In January 2014, a major international exhibition and research project based on the aftermath of the events of 22 July will be presented to the public. The project will commence in August 2012 under the working title We live on a star.

“Thanks to extensive collaboration with the Fritt Ord Foundation, we will be presenting a major exhibition with a number of new commissioned works, a comprehensive programme and a major publication”, remarks Tone Hansen, director of the Henie Onstad Art Centre.

One central work in the project is Hannah Ryggen’s tapestry We live on a star from 1958. Originally displayed in the Government Administration Complex, the work was damaged by the blast. Rather than repairing the tapestry, it was decided to leave the damage. As a result, this ‘wounded’ work bears witness to what happened, and to the ramifications of the events.

“The ongoing court case against Anders Behring Breivik has made large parts of the population of Norway participants in discussions of normality, madness, love, and soundness and unsoundness of mind. We want to know what new and necessary knowledge artists can elicit”, explains Marit Paasche, curator of the exhibition.

The public debate has been rather silent about images and the role of images in the aftermath of 22 July. As long as we live in a society where visual communication is so prominent, the field of art has a responsibility for what is said about images. The images in the media are not necessarily the images of art, but the artists must deal with them. They can analyse them, place them in new contexts and identify important characteristics of the visual regimes to which they belong.

“This is an important exhibition for the Fritt Ord Foundation. In response to an open call for proposals, we will grant project support for artistic processing of the events. During the process, we will organise workshops for everyone involved. The open application process will be announced in a special press release in August”, reports Bente Roalsvig, project director, Fritt Ord Foundation.

A large group of Norwegian and international artists will contribute. The exhibition will open in January 2014, occupying the entire ground floor of the Henie Onstad Art Centre.

The curators are Tone Hansen and Marit Paasche.

An international reference group will be set up for the exhibition. Their knowledge of contemporary art and grounding in different approaches to exhibitions will be an important aspect part of the work to make the exhibition relevant for people outside Norway.

For further information, please contact:
Gunhild Varvin, head of communication, Henie Onstad Art Centre, gv@hok.no/obile: +47 402 17 573
Bente Roalsvig, project director, Fritt Ord, bente.roalsvig@fritt-ord.no/mobile: +47 916 13 340
Tone Hansen, director, Henie Onstad Art Centre, th@hok.no/mobile: +47 917 69664
Marit Paasche, curator, Henie Onstad Art Centre, mpaasche@c2i.net/mobile:: +47 934 54 864

Press release from the Henie Onstad Art Centre and the Fritt Ord Foundation, 25 June 2012