Joar Nango, et al. Girjegumpi – Sámi Architectural Library, The National Museum – Architecture, Oslo
I first became acquainted with Joar Nango’s nomadic architectural library during last year’s Festival Exhibition in Bergen. The reunion at the National Museum – Architecture was even more gratifying than expected! Not only have Nango and Co fulfilled their promise that the project would develop and grow, but I can hardly imagine a more aesthetically fruitful combination than the one seen here, where the structure interacts with Sverre Fehn’s sleek modernist interior. Had it not run counter to the nomadic principles underpinning the project, I would have wished for it to be permanently installed in this very exhibition pavilion. Fortunately, the library will remain in place until the Sámi National Day on 6 February.
The Hour of Reckoning – The original Henie Onstad collection meets the contemporary, Henie Onstad Kunstsenter, Oslo, curated by Ana María Bresciani
When art institutions renegotiate their own collections, the results can often be rather too routine. This made it all the more pleasurable to see the playful attitude adopted by the curator and guest artists on this occasion. The definitive highlight was Marianne Heier’s video work Dinosaur (2018/21), which sees the artist dressed in an inflatable dinosaur costume moving around the art centre, occasionally performing absurd actions while reading the lyrics of the Rolling Stones’‘Sympathy for the Devil’ (1968) out as a poem. It was quite liberating to see someone playing in this way, demonstrating that a renegotiation of the canon does not have to be a polarising “culture war.”
Elisabeth Haarr’s speech during the afterparty of the Festival Exhibition, Bergen Kunsthall, Bergen
In January, I read in the newspaper Bergens Tidende that Elisabeth Haarr was considering rejecting the invitation to become the official festival artist, but thought better of it on the grounds that “if I say no now, I might be dead before they ask me again.” This pointed ahead to one of the highlights of the year, which was not the exhibition itself – great though it was – but rather the artist’s speech during the afterparty. At the end of her speech, Haarr declared with a twinkle in her eye that even though she greatly appreciated the opportunity, it was “about bloody time” that she was chosen as festival artist. No matter how well-deserved, it takes courage to assert one’s own value and ability as a woman and artist, especially in a country as obsessed with not sticking out from the crowd as Norway. While there is no shortage of good theories on this very issue (I am thinking in particular of Sara Ahmed’s 2014 book Willful Subjects), this little comment reminded me of the importance of powerful, steadfast women who actively defy these norms, including in everyday life.
– Tuva Mossin is an art historian and graduate from the University of Bergen. Her research interests include contemporary art, photography, visual culture, digital materiality, and museum history. Mossin is affiliated with UiB and Bergen Kunsthall, and is a regular contributor to Kunstkritikk.
For this year’s contributions to the Advent Calendar, see here.
