Silje from Kunzt came to the studio for a talk in the beginning of the year. For now it is only available for subscribers. It is in Norwegian.
INTERVIEW IN BILLEDKUNST
Did a lengthy interview (in Norwegian) with Billedkunst back in November of 2019. The issue was dedicated to the idea of “splicing” and my talk with Ketil Røed circled around collage and how it has come back in various ways throughout my practice.
PERISKOP on HOW THE UNIVERSE WORKS
The Norwegian arts and culture site Periskop has published some articles (Norwegian only) in relation to the exhibition How The Universe Works, held at Kunsthall Oslo in the summer of 2019.
Kjetil Røed started with a review of the exhibition.
Mina S. Haufmann continued with a more general article about art for children, as well as a more specific article on the topic as seen through two of the exhibitions for children at Kunsthall Oslo.
Finally, Oda Bahr summarized a seminar held at Kunsthall Oslo, where I took part together with Maria Lind, Eirik Sæther, Helen Eriksen, Rolf Engelsen and Ruben Steinum, debating issues concerning art for children.
LECTURE ON COLLAGE AND DREAMS AT HENIE ONSTAD ART CENTER
In the fall of 2019 the Henie Onstad Art Centre had the exhibition The Great Dada Monster Show, with a vast collection of important works form the dada art movement.
During a weekend of talks, presentations, performances and concerts, I was invited to do a talk on collage.
My starting point was the connection made by the surrealists between collage and dreams, and pursuing that premise in light of new research on dreams, memory, online image distribution, memes and more.
The talk was held twice for smaller groups, using tabletops and stacks of physical images to illustrate the various topics.
NEW SENTRALEN FILM
Made a film with Carsten Aniksdal documenting the three glass windows I made for Sentralen.
Lars Monrad Vaages´s catapult, from the film Solslyng.
SOUND DESIGN
As my sound studio has come into shape I have been doing some sound design again, when time allows it.
In September 2017 I helped out Mercedes Mühleisen to record and edit voice with sound effects for her video installation Dead Cat at Kunsthall Oslo. Some months earlier Roderick Hietbrink used some of my layered guitar recordings for his installation Soil, My Innards, also at Kunsthall Oslo.
In August 2016 I did all sound design on Lars Monrad Vaages´s film Solslyng, exhibited at Teknisk Museum as part of Marius Engh´s Folkeobservatoriet group show. It has also been shown at the Kunstnernes Hus cinema. The film shows the gigantic catapult that Lars Monrad Vaage built in the woods of Ål, catapulting burning wooden projectiles into the landscape. The sound design combined foley sounds and FM synthesis to create a faux realistic soundscape for the film.
Also, back in 2014 I made a techno soundtrack for Kristine Øksendal´s film In the Face Of Form.
TROPHY DESIGN
Last year I was asked to design and produce an edition of 10 trophies and accompanying pins for Statoil. Two annual awards are given by the CEO to persons or departments within the organization who has contributed to the improvement of sustainability, safety and/or security.
The trophies were modeled on the idea of a folded and free standing paper cut out, executed in Corian®. The pins are single colored circles, one color for each of the five succeeding years.
The trophy measures 40 cm tall, 42 cm wide and 19 cm deep. The pins are 30 mm in diameter. Photos by Anne Valeur.
3RD AND FINAL GLASS WINDOW FOR SENTRALEN
In March 2017 I completed the third and last glass window for Sentralen in Oslo.
Titled Mended Paths it is made in the same way as the two windows that were installed a year earlier, in water cut, mouth blown glass. It was commissioned by Sentralen and Sparebankstiftelsen after the completion of this newly renovated building, after the dust cleared and there was finally room and time to execute the original idea of three windows - one for each of the adjoining streets around the building. See all of them here.
The three designs can be described as drawings of multiple paper cut-outs. These imagined paper cuts have simple block color designs on each side, the folding and layering of the cuts creating a weaving effect in its colors and shapes. This simple modulation of the shapes into busier perceptual compositions are augmented by the analog variation in the hues of the glass and the ever-changing sunlight throughout the day.
The glass is from Lamberts Glas in Waldsassen, Germany. It was cut by Waterjet Norge AS, assembled by Norsk Kunstglass AS and mounted in steel frames from Bolt Metall AS. Prototyper.
Photos by Jon Benjamin Tallerås.
MURALVERKSTEDET
Helped out setting up this site for Muralverkstedet in Lilleborg Fabrikker in Oslo. In addition to housing three art studios and an architecture office, this foundation has set up a small workshop for classic mural techniques such as fresco and mosaic. Courses are held a couple times a year, free at charge for up to five people at a time. Muralverkstedet is an initiative from Irma Salo Jæger and Astrid Nondal.
NEW VIDEO - COLLAGE CLOCKS
Carsten Aniksdal and I made a film documenting the process of making UR - three collage clocks I made at Bjørnsletta Skole in Oslo, Norway, 2014. They are a permanent public installation commissioned by Kulturetaten, Oslo Kommune, curated by Siri Austeen and Hanne Øverland.
The fundamental concept is that the hands of the clock are replaced with rotating discs. The circular discs are cut into the clock face, across each image. The discs rotate; fragmenting and assembling the image as time goes by. Consequently the composition is always changing, each state representing the current time. The discs on the first clock rotate once every minute. The discs on the second clock rotate once every hour. The discs on the third clock rotate once every 12 hours. Together the three clocks tell the current time.
SENTRALEN OPENING NIGHT
Tonight is the opening of Sentralen, a house of culture located in central Oslo. Two buildings, one of which is was Oslo´s first official bank, has been stripped down to their skeletal structures, joined by an extensive system of steel stairs and furnished with the essentials for a flexible office environment. Add to that practice rooms for electric and acoustic music, several concert venues, a dance stage, bar, restaurant and café.
Sparebankstiftelsen commissioned 5 artists to make work for Sentralen, allowing the artists to choose the location. The artists are Vanessa Baird, Jan Christensen, Hanne Friis, Camilla Løw and I.
Above are some photos from the process of making Two Times and Leash - two glass window designs made from water cut, mouth blown glass, glued on clear glass and mounted in steel frames. The designs are computer drawings based on a collage premise: two-dimensional shapes are cut and folded, each side with a different color or image. The frames consist of two hinged halves, forming a gate that can be opened into the room.
The glass is from Lamberts Glas in Waldsassen, Germany. It was cut by Waterjet Norge AS, assembled by Norsk Kunstglass AS and mounted in steel frames from Bolt Metall AS. Prototyper AS made crates for handling the glass and helped making a prototype.