Visitors 2024

Ina Hagen (b.1989, NO) is an artist and writer living and working in Oslo. In her artistic practice, spanning text and printed matter, digital media, collective work, communal making practices, and pedagogical forms, Hagen constructs platforms and performative situations of collective, critical reflection. In recent projects she has been focusing on the normalisation of Norwegian energy colonialism through industry self-presentation.

Hagen has exhibited at Kunstnerforbundet, Oslo (2023), Bergen Kunsthall (2021), Kunsthalle Wilhelmshaven (2021), the Nordic Biennale MOMENTUM, Moss (2019), Index—The Swedish Contemporary Art Foundation, Stockholm (2019), Altan (2021), Coast Contemporary, Trondheim/Bergen (2018), INCA Seattle, USA (2016), among others. She has previously been awarded international research residencies at IASPIS, Stockholm (2019-20), Capacete, Rio de Janeiro (2018), BAR Project, Barcelona (2017), and Quartier 21, Museums Quartier, Vienna (2014).

Hagen co-initiated the discursive platform and exhibition venue Louise Dany in Oslo (2016-2020), and has since 2016 intermittently contributed to the Nordic art journal, Kunstkritikk. With Louise Dany she focussed on collective explorations of critical-, feminist-, and postcolonial theory, radical pedagogy, and the artistic process as a mode of citizenship. As a writer, she was selected for the Astrup Fearnley ‘Next Generation of Norwegian Contemporary Art: Sun and Spring in January’ in 2018, and the ‘Another Gaze x Open City Docs New Critics Workshop’ in 2022.

Alongside her studio practice, Hagen has been dedicated to issues of artists’ working and living conditions, most notably through political influence work as a board member of the young artist’s union, national membership organisation, and institution for contemporary art, UKS (Young Artist’s Society) (2017-2023), and as a founding member of Kunstnerboligforeningen (The Artists’ Housing Association).

Thomas Bremerstent (b. 1992, DK) lives and works in Oslo, where he also studied at the Oslo National Academy of the Arts. He works with sculptures in a variety of media, exploring questions of form and material as well as social and political issues. Thomas also runs the two initiatives Løvens Hule and Celin. Recent presentations of his work include PLUM TRIM (Nesodden, Norway), Salgshallen (Oslo, Norway), Studio 17 (Stavanger, Norway) and Galleri Memphis (Oslo, Norway).

Damir Avdagic’s practice deals with issues of historical memory and identity through text, performance and video. The historical background for his work is the conflict in Ex-Yugoslavia, which makes up a central part of his family history and which he uses as an entry point to address themes such as immigration, shifting political systems and generational relationships.

Avdagic’s working material is words: spoken narratives that are collected by speaking to members of the Ex-Yugoslav diaspora and that relate to experiences surrounding WW2, the fall of socialism and the eruption of the conflict in the 90s. This material is activated through strategies of performance, such as re-readings, translations, re-enactments etc. and subsequently filmed and developed into moving image installations.

In Avdagic’s works, narratives become transferable between “author” and performer. By having members of his own generation perform the words and actions of the generations before (and vice versa) he seeks to reflect on how history stretches across time and how the past echoes in the present.

Damir Avdagic is educated at The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts (MFA, 2008-2014) and from The University of California, UCLA (MFA, 2013-2016) He is a Fulbright Fellow and recipient of other prestigious grants from the Norway-America Foundation, Office of Contemporary Art, Norwegian Cultural Council & Danish Cultural Council. His work has been shown at 18th Street Art Center, Santa Monica, Entree Gallery Norway, Kunsthall Charlottenborg Copenhagen & Kristiansand Kunsthall Norway amongst others. He was awarded the BKH’s Photo Art Prize at Fotogalleriet, Oslo in 2014.

Agatha Wara is a Bolivian-American artist living and working in Oslo. She studied at the Center for Curatorial Studies in New York, USA and the National Academy of the Arts in Oslo, Norway. Her work is largely founded in language and draws inspiration from philosophical notions of “the self”. These questions are elaborated in the exhibition space through texts, installations, and performances. Wara treats her own biography, clothing, and objects from her life as material to play with, as a way to dispel (but also celebrate) ever-forming notions of a self. This conflict is reflected in her 2018 text titled “The Hungry Woman” about a woman who lives in Bolivia and has 11 mouths covering her entire body. In keeping with an expansive practice Wara has presented projects for a variety of institutions and contexts. Some of these include Podium, UKS MINIBAR, Norwegian Sculpture Biennial, Soppen Performance Festival, Lofoten International Art Fair, all in Norway. As well as CHART Art fair (Copenhagen), Pure Fyction Art Book Fair (Frankfurt), NADA Art Fair (NY), Red Bull Studios (NY), Dismagazine.com (NY), Art Basel (Miami), and Institute of Contemporary Art (Miami). Wara is the editor of an eponymous magazine titled Agatha, and is currently writing a column for Kunstkritikk,no titled Den aktuelle aktualiteten/The Actually Actual. In 2021 she will publish her debut novel as part of the inaugural exhibition of the National Museum in Oslo.

