making friends and networking in our community.

Suspension practitioners from around the world come to OSC and work together with the Wings of Desire (WoD) crew. Once practitioner orientation is over, we put everyone together on the same team to form an International Mega Crew. We feel that this is the best way to share knowledge and gain practical experience from each other.

Oslo SusCon 2020 is cancelled!

Due to the situation caused by the current Pandemic we have come to the conclusion that we have no other option than to cancel this years event. It is with heavy hearts we are cancelling the 19th OSC, but the evaluation of the logistics, finances, restrictions, and travel bans gives us no option. Stay safe and stay healthy, hook love!

<3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3

The main event runs for four days, ending with a party on the fifth:
Sunday—local crew, guest crew, and the volunteers set up the venue, get registered, and attend volunteer and crew meetings.
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday—main focus on suspensions.
Friday—our infamous OSC After-party with BBQ, Booze, and Branding in Håvves backyard.

Venue

Månefisken has been our Oslo SusCon home since 2004. Månefisken (The Moon Fish) is located beautifully next to the Akerselva River in Sagveien 23a in the Sagene area of Oslo. Månefisken was built around 1850 as a textile weaving factory and is now one of Oslo’s most beautiful and flexible event venues. Inside, there are high ceilings and space for many suspension points (including many static rigging possibilities and a point for the spinning beam). In addition, there are waterfalls in the back and front of the venue—one of which provides us with a gorgeous outside suspension point.

Public Hours

For selected hours during the week, the event is open to the general public. We have chosen to open the doors for outsiders for several reasons: participants who want to suspend with their friends and family present can invite them to attend the open hours, people with an itch for hooks get an opportunity to have a closer look at how it all goes down, and the suspension curious can come and have a peek into our colorful world of body modification and suspension. Public Hours will happen on Wednesday from 15:30 to 19:30, CC: NOK 150

Attendance Categories

You can attend OSC in several ways.
* Please note that we have a limited number of spots for crew and volunteers, signing up in these categories will not guarantee your participation as such. If you have a strong desire to attend, but you are struggling with funds, you may apply for a scholarship. To do so, send an email to Håvve with your request. You can give any reason as to why you should get one, preferably a good reason.

Crew – NOK 2000 To work as crew you need to be an experienced practitioner and skilled in facilitating suspensions. You will work with the mega crew and help facilitate suspensions during the whole event. To qualify to be on the OSC Crew you must be a trained practitioner (yellow) in all of the three skill groups (A/B/C, Piercing, Rigging).

Team Leader – NOK 2000 If you are competent and willing to take responsibility for facilitating a suspension from start to finish, leading a team, and teaching trainees, please sign up as one of our team leaders.

Trainee – NOK 2500 There are a rising number of people registering as crew, and we are not able to say yes to everyone. If you are an aspiring practitioner but not confident working alone, you should sign up as a trainee. You will get a trainee badge and have a chance to get hands on training under supervision of a team leader.

Volunteer – NOK 2000 The volunteer team is crucial to keeping the event running smoothly. If you want to help out at the event, we would love your help, but have limited spots. The work is not very hard, it’s basically setting up for—and washing up after—meals, tending to a fruit/coffee stand, and helping to keep the venue tidy and the toilets stocked with paper. If you want to be a volunteer, please add information about your previous experience in the form.

Non-practitioner – NOK 2500 This is for the people who do not want to work at all and would rather kick back, basking in the glory of OSC on their own time.

Press If you want to come as press to cover our event, please send an email to Håvve.

Sponsor If you want to sponsor our event, we will love you forever! OSC cannot exist without the generous help of our sponsors, and we truly appreciate the support we get! Please send an email to Alan or Håvve.

The payment deadline to secure your spot is 4 weeks before the event starts, but please pay sooner if you can. Please note that if you have registered for OSC and for some reason have to cancel, you must let us know at least 2 weeks in advance for us to be able to refund your fee. If you are a no-show, or cancel your registration after this, we will not be able to offer a refund.

Food

We have a crew of awesome, dedicated kitchen bitches who make luscious lunches for us on the main event days, all included in the fee. The meals are vegan and scrumptious, made at the legendary Cafe Blitz and served at the venue. We do our best to make sure there is enough food for everyone, but if you are a big eater or don’t like vegan food, please bring additional food for yourself. There are several markets and restaurants in the area if you want additional food or something special. That being said, we often have leftovers from certain dishes, so if you have a lunch box at home, please bring it and help yourself to extras when everyone is done eating. Make sure to sort your own breakfast before arriving at the venue. Dinner is no longer served due to complicated logistics and reduced interest.

