'Whatever Happened to Sex in Scandinavia?' is a research project that consists of three platforms – an exhibition, a programme of public events and a publication – examining the juncture of the political and the erotic through the work of artists produced predominantly in the context of the countercultural movements of the 1960s and 70s. Part of OCA's Verksted series, the exhibition and public programme are the result of an extensive research project about the international perception of Scandinavia from the 1950s onwards as a utopic region of socialism and sexual freedom. This project introduces OCA's new premises at Nedre gate 7 in Oslo.

OCA provides financial support on a quarterly basis for international projects including Norwegian artists and/or cultural producers. All applications must be sent by post and must be postmarked by 15 February. Applications sent after 15 February will be returned to the respective applicants.

Recipients from the November 2008 grants for International Support are listed here.

Click here for information on International Support and the application process.

For any questions regarding the application, please contact Jørn Mortensen, at jorn.mortensen@oca.no. 

The Office for Contemporary Art Norway is responsible for the Norwegian participation in the Platform China Residency, Beijing, People's Republic of China; the International Studio Program Künstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin, Germany; the Residency Berlin Mitte, Berlin, Germany; the International Studio and Curatorial Program (ISCP), New York, NY, USA; the Platform Garanti Istanbul Residency Program, Istanbul, Turkey.

OCA introduces a Studio Residency for a Norwegian artist at the International Artist in Residency Programme at WIELS Contemporary Art Centre, in Brussels, Belgium.

For more information on International Residencies and the application process, please contact Alexandra Cruz at alexandra.cruz@oca.no

In 2009, OCA introduces a Studio Residency for a Norwegian artist at the International Artist in Residency Programme at WIELS Contemporary Art Centre, for a period of nine months (April to December 2009). The applicant must be a Norwegian citizen, an international artist residing in Norway or a Norwegian artist living and/or working abroad who has already elaborated a specific and promising aesthetic language but seeks artistic, theoretical and professional support in order to develop his or her practice.

The residency is accompanied by a programme of weekly meetings with other professional artists and local academics, along with field trips and as monthly studio visits by guest curators and critics. The resident will also have the opportunity to present his or her work to the public on organised open-studio days and will take part in a collective exhibition organised by WIELS Contemporary Art Centre. By the end of the residency an online archive of the artist's work will be included in the residency blog.

! Application Deadline – 15 February 2009

! ISCP New York City – Application deadline: 15 February 2009

In 2009-10, OCA offers two studio grants – one for a Norwegian artist and one for a Norwegian curator – at the International Studio and Curatorial Program (ISCP) in New York City, USA. The American Scandinavian Foundation provides support of the participation in the programmes in the ISCP and only citizens of Norway are eligible for these residency grants. 

! Künstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin, Germany – Application deadline: 15 February 2009

 In 2009-10, Office for Contemporary Art Norway offers a studio grant at the International Studio Program Künstlerhaus Bethanien. The studio is granted for a period of 12 months (1 December 2009–15 November 2010). The artist must be a Norwegian citizen, or live and work in Norway. 

! Platform Garanti Istanbul Residency Programme – Application deadline: 15 February 2009

In 2009, OCA makes a three-month residency available at Platform Garanti for artists and curators, as well as artists/writers and cultural producers. The applicants must be a Norwegian citizen, or live and work in Norway. The residency made available atPlatform Garanti, in Istanbul, Turkey is an eminent one at the renown non-profit arts centre directed by Vasif Kortun.

OCA initiates a Research Residency in collaboration with the Mondriaan Foundation and the Price Claus Fund in the Netherlands

OCA announces the first in a series of orientation programmes that OCA is organising in cooperation with the Mondriaan Foundation and Prince Claus Fund for Culture and Development with the aim to intensify the exchange of knowledge by providing information about the contemporary arts scene in visited countries; fostering the interaction between professionals from the visited cities and the group of invited participants; and creating a multi-disciplinary network for future collaborations between all parties involved.

For its first cooperation, OCA supports the participation of Bergen Kunsthall Director Solveig Øvstebø and artist and curator Per Gunnar Eeg-Tverbakk in the 2009 curatorial research trip to South-America. The trip will visit the cities of São Paulo, Brazil, Buenos Aires, Argentina and Lima, Peru, and the Norwegian participants will be joined by others selected by the respective institutions, including representatives from the Center for Contemporary Art of Lagos (CCA), Lagos, Nigeria; Today Art Museum, Beijing, People's Republic of China; Kedai Kebun Forum, Yogyakarta, Indonesia; Ewolé (Rencontres et Résidences Internationales d'Arts Visuels), Lomé, Togo and MuHKA, (Museum van Hedendaagse Kunst Antwerpen), Antwerpen, Belgium, among others.

