Pressemelding -
Public Art in the New Government Quarter in Oslo, Norway
KORO – Public Art Norway is responsible for the comprehensive public art program for Norway’s New Government Quarter in Oslo. Spanning an area of 125.000 m² in the city of the capital, the project as a whole constitutes one of the largest reconstruction efforts in Norwegian history. On completion of the first phase in 2026, staff and visitors to the area will be able to experience a wide array of artworks from past and present, from the historic architecturally integrated works of the iconic mid-century H-block to newly commissioned art projects by renown contemporary artists.
As Norway’s national body for art in public space, KORO, has worked with the curation and production of public art for the new Government Quarter in Oslo since 2019. In 2022, KORO received the additional mandate to commission a new national memorial commemorating the terror attacks of 22 July 2011 at the same site.
In the course of the project, KORO has commissioned major new artworks by Norwegian and international artists, in addition to acquiring new works and re-curating existing art into new contexts. KORO’s curators and conservators surveyed existing art previously held across sixteen ministries, and of the 3,291 registered works, approximately 300 were selected based on art-historical and cultural-historical criteria to be highlighted in a new presentation of the collection across the quarter’s common areas in the buildings’ first and second floors.
The artworks in the Government Quarter represent both the past and present of Norwegian art and cultural history, encouraging us to reflect on society, history, and times we live in.
New integrated art projects
Outi Pieski (b. 1973): AAhkA(2025)
A majestic wall relief in the A-block portrays a female figure in three quarters pose, adorned with a Northern Sámi ládjogahpir (headdress), and bearing a walking stick with South Sámi ornamentation. The artwork is a representation of a feminine guardian spirit carrying ancestral knowledge that protects the earth and the resources on which humans depend. The work is integrated into the entire surface of the slanted wall in the so-called pyramid hall, which has an area of over 700 square meters (7500 sq ft) and a height of 51 meters (167 ft). Pieski lives and works on the Finnish side of Sápmi, along the Deatnu river that forms the northern border between Norway and Finland.
Jumana Manna (b. 1987): Sebastia (2025)
Manna’s artwork is an 800-square-meter (8600 sq ft) work embedded in the floor at Johan Nygaardsvold’s Square, built from the ruins and leftovers of the Norwegian stone architecture and infrastructure. The stones were donated from buildings, construction sites and depots from municipalities and other actors all across Norway. Manna is a Palestinian artist and filmmaker raised in Jerusalem and a graduate of the Oslo National Academy of the Arts and the California Institute of the Arts in Los Angeles. She is based in Berlin.
Damla Kilickiran (b. 1991): Sites of a Breach, Delays in a Dream; A Surface Half Asleep(2025)
The artwork consists of 10 friezes that wrap around the ground floor facade of the A-block, facing both Grubbegata and the coming Government Park. The motifs of the reliefs—details that are partly figurative and partly abstract—are drawn from the artist’s own photographic archive taken from wanderings in various places across Oslo. With Swedish-Turkish background, Kilickiran is a graduate of the Oslo National Academy of the Arts and the Tromsø Academy for Contemporary Art, and lives and works in Oslo.
Jumana Manna's Sebastia is built from donated stones from all across Norway. Photo: Niklas Hart / KORO.
New commissions for the entrance areas
Following an open call for artists in Norway and Sápmi in the summer of 2024, Elise Storsveen (b. 1969), Else Marie Hagen (b. 1963), Damien Ajavon(b. 1990), and Mari Slaattelid (b. 1960) were each commissioned to create artworks for the employee entrance areas of the A and D blocks, all facing the newly constituted Einar Gerhardsen Square.
Extending from the same invitation, Hilde Skancke Pedersen (b. 1953) was commissioned to create a work specifically for the D-block, and in the autumn of 2025, she completed the large-scale textile work Bassi várri, giđđadálvi– Sacred Mountain, Spring Winter.
In addition, KORO commissioned Otobong Nkanga (b. 1974) to produce an installation including textile and stone sculpture for the eastern pavilion of the historic H-block, also at Einar Gerhardsen’s Square. Nkanga is a Nigerian-Belgian artist living and working in Antwerpen, with major recent solo presentations at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, Musée d’Art Moderne in Paris and the Kochi Biennale, among others.
Mari Slaattelid's Memento in the entrance area of the D block. Photo: Niklas Hart / KORO
Examples of new placement of older art
Hannah Ryggen (1894–1970) is considered among Norway’s most important artists of the twentieth century. Her large textile work We’re Living on a Star was commissioned for the former foyer of the H-block by architect Erling Viksjø in the 1950s. Severely damaged during the bombing on 22 July 2011, it is now restored and has a prominent new placement in the foyer of the new D-block. In addition, her combined tapestry work Trojan Horse/The Picasso Tapestry is newly hung in the prime minister’s office in D-block.
Pablo Picasso’s(1881–1973) two artworks: The Fishermen and The Seagull, both also commissioned by Erling Viksjø and sandblasted by the Norwegian artist Carl Nesjar, were preserved from their original integrated placements in the now-demolished Y-block. They are installed respectively on the facade of the A-block at Einar Gerhardsen’s Square and in the main entrance area of the A-block. Their placement on the façade, not fully integrated but hanging off the building, is designed to preserve the traces of their ruptured history while presenting them anew for the public.
Do Ho Suh’s (b. 1962) work Grass Roots Square has been one of Oslo’s most beloved public art works since it was commissioned for the outdoors area of the Government building R5 in 2012. It is now relocated to Einar Gerhardsen’s Square. Born in South Korea, Do Ho Suh now lives and works in London, where he recently presented The Genesis Exhibition: Do Ho Suh: Walk the House at Tate Modern.
Among other artists represented in the Ministries Art Collection are AK Dolven, Anna-Eva Bergman, Bård Brevik, Edvard Munch, Håkon Bleken, Leonard Rickhard, Lotte Konow Lund, Olav Christpoher Jenssen, Per Barclay, Per Kleiva, Pushwagner, Snorre Kyllingmark, Vibeke Tandberg, Vanessa Baird, and Ahmed Umar, among others.
Do Ho Suh's Grass Roots Square in front of Pablo Picasso The Fishermen on the facade of the A-block. Foto: HF Asbjørnsen / Statsbygg
The National Memorial after 22 July 2011
With his proposal Upholding, the Norwegian artist Matias Faldbakken (b. 1973) won the international competition to design the new National 22 July Memorial after 22 July 2011. The sculpture consists of an industrial construction-scaffolding structure - a replica of the structure that was used to move Picasso's The Fishermen - and a large mosaic image that ties together the two venues for the terror attack: Utøya and the Government Quarter. The memorial will be completed in July 2026, before the marking of 15 years after the attacks.
Matias Faldbakken with his winning proposal for the 22 July Memorial. Upholding. Photo: Niklas Hart / KORO.
About KORO
KORO – Public Art Norway is Norway’s national body responsible for curating, producing and mediating art in public spaces across the country and abroad at embassies and consular locations. KORO manages an extensive collection of some 8.500 artworks accessible at around 1.000 sites throughout Norway and abroad. Read more about KORO’s work in the links below.
The art project for the Government Quarter is the largest project in KORO’s nearly 50-year history. Phase 1 of the Government Quarters will be completed in 2026. Phase 2 has just begun, and KORO is now working on art projects for the upcoming C-block and the new Government Park. Phase 2 will be completed in 2029.
Read more in the links below.
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KORO produserer, forvalter og formidler kunst i offentlige bygg og på andre offentlige arenaer. Samlingen av kunstverk er tilgjengelig for publikum på om lag tusen steder i Norge og internasjonalt.