Camilla Steinum, graduated from Oslo National Academy of the Arts with an MFA in 2012 and holds a BA in Visual Art, Textile, from Oslo National Academy of the Arts. In 2015 Steinum visited the artist run school MSAˆ, The Mountain School of Arts, LA. Her works have been shown in Norway and internationally. She work predominantly with textile, ready-mades, wood and metal. Focussing on the contrasting qualities and characteristics of materials and objects as such.

Eirik Senje holds a BA and MA degree from the National Academy of Fine Arts in Oslo. His practice encompasses a variety of forms including writing, painting, sculpture and installation. He has also been involved in the organization of several artist run spaces and exhibitions. His work has been shown at the National Sculpture Biennial / Vigelandmuseet (2017, Oslo), Kunsthall Oslo (2017, Oslo), 1857 / Paramount Ranch (2016, Los Angeles), Trafo Kunsthall (2015, Asker), QB Gallery (2015, Oslo) KUBE Museum (2015, Ålesund). Recent exhbitions include "Evidence" at Kunstnerforbundet (2018, Oslo) and "Other Humans", Galleri K, (2018, Oslo).

Are Blytt's practise embraces abstract painting and is focused on painterly questions, in particular challenging them and testing the limits of his chosen medium. His works explore ideas and concepts of what it means to be human, its ideologies and our modern age. The relationship between image and text, as well as the connection between photography and painting, are also essential in his works. His recent exhibitions include Galleri K (2017), Oslo; CCA Andratx Kunsthalle (2018), Spain; Philipp von Rosen Galerie (2018), Cologne; Vestfossen Kunstlaboratorium (2018), Norway.

In 2018, Blytt was artist-in-residence at the WIELS Contemporary Art Centre Studio Program for Emerging Artists, Brussels, Belgium. Awarded in 2014 the Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant, NYC, and the Forsberg & Aulies Painters Award, Oslo. Blytt was also artist-in-residence at Kunstnernes Hus, Oslo, in 2012.

Daisuke Kosugi is an artist. Central to his projects are videos often in combination with sculptures, installation or with performance. These works raise questions about nationality, gender, sub-culture belonging or creative labor through the lens of the internalised regulations that restrict our personal freedom. Drawing from his background in law, Kosugi investigates the discrepancies between rules or law and their application as opportunities to reflect on dominant power structures. For the past few years, Kosugi has focused on the power of bodies and movement as tools to negotiate these structures. Since August 2016 Kosugi has been running the artist-run initiative Louise Dany in Oslo together with Ina Hagen. The latest solo exhibitions include: 'Dawning of the dance floor', Podium, Oslo (2015) and 'Forgive Me For I Am Not Gentle' as a duo with Ina Hagen, INCA Seattle (2016). His work has been presented in the 11th Gwangju Biennale, South Korea (2016); Malmö Konsthall (2016); freiraum quartier21 INTERNATIONAL, Museums Quatier, Vienna (2014) and Copenhagen Art Festival (2012). He was shortlisted for the DNB Savings Bank Foundation’s Grants for Emerging artist in 2016, Oslo Kunstforening (2016); and the International Award of the Spring Exhibition 2016, Kunsthal Charlottenborg, Copenhagen.

Ane Mette Hol studied at the Oslo National Academy of the Arts, and the Stockholm University College of Arts, Crafts and Design in the period 2001–2006, and has exhibited widely in Norway and internationally. In 2011 she was awarded the prestigeous Statoil Art Award. Her work is represented at the public collections of the Norwegian National Museum for Art, Architecture and Design, SKMU Sørlandets Kunstmuseum, Trondheim Kunstmuseum and at the Centre Pompidou in Paris among others. Hol’s work focuses on the relationship between original and reproduction. She works conceptually with drawing, and it results in two- and three-dimensional drawings, animations and sound installation. Her reproductions are often materials or waste after the production of art works and exhibitions that infiltrates the context of the exhibition.

