Henie Onstad Art Center
Address : Sonja Henies vei 31
January 23 - April 26
Torbjørn Rødland: Sasquatch Century
Sasquatch Century is the first large-scale presentation of the Los Angeles based artist Torbjørn Rødland in Oslo in twelve years. The exhibition features a careful selection of works, primarily photographs, from 20 years of artistic production.
On the occasion of the exhibition, HOK and Mousse Publishing will publish a catalog with an in depth essay by NYC-based writer Linda Norden.
November 13 2014 - March 1 2015
Marte Johnslien: Forms of Protest
Emerging artist Marte Johnslien explores how abstraction and contemplation can form tools to create a personal space of action. Responding to people's increased interest in mindfulness and meditation practices, activities seemingly at odds with protest and action, Johnslien shows a new project resulting from a process of testing the relevance of Buddhist practice and theory in contemporary art production. By questioning the common belief of both abstraction and meditation practices as means of withdrawal, Johnslien is presenting the idea of spirituality and abstraction as the opposite: a way to connect.
Her interest in finding connections between social involvement, spiritualism, and art motivated Johnslien to visit the first Tibetan Buddhist Center established in the Western world, Samye Ling in Scotland in 2013.
Forms of Protest consists of four installations, two of which are produced according to Dharma Art, a philosophy of art taught by one of the center’s founders, Chögyam Trungpa.
Marte Johnslien (f.1977) lives and works in Oslo. She has held solo exhibitions at Galleri Riis, Kristiansand Kunsthall, Kunstnerforbundet and 0047. She has executed several public art commissions, and her works are represented in a.o the National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design.
Curator: Gerd Elise Mørland
See also www.martejohnslien.com.
November 13 2014 - March 1 2015
Christine Istad and Lisa Pacin: Travelling Sun
IstadPacini ArtLab brings the sun to HOK in November
In an amazing art project and road movie, Christine Istad and Lisa Pacini embarked on an art journey to bring the sun to the darkest part of Norway in the winter months. In 2012, Istad and Pacini transported the SUN sculpture on an open flatbed trailer on a journey to Tromsø, Northern Norway, where the sun is below the horizon line for two months. The journey is documented with film and photography.
Istad-Pacini's intention with this project is to evoke a discussion about the importance of the sun and or the lack of it, document the exotic nature of the travel, and share it with the general public in their blog. The sun has travelled to Tromsø Contemporary Art Center, has travelled on the Hurtigruten Costal Liner, to Bergen's USF Wharf, and then a quick trip to London to represent Norway in 100% Norway in London. The trip from Bergen to Rjukan marks the last stop on the road trip, before ultimately ending on the facade of the Henie Onstad Kunstsenter in November.
Traveling Sun has received press both in Norway and abroad, and the lighting of the sun here coincides with both the autumn's major symposium Blurring Boundaries and Bridging Gaps, and the exhibition opening Marte Johnslien Forms of Protest, as well as the opening of the Christmas season in the shop and the art center.
October 23 2014 - February 8 2015
Christopher Nielsen: I'm Just a Simple Conceptualist from Ulsrud
Comics, film, drama, literature, art 1980-2014.
I’m Just a Simple Conceptualist from Ulsrud is the first major exhibition dedicated to Christopher Nielsen’s satirical and boundary-transcending universe, will open at Henie Onstad Kunstsenter and continue through 8 February 2015.
Large exhibition and concert series.
Henie Onstad Kunstsenter is proud to present the artist Christopher Nielsen (b. 1963) and his astonishing and provocative world. Occupying 1500 square meters of exhibition space, a broad selection of comics, visual art, film, and dramatic works from the period 1980–2014 are on display. Visitors will also have the opportunity to experience the premier of Nielsen’s monumental installation Disamusement Park and a new version of his animated film The Escalator.
- Few artists have critiqued and caricatured Norway’s welfare society and the folly of its citizens with such fearlessness and imagination as Christopher Nielsen. He is a storyteller, satirist, and draftsman of international stature, say Lars Mørch Finborud and Lasse Marhaug, the exhibition’s curators.
Long and multifaceted career
During the 1980s Christopher Nielsen was renowned for his comics in such publications as Gateavisa, Nye Takter, and Brage, and for his close collaboration with the band Jokke & Valentinerne. In the 1990s Nielsen’s comic series about the Narvere, To trøtte typer, and Hold Brillan were ubiquitous, and through the 2000s his artistic activity burgeoned with a feature film, Slipp Jimmy Fri (Free Jimmy), dramatic work for the Norwegian National Theatre, and installation art at Statens Kunstutstilling and Dortmund Bodega. In 2014 Nielsen debuted as an author with the critically acclaimed science fiction novel Metamorphosis.
The exhibition is paired with an extensive concert and film program coordinated by the featured figure himself, in collaboration with HOK’s curators. A comprehensive catalogue of the exhibition is being published by No Comprendo Press.
Curators: Lars Mørch Finborud and Lasse Marhaug