This programme is supported with 03-funding*.

A new collaboration between OCA and Colab Art & Architecture in Bangalore, India

The Office for Contemporary Art Norway and Colab Art & Architecture initiate a long-term collaboration that establishes a residency programme in Southern India. The residency aims to intensify the exchange of knowledge between the Norwegian and the Indian artistic communities, and to provide the opportunity for a deeper contact with the local reality both in terms of the cultural and art contexts.

As the first step in this collaboration, artist Lene Berg participated, by invitation of curators Suman Gopinath and Grant Watson, in a roundtable conference entitled 'Re-presenting Histories' on 24 January 2009 at the School of Art & Aesthetics, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India. Gathering together leading Indian artists and art historians, as well as renowned international art professionals such as Geeta Kapur, Ruth Noack, Sheela Gowda, Anita Dube, Nancy Adajania and Parul Dave Mukherjee, the conference examined the way in which art histories undergo reappraisals in the light of new thinking on particular artists, movements, regions and historical periods. The conference focused on the reception of the work and practice of artist Nasreen Mohamedi at both national and international levels, and examined the critical tools and the cultural and historical insights needed to undertake this work. This project is supported with 03-funding*.

Upcoming Resident January-February 2009:Maya Økland

Maya Økland is an artist and curator based in Bergen, Norway. In collaboration with Hilde Jørgensen, she recently curated the programme 'Fatal Nordic Attractions' for Flaggfabrikken Presenterer in Bergen, where local artists could meet and network with artists from other Nordic countries. During her stay in Berlin, Økland intends to research artist-run galleries to further develop strategies for promoting other artists' works.

Upcoming Resident March-April 2009: Marte Eknæs

Marte Eknæs is an artist based in London, UK and educated at Central Saint Martins College of Art & Design, London, the California Institute of Arts, Valencia, USA and Glasgow School of Art, Glasgow, UK. During her residency in Berlin, Eknæs will study the city's recent corporate architecture and the features of urban planning that direct pedestrians and traffic. As a material and formal response to this, Eknæs will make new work that resists the aspirations of this development and instead performs visions for alternative structures.

Upcoming Resident April-May 2009: Unni Gjertsen

Unni Gjertsen is a visual artist based in Oslo working with subjects relating to history and memory. She studied at Trondheim Academy of Fine Arts and University of Oslo, and her most recent solo exhibitions took place at Baltic Sea Cultural Centre, Gdansk, Poland (2007) and Konsthall C Stockholm, Sweden (2005). Group shows include Kasteel van Gaasbeek, Gaasbeek, Belgium, Henie-Onstad Art Centre, Norway and Rauma Biennale, Finland (all 2008), MuHKA, Antwerp and IASPIS, Stockholm (all 2007), and Göteborgs Konsthall, Sweden (2006). During her stay in China, Gjertsen will further develop her ongoing project, which loosely relates to Robert Byron's book The Road to Oxiana, and compares preconceptions of a specific place with the actual experience of being there.

Upcoming Resident September-October: Inger Lise Hansen

Inger Lise Hansen is an artist and film-maker based in Oslo, Norway. She studied at University of East London, Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design, London and San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, USA. Hansen's films have been screened and exhibited in institutions such as the National Gallery in London, Académie Libanese des Beaux-arts, Sin el Fil, Lebanon, Galerie National du Jeu de Paume, Paris, France and Gasworks, London. During her stay in Beijing, Hansen will further develop concerns in her current film work – a particular phenomena occurring through inverted perspectives and a travelling camera.

OCA's International Studio Programme Oslo (ISP) is available for international artists and curators by invitation, independently or in connection with research in Norway.

Click here for information on the International Studio Programme Oslo.