Saman Kamyab holds a BA and MA from the Bergen National Academy of Arts. He has exhibited in various institutions such as Podium, Oslo; Wiels Contemporary Arts Centre, Project room, Brussels; Louise Dany, Oslo; Centre de Création Contemporaine Olivier Debré, Tours; Malmö Konsthall, Malmö; Landings Projects, Vestfossen.

Toril Johannessen holds a BA and MA from the Bergen National Academy of Arts and was trained from the Mountain School of Arts, Los Angeles, CA, USA. She was one of the participating artists in dOCUMENTA (13), Kassel, Germany (2012). Her work has been presented at Witte de With, Rotterdam, The Netherlands; SMART Project Space, Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Bergen Art Museum; CSA Space in Vancouver, Canada and INCA, Detroit, MI, USA, among others.

André Tehrani is an artist who holds a MA from the Oslo National Academy of the Arts. He works with a variety of media. His works draws attention to the ways in which political and ideological dynamics influences popular culture and juxtaposes appropriated imagery with encyclopedic facts and art historical archetypes. Past exhibitions include 'This House', Palais de Tokyo, Paris, France (2013); 'Game of Life', Kristiansand Kunsthall, Kristiansand, Norway, (2012); 'Transit Vestfold', Haugar Vestfold Kunstmuseum, Tønsberg (2011) and 'Depattern', Galleri Erik Steen, Oslo (2010).

Kjersti G. Andvig graduated from the National Academy of Art in Oslo in 2003. As an artist, her work often takes the form of long-term commitments to situations that demand complete personal dedication. She has had solo exhibitions at Rekord, Oslo, Triangle, Marseille, and Akershus Kunstsenter, Lillestrøm, and her work has been seen in group exhibitions including ‘Lights On’ at the Astrup Fearnley Museum, Oslo, the Carnegie Art Award exhibitions in 2010 and the Lofoten International Art Festival, 2011.

Through 16mm film, installation and collage, Mai Hofstad Gunnes has developed a personal imagery based on a type of associative logic, where different layers of reality are tested against each other. Her artistic point of departure derives from an interest in concrete systems of categorisation and the translation of these into a more non-hierarchical formalist language. Her recent films, as attempts to externalize inner worlds, involve performers to focus on the embodiment and personification of architecture and science. Recent exhibitions include 'Oh how time flies', Bergen Kunsthall, Bergen, Norway (2011); 'Le choix du titre est un faux problème', Cneai de Paris, Paris, France (2011); 'Goddesses', Museum of Contemporary Art, Oslo (2010); 'Pyrrhic Fortune', Sils, Rotterdam, the Netherlands (2010) and 'A shape of love you can never imagine', Oslo Fine Art Society, Oslo (2009).

Lina Viste Grønli combines sculptural and collage techniques that deconstruct language as a narrative form. Her work draws from popular culture and imagery proposing alternative strategies and redefinitions. Although varying widely in scale and orientation, her work manifests a sense of displacement, suggesting a subversive orientation and a defying of convention. Grønli is currently working on several public sculpture proposals and a publication on the work Grace Jones on Sculpture (Torpedo Press). Recent exhibitions include a solo show at Gaudel de Stampa, Paris, France (upcoming), Henie Onstad Art Centre, Oslo, Performa09, New York, NY, USA, Art Since the Summer of 69, New York, and Galerie de la Friche Belle de Mai, Marseille. Grønli recently was a resident in Yaddo in Saratoga Springs, New York.

Anders Nordby studied at Central St. Martins College of Art and Design in London, UK and The National Academy in Oslo, and participated in the alternative art school MSAˆ (Mountain School of Art) in Los Angeles, USA. Nordby's work involves artistic production, as well as a curatorial practice - reflected in his collaborative project 'Dear Cockettes' at UKS, Oslo. His process-based art and installations draw inspiration from literature, sub- and countercultures. It investigates a self-chosen 'moral degeneration'; an inverted system of ideals within the borderlines of morality and ethics, the relationship between creativity and crime and the notion of crime as a revolt against established society. Nordby has exhibited in institutions such as Art in General, The Swiss Institute, White Columns and Rhizome at the New Museum, all in New York, NY. Together with Ida Ekblad, he runs the artist-space Willy Wonka Inc., where shows are organised in their apartments as well as in abandoned buildings and at non-profit venues. Willy Wonka's upcoming exhibition will take place at Kölnischer Kunstverein in Cologne, Germany in April 2009.