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Nairy Baghramian – new permanent sculpture unveiled at Kistefos
Unveiled 4 May 2025
Kistefos Museum, Norway
For the opening of the 2025 season, Kistefos was delighted to unveil the 56th permanent work in the museum’s sculpture park: Resting Arms by the Iranian-born, German artist Nairy Baghramian (b. 1971). The sculpture, a highly abstracted portrait of primary joints in the body, was made in white Carrara marble and steel. By highlighting the vulnerability of the human form, Baghramian challenged the traditional connotations of durability and monumentality often associated with these sculptural materials.
The sculpture’s two blocks of marble are heavily veined and pitted on their surface, suggesting fragility, sensitivity and, in the artist’s own words, ‘possible collapse’. They resemble arms and elbows, which the artist has given respite from centuries of upright poses and postures. Baghramian moves the joints from their typical orientation, allowing them to rest and to recover from the stress and impact of daily use. Sited on Kistefos’ terrain, the sculpture invites visitors to do the same – find a moment of contemplation and pause as the panorama of the landscape unfolds beyond.
This four-metre-tall work marked Baghramian’s first in Northern Europe and became an important addition to the growing sculpture park at Kistefos. It was installed by the museum’s south entrance and unveiled during the season opening on 4 May 2025.
About Nairy Baghramian
Nairy Baghramian was born in 1971 in Isfahn, Iran. She has lived and worked in Berlin since 1984. Baghramian is internationally renowned for her work with large-scale sculpture and installations, which she often makes in reference to architecture and the human body. Her work addresses temporal, spatial and social relationships to language, history, and the present. Recent solo exhibitions include the façade commission Scratching the Back at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (2023); Aspen Art Museum, Colorado (2023); Nasher Sculpture Center, Dallas, Texas (2022); Galleria d'Arte Moderna (GAM), Milan, Italy (2021); MUDAM Luxembourg, Luxembourg (2019); and Palacio de Cristal, Madrid, Spain (2018). Her many awards include the Nivola Award for Sculpture (2023); and the Nasher Prize Laureate (2022).
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Kistefos was established in 1996 by Norwegian businessman and art collector Christen Sveaas on the former site of his grandfather’s pulp mill. Today, Kistefos offers world-class architecture, industrial history, art exhibitions, and an expansive sculpture park in scenic surroundings. Every year, Kistefos presents new art exhibitions by highly recognized national and international artists in its two galleries, The Twist and Nybruket Gallery. The Twist has won several prizes for its cutting-edge design and is a gallery, a bridge, and a sculpture, all in one.
