WE ARE LIVING ON A STAR

Organized by Henie Onstad Kunstsenter (HOK) in collaboration with Fritt Ord (The Freedom of Speech Foundation).

Welcome to press view at the Henie Onstad Kunstsenter (HOK), Høvikodden, Norway:

Thursday January 30^th at 10 am
Artists, curators and Fritt Ord will be present
Please register at gv@hok.no

The exhibition takes its title from a tapestry woven in 1958 by Hannah Ryggen, which hung in the Norwegian government building known as “the High-rise” until July 22, 2011. The extensive explosion that took place that day left the tapestry with a gash in the left lower corner. Like a wound that has healed, this tear is now barely visible after meticulous reconstruction, although a slight scar remains––a testament to the brutal tear in the fabric of Norwegian society.

In a short span of time the events of July 22 transformed the experience of normality as it was known and, consequently, the predictable. The normal was no longer familiar, and the abnormal was no longer associated only with the foreign. The artists participating in We Are Living on a Star contend with a range of issues relating to history, contemporaneity, normality, and freedom of expression. The result is an open and inquiring look at our own time.

Participating artists:
Burak Arıkan, Doug Ashford, Julian Blaue, Martin Braathen, Marius Engh, Marthe Ramm Fortun, Hanne Friis, Else Marie Hagen, Silje Linge Haaland, Per-Oskar Leu, Lotte Konow Lund, Jumana Manna, Eline McGeorge, Eva Rothschild, Hannah Ryggen, Ahlam Shibli, Superunion Architects, Javier Téllez, and Even Smith Wergeland.

A seminar on “normality” on March 28, and a publication entitled We Are Living on a Star, co-published with Sternberg Press, will follow the exhibition.

Please email post@hok.no to be added to the mailing list to receive updates about the seminar such as registration information, the calendar of events, or the publication.

Curators: Tone Hansen and Marit Paasche.