For those who want hot meat in their mouths, we will make it available at the BBQ (in addition to vegetarian/vegan food). We charge NOK 400 for the OSC BBQ After-party.

The tap water in Norway is clean and tasty, buying water is expensive and bad for the environment. Please bring your own water bottle!

Transportation

Getting around Oslo is easy. If you have not been to OSC before, please check out our Oslo SusCon map.

For people traveling to Oslo Airport Gardermoen (OSL/ Oslo Lufthavn), we recommend taking the local train to town. You can also use the airport express train, which is faster but more expensive, or the bus service. People travelling to Torp can take the bus to Oslo Central Station.

To get to Månefisken you may take tram 11, 12, or 13 to the stop Biermanns gate or bus 21 or 33 to Sannergata. For getting to Blitz you may take tram 11 to Holbergs plass or bus 21 to St. Hanshaugen. Or you can walk, Oslo is a great city for walking!

You will find information on public transport at Ruter#. We recommend RuterBillett app for buying tickets, and RuterReise app for planning your travel. The smartest thing to do would be to get a 7 days pass with 1 zone for NOK 285. You can also use this on the local train from the airport, and get a supplementary ticket for NOK 69.

Accommodations

We realize that accommodations in Oslo can be expensive and do our best to find lodging for the working crew and volunteers if necessary. Capacity is very limited, we strongly encourage everyone to sort themselves if they can. We offer a dorm for the volunteers and private accommodation for some of the crew, from Saturday to Saturday. We will give priority to those who travel the furthest and charge a fee of NOK 1000 per person to cover the cost of rent and other expenses. Often we are not able to sort out who stays where until close to the event.

Unfortunately, we cannot accommodate non-practitioners. We recommend people to check out places like airbnb, CouchSurfing, Short Stay Apartments, and Ekeberg or Bogstad Camping. If you want to stay in a hotel, check out Anker Hotel. Feel free to use the Oslo SusCon 2019 event page or the Oslo SusCon 2019 Participants group on facebook to share information and hook up with potential roommates.

If you get a place in the dorm, please bring a towel and sleeping bag. For other accommodations, please bring a towel and covers for duvet and pillow if you can, we will provide sheets for everyone (we do have some extra covers and towels for you to use if you cannot bring your own). Please also wear a t-shirt on the night after your suspension, so you don’t get blood on your host’s bed.

OSC Merchandise

We use the talented Subterranean Prints for design of the event t-shirt and poster. She has done the design since 2014, and does beautiful silkscreen prints. Make sure to pre-order when you register! The t-shirts are printed in Berlin by our good friend Hartmut Parade. In addition to this you will off course be able to buy your favorite PS Hooks, Pain Solution merch and PS Media books.

Hooks

WoD will provide hooks and shackles for most suspensions. Please note that, while we now have our awesome new PS Hooks; PSX1 8ga and PSX2 6ga in stock, some of the hooks have been used before and thoroughly processed according to our protocol. If you have any concerns about previously used hooks, please bring your own sterilized ones, we will not be able to sterilize items at the venue.

There is a limited supply of Gilsons and Blacksheeps. If you plan to suspend over the waterfall, please bring your own to help us cover the need for locking hooks.

FYI

The July weather in Oslo is usually quite nice and warm with a temperature average of 20°C (68°F), reaching an average high of over 26°C. The evenings and nights can get a bit chilly, so please bring some warm clothes. Please be aware that it never really gets dark for very long during this time, it might be smart to bring a sleeping mask.

If you plan to suspend over the waterfall please bring a towel and an extra outfit to suspend in that can get wet—unless you want to suspend naked. If you plan to get your feet wet, shoes are needed because of the possibility of hitting sharp rocks.

Comfortable shoes is recommended, especially for the volunteers and working crew—the floors at Månefisken are made of concrete.

And as previously mentioned: bringing a water bottle and a lunch box is a good idea!

Oslo SusCon is a drug and alcohol free event! We encourage all to refrain from excessive drinking on your free time during the event, in order to be fresh and alert during the event hours. Since alcohol and tobacco is expensive in Norway, you will save a lot of money on buying it at the airport upon arrival. There is a strict quota on how much you are allowed to bring, your allowance is clearly marked in the tax-free shop.

If you want something special for your suspension that requires extra attention and planning, please send an email to Håvve no later than 3 weeks before the event. If you have any questions, cancellations or other concerns, send an email to June, but please be patient for your response, her availability is limited. If urgent, contact Håvve. Once you have completed your registration you will receive an automatic confirmation, if you do not, please check your spam-filter.