Scan Magazine | Special Theme | Highlights of Norway’s Art Scene
Above: The Tesserakt installation by artist Tine Aamodt, as part of the Fall Exhibition, which won the top prize in 2015 at Skien Art Association. Below: The installation Superfluous Identity by the artists Martinka Bobrikova and Oscar de Carmen at Skien Art Association.
Highlights of Norway’s Art Scene:
The city of artists The south-eastern Nordic city of Skien, playwright Henrik Ibsen’s birthplace, has become a hotbed of artistic expression and cultural investment. Since 2006, Skien has been demonstrating its commitment to professional art through the programme Kunstnerbyen Skien. Various grants and initiatives have merged to revitalise Skien as a vibrant cultural city for generations to come, all in honour of Ibsen’s legacy.
unteering, with the support of one parttime administrator. Indeed, its 200 members are actively engaged in volunteer work, making the association a cultural benefactor in the area.
By Maria Lanza Knudsen | Photos: Skien Art Association
Every year, Skien Art Association arranges exhibitions for work created at its premises by Norwegian and foreign artists. In addition, a yearly touring exhibition, Telemarksutstillingen, features local artists from the Telemark county. The exhibition has become a popular and engaging event within the region’s artistic community.
Situated in the cultural centre Ibsenhuset, Skien Art Association has a prime location in the heart of the city. An old establishment, it has been bringing together the town’s artists since its establishment in 1910. The association is
a membership-based art organisation that hosts exhibitions and other cultural events related to the arts. “Our focus is on site-specific contemporary art,” manager Tone Holmen clarifies. “We host a range of activities, including socially relevant projects with groups we have not previously worked with.” To this end, in 2015, Skien Art Association partnered with groups supporting refugees. Although Ibsenhuset attracts over 120,000 visitors annually, Skien Art Association is run mainly through vol-
20 | Issue 83 | December 2015
The artistic project space Down the road and over a bridge to the island Klosterøya, is the Spriten Project Space. The art establishment was launched in 2007, as part of the Kunstnerbyen Skien initiative, in an impressive old factory that previously produced rubbing alcohol, or spirits. The