Philip Tinari Writer and curator (b.1979, Philadelphia, USA)

Philip Tinari is a writer and curator based in Beijing, People's Republic of China. He is a contributing editor to Artforum, and founding editor of artforum.com.cn, the magazine's Chinese-language website. In 2007, he opened Office for Discourse Engineering, an editorial studio focused on publishing, research and translation related to contemporary art in China. He has written for publications including The New York Times Magazine, Parkett, Art AsiaPacific, McSweeney's, The Wall Street Journal and the Chinese journal Dushu, as well as exhibition catalogues for museums including the Guggenheim, New York City and the Serpentine Gallery, London. He is Asia advisor to Art Basel and editor of U-TURN, a serialised history of Chinese art from 1978 to 2008. Last year he curated 'Delirious Beijing' (PKM Gallery, Beijing) and 'CYLWXZ' (Esther Schipper, Berlin). He holds a masters in East Asian studies from Harvard University and was formerly a Fulbright fellow at Peking University, Peking, People's Republic of China. This residency is supported with 03-funding*.

Luluc Huang Writer and curator (1980, Nanjing, People's Republic of China)

Luluc Huang's writings on international art, film and fashion are widely syndicated across the Chinese cultural media, and her blog is well known throughout the Chinese art and literary world for its characteristic mix of cultural commentary, criticism and gossip. She has worked as Asia representative for Artforum International (2006-08), curator at the non-profit art space UniversalStudios-Beijing (now Boersli Gallery, 2005-06) and editor of Rear Window (2003-05), at that time China's leading online film discussion forum. She holds a masters in Comparative Literature from Nanjing University, Nanjing, People's Republic of China. This residency is supported with 03-funding*.

The Office for Contemporary Art Norway runs an International Visitor Programme to support international curators and cultural producers in their research in Norway for upcoming exhibitions and projects.

Click here for information on the International Visitor Programme.

Maria Lind Curator (b.1966 in Stockholm, Sweden)

Since January 2008, Maria Lind is the director of the Graduate Program, Center for Curatorial Studies, Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, USA. From 2005 to 2007 she was the Director of IASPIS (International Artist Studio Program in Sweden) in Stockholm. Previously, since 2002, Lind was the Director of Kunstverein München, Munich, Germany, where she, together with a curatorial team consisting at different times of Sören Grammel, Katharina Schlieben, Tessa Praun, Ana Paula Cohen and Judith Schwarzbart, ran a programme which involved artists such as Deimantas Narkevicius, Oda Projesi, Bojan Sarcevic, Philippe Parreno and Marion von Osten. The format of a retrospective or survey exhibition was explored in a one-year long retrospective with Christine Borland in 2002–03, only ever showing one piece at a time, and a retrospective project in the form of a seven-day-long workshop with Rirkrit Tiravanija. The group project 'Totally Motivated: A Socio-cultural Manoeuvre' was a collaboration between five curators and ten artists looking at the relationship between 'amateur' and 'professional' art and culture. From 1997 to 2001 she was curator at Moderna Museet in Stockholm and, in 1998, co-curator of Manifesta 2, Europe's biennale of contemporary art. Responsible for Moderna Museet Projekt, Lind worked with artists on a series of 29 commissions that took place in a temporary project space, within or beyond the museum. There she also curated 'What If: Art on the Verge of Architecture and Design', filtered by Liam Gillick. Lind was one of ten contributing curators to Phaidon's Fresh Cream book, and she has contributed widely to magazines including Index (where she was on the editorial board) and to numerous catalogues and other publications. She is the co-editor of the recent books Curating with Light Luggage and Collected Newsletter (Revolver Archiv für aktuelle Kunst), Taking the Matter into Common Hands: Collaborative Practices in Contemporary Art (Blackdog Publishing), as well as the report European Cultural Policies 2015 andThe Greenroom: Reconsidering the Documentary and Contemporary Art. She has been teaching and lecturing at different art schools since the early 1990s, including at the University Colleges of Fine Art in Umeå and Stockholm, the Royal College of Art and Goldsmiths College in London, Bard Center for Curatorial Studies in Annandale-on-Hudson, USA the Emily Carr Institute of Art in Vancouver, Canada and the Academy of Fine Arts in Oslo.

Rubén del Valle Lantarán, Director of the 10th Havana Biennial, has invited Victor Mutelekesha to exhibit within the biennial, which takes place in Havana, Cuba from 27 March to 30 April 2009 and is titled 'Integration and Resistance in the Global Age'. According to Lantarán, the biennial will focus 'on the complexity of a real and active integration to a global order, on one side, and on the capacity of resistance in the face of the homogenising farce that it presupposes, on the other'. Within 'Integration and Resistance in the Global Age', Mutelekesha will exhibit the installation Pangea, which nostalgically refers to the hypothetical landmass that existed when all continents were joined.

