Christopher Nielsen: I’m Just a Simple Conceptualist from Ulsrud

On 23 October Christopher Nielsen: I’m Just a Simple Conceptualist from Ulsrud, the first major retrospective dedicated to Christopher Nielsen’s satirical and boundary-transcending universe, will open at Henie Onstad Kunstsenter and continue through 8 February 2015.

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Henie Onstad Kunstsenter, 23 October 2014 – 8 February 2015
Press preview: 23 October, 10:00 am

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Henie Onstad Kunstsenter is proud to present the artist Christopher Nielsen (b. 1963) and his astonishing and provocative world. Occupying 1500 square meters of exhibition space, a broad selection of comics, visual art, film, and dramatic works from the period 1980–2014 are on display. Visitors will also have the opportunity to experience the premier of Nielsen’s monumental installation Disamusement Parkand a new version of his animated film The Escalator.

- Few artists have critiqued and caricatured Norway’s welfare society and the folly of its citizens with such fearlessness and imagination as Christopher Nielsen. He is a storyteller, satirist, and draftsman of international stature, say Lars Mørch Finborud and Lasse Marhaug, the exhibition’s curators.

Long and multifaceted career

During the 1980s Christopher Nielsen was renowned for his comics in such publications as Gateavisa, Nye Takter, and Brage, and for his close collaboration with the band Jokke & Valentinerne. In the 1990s Nielsen’s comic series about the Narvere, To trøtte typer, and Hold Brillan were ubiquitous, and through the 2000s his artistic activity burgeoned with a feature film, Slipp Jimmy Fri (Free Jimmy), dramatic work for the Norwegian National Theatre, and installation art at Statens Kunstutstilling and Dortmund Bodega. In 2014 Nielsen debuted as an author with the critically acclaimed science fiction novel Metamorphosis.

That the protagonist is known for having achieved a Guinness World Record for expressing himself in the greatest number of art forms in a single year is illustrative of the variety that characterizes Nielsen’s artistic output. And just as a Røkke or a Fredriksen insists: “I’m just a simple man”, Nielsen asserts to his audience: “I’m just a simple conceptualist from Ulsrud”.

You can’t please all of the people all of the time…

- We’ll be serving art to the people! Disamusment Park to the people, comics to the people, film to the people; a bit circus perhaps – bread they’ve already got. From li’l me, a man of the people, a little man – just a simple conceptualist from Ulsrud. Hope people like it, says Christopher Nielsen about his first major solo presentation. But, well, there’s bound to be someone who’s disamused, he adds.  

The exhibition is paired with an extensive concert and film program coordinated by the featured figure himself, in collaboration with HOK’s curators. A comprehensive catalogue of the exhibition is being published by No Comprendo Press.

Curators: Lars Mørch Finborud and Lasse Marhaug

Contact information:

Sigrun Agøy Engum, sigrun.engum@kulturmeglerne.no, 971 82 242.

Lars Mørch Finborud, curator HOK, lmf@hok.no mob. 92202861