This project is supported by 03–funding*.

Agustin Pérez Rubio, Chief Curator at MUSAC (Museo de Arte Contemporaneo de Castilla y León, León, Spain) has invited the artists' duo Elmgreen & Dragset for a solo exhibition entitled 'Trying to Remember What We Want to Forget' at MUSAC from31 January to 3 May 2009. The exhibition will focus in the gap between the personal and the collective, the unbalanced of 'the private' versus the drama of 'the public' in the immediate world. The exhibition will be composed of ten installation art works in in a display created specifically for MUSAC – six of them will be new productions and the previous works will be displayed in a new arrangement, according to the curatorial concept.

From 28 January to 22 March 2009, Rachel Dagnall, as part of the artist group Henry VIII's Wives, will the holding a solo at The Pumphouse Gallery in London, UK. Within the exhibition, organised by Sandra Ross curator of The Pumphouse Gallery and titled 'Henry VIII's Wives', the group will present the works The Returning Officerand a two-screen work titled Mr. Hysteria.

Renske Janssen, curator at Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art, Rotterdam, the Netherlands has invited Ina Blom to present a lecture on Lynda Benglis titled 'An Instance of Videosociality' at Witte de With. In the lecture, Blom considers Lynda Benglis's 1972 video Mumble, focusing on an artistic dialogue between Benglis and Robert Morris, and raises fundamental questions concerning the artistic medium of video as a social machine. The lecture takes place Thursday 29 January at 19:00.

From 26 March to 03 May 2009, Dag Alveng will hold a solo exhibition at Centro Cutural da Caixa in São Paulo, Brazil. The exhibition will present a retrospective of Alveng's works, including the projects The Farm, Summer Light, This is MOST Importantand I love This Time of Year. This project is supported by 03–funding*.

Chus Martínez, Chief Curator of the Museu d'Art Contemporani de Barcelona in Barcelona, Spain and a guest at OCA's ISP Programme in August 2006 has invitedMatias Faldbakken to participate in the project 'The Malady of Writing. A Project on Text and Speculative Imagination'. The project consists of an exhibition and an active space for reading, discussion and production of writing, and will include, among others,Seth Price, Falke Pisano and Will Holder. 'The Malady of Writing' takes place at the Museu d'Art Contemporani de Barcelona from 13 March to 31 May 2009.

Matias Faldbakken and Leif Tangen have been invited by Ruba Katrib, Assistant Curator at the Museum of Contemporary Art, North Miami, USA, to exhibit within 'The Possibility of an Island' at MOCA from 4 December 2008 to 15 March 2009. According to the curator, the exhibition takes as a starting point the recent novel The Possibility of an Island, by Michel Houellebecq to pose existential questions in the face of a never-arriving future. For 'The Possibility of an Island', MOCA commissioned new works from Matias Faldbakken and invited Leif Tangen to take part in the public programme of the exhibition with a talk about the process of writing the novelPhillip. 'The Possibility of an Island' takes place at Goldman Warehouse in Miami. Among other participating artists areClaire Fontaine, Peter Coffin and Cao Fei.

Raimundas Malasauskas, curator at Artists Space in New York, USA has invited Morten Norbye Halvorsen to exhibit within 'Paper Exhibition', taking place at the Artists Space from 14 January to 7 March 2009. According to he curator, the exhibition will 'explore a number of modes of artistic and curatorial production dedicated to potential, speculative, imaginary virtual, etc'. Within 'Paper Exhibition', Morten Norbye Halvorsen presents a sound installation that draws from various sources amongst them Francis Ford Coppola's The Conversation and the new autobiography of Clifford Irving Phantom Rosebuds. Among the artists exhibiting are Mario García Torres, Mariana Castilo Deball and Loris Greaud.

Kjell Bjørgeengen has been invited Paul Lagring, Artistic Director, Netwerk vzw, in Aalst, Belgium to exhibit within 'Fuzzy Electronics', taking place at Netwerk vzw from14 February to 4 April 2009. The exhibition focuses on the importance of accidental change within the filed of 'new media'. For 'Fuzzy Electronics' the artist will produce a new series of video and audio works that incorporate a method of instability. Other artists exhibiting are Frederik De Wilde, Jerry Galle and Doris Kuwert.

Karl Ingar Røys has been invited by Mika Hannula to exhibit within 'Happy Together', taking place at Tallinn Art Hall, Tallinn, Estonia from 28 January to 1 March 2009. The exhibition proposes an investigation on the concepts of collective identity and contemporary nationalism. Within 'Happy Together' Karl Ingar Røys exhibits the video installation Radio Yerevan, which challenges and juxtaposes different perspectives on of a political demonstration in Armenia.

Hanneline Røgeberg is currently exhibiting within 'Form and Story: Narration in Recent Painting', at University of Richmond Museums, Richmond, USA. According to the curator Elisabeth Schlatter the exhibition 'includes approximately forty paintings by four artists who convey narrative content in their work through a synthesis of representational subject matter and the materiality and application of their medium'. 'Form and Story: Narration in Recent Painting' is on view until 15 May 2009.

At the invitation of Suzan Rosseler, Conservator of Exhibitions, Audax Textile Museum Tiburg, the Netherlands, Heidi Kennedy Skjerve will exhibit within 'Knitted Worlds'. The exhibition, which takes place at Audax Textile Museum Tiburg from14 March to 4 June 2009, will present artworks where knitting is used to express social, political and formal artistic questions. Within 'Knitted Worlds', the artist will exhibit the works Grunn/Ground and Sommer/Summer II.

Ståle Stenslie is currently exhibiting the works Artgasm and World Ripple within the festival 'Touch Me – Feel Better'. The project Artgast 'is a public performance where two males are having an orgasm induced by a medical team, using a special medical vibrator' and World Ripple 'is a sensual, invisible and immaterial sculpture maze sensually senseable by a tactile, wireless and mobile bodysuit'. Curated by Suncica Ostoic, the festival presents contemporary art production at the intersection of science and technology, and its thematic framework refers to the imperative of happiness, pleasure and hedonism in contemporary society. The festival is on view until 23 February 2009 at Old Factory Badel, Zagreb, Croatia.

The Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, USA seeks applicants specialising in modern and contemporary art for a post-doctoral fellowship offered from the beginning of June 2009. This two-year fellowship, with a possible third-year renewal, will provide curatorial training while also supporting scholarly research related to the renowned collections of modern and contemporary art at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Applicants must have completed a PhD within the last five years or have a proven record of equivalent accomplishment. Candidates must demonstrate scholarly excellence and promise as well as a strong interest in a museum career. Please visit philamuseum.org/jobs for more information.

As part of 'Unsolicited Proposal Program', apexart in New York, is currently accepting 600-word idea-based proposals for evaluation by an international panel. Submissions are reviewed independently, anonymously and without visual support material. Previous curatorial experience is not required, and will not factor in the selection process. The two proposals with the highest ratings will be presented at apexart in the 2009/10 season (September 2009 to August 2010). Please click here for more info, guidelines, past winners, and to apply.

Alexandra Cruz is an architect, and through her professional experience she has been involved in the production and organisation of a number of exhibitions and events with a multidisciplinary scope, related mainly with architecture and contemporary arts both for private and public institutions. She has also lectured as Assistant Professor at IADE – Institute of Visual Arts, Design and Marketing in Portugal. As assistant coordinator of the Architecture and Design Department of the Portuguese Ministry of Culture (Instituto das Artes), Cruz was co-responsible for the production and organization of different projects, including the Official Portuguese Representation on the 9th International Architecture Biennale in Venice, the 6th International Architecture Biennial in São Paulo and a number of other projects and initiatives both in Portugal and abroad. She moved to Oslo in August 2006 to be Assistant Curator of the Oslo Triennale 2007, the third in a series of international architecture triennials arranged by the National Association of Norwegian Architects (NAL) in collaboration with the Oslo School of Architecture and Design, Norsk Form, OAF (Oslo Association of Architects) and Oslo Teknopol.

*03–funding: The purpose of the 03-funds, as allocated by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs to OCA, is to further develop cooperation and professional networking between OCA and the constituency of artists, independent cultural producers and organizations that are located in designated countries or associated with 03-countries. This includes but is not limited to professional research visits by cultural producers, artists and curators, short-term residencies for cultural producers and artists, and the development of seminars, conferences, art projects, workshops, etc. that focus on the further development of professional exchange and networking between and among countries, project development and pilot projects on an international scale.

You have received this email as you are subscribed to the OCA.no newsletter.
If you wish to be removed please email newsletter-unsubscribe@lists.oca.no or visit http://www.oca.no/newsletter/