Until 20 June 2009, OCA is exhibiting 'Nasreen Mohamedi: Notes – Reflections on Indian Modernism (Part 1)', the first solo exhibition in Europe of Nasreen Mohamedi. The exhibition is part of 'Reflections on Indian Modernism', a comprehensive programme of public projects and residencies organised by Suman Gopinath and Grant Watson for OCA and CoLab Art & Architecture, Bangalore, India.

'Nasreen Mohamedi: Notes – Reflections on Indian Modernism (Part 1)' is the first solo exhibition in Europe of Mohamedi (1937–1990), regarded as one of the most important Indian artists of her generation. Mohamedi's rarely seen paintings, drawings and photographs, produced from the early 1960s to the late 80s, constitute a key body of work within the modernist canon. Previous exhibitions of her work include the Third Indian Triennale (New Delhi, India, 1975), Jehangir Art Gallery (Mumbai, India, 1991), 'Drawing Space: Contemporary Indian Drawing', inIVA (London, UK, 2000), 'Nasreen Mohamedi: Lines among Lines', The Drawing Center (New York, USA, 2005), documenta 12 (Kassel, Germany, 2007) and 'Nasreen Mohamedi: The Grid Unplugged', Talwar Gallery (New York, 2008).

Please click here for installation views of 'Nasreen Mohamedi: Notes'.

This programme has been supported by 03–funds*.

OCA provides financial support on a quarterly basis for international projects including Norwegian artists and/or cultural producers. Applications are accepted from non-profit entities, and priority is given to exhibitions taking place in key international art institutions and project spaces. Support is also extended to solo and group exhibitions organised by international curators, as well as to Norwegian art professionals organising exhibitions and projects abroad.

OCA is currently setting up an online application system. For more information please visit the OCA website,www.oca.no/support/int_support.shtml.

Please notice that the results of the 2nd quarter/2009 applications requests will be made public by 25 June 2009.

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. 

53rd International Art Exhibition La Biennale di Venezia

From 7 June to 22 November 2009
Venice, Italy

Anawana Haloba participates in
'Fare Mondi // Making Worlds...',
The main exhibition of the
53rd International Art Exhibition
La Biennale di Venezia
Preview: 4, 5 and 6 June 2009
Public opening: Sunday, 7 June, 10:00

At the invitation of Daniel Birnbaum, Director of the 53rd International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia, Anawana Haloba will exhibit within the main exhibition of the 2009 edition of the Biennale di Venezia. Titled 'Fare Mondi // Making Worlds…', the exhibition articulates different themes woven into one, expressing 'a wish to emphasise the process of creation'. It comprises works by over 90 artists, including Thomas Bayrle, Öyvind Fahlström, Sheela Gowda, Joan Jonas and Wolfgang Tillmans. Within 'Fare Mondi // Making Worlds…', Haloba will exhibit the large-scale spatial installation The Greater G8 (GG8) AD MARKET. The work functions as an advertising market stall for the products of the so-called GG8 members as fictionalised by the artist: Moldova, Iraq, Sudan, Colombia, Bolivia, Malawi, Philippines and Somalia. The project follows the logic and desires of a political dreamscape in which Haloba rewrites the rules of economic financial exchange by offering Third World fair-trade goods imbued with a sense of futility.

The Nordic and Danish Pavilion
'The Collectors' Curated by Elmgreen and Dragset
Press Preview: 4 June 2009
Professional Preview: 4 June 2009, 15:00
Public Opening: 7 June 2009

On the occasion of the 53rd International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia, the Nordic and Danish Pavilions collaborate with a project curated by artists' duo Elmgreen & Dragset. Titled 'The Collectors', the project approaches the topic of collecting, and the psychology behind the practice of expressing oneself through physical objects, addressing questions such as 'why do we gather items and surround ourselves with them in our everyday lives?' or 'which mechanisms of desire trigger our selection?'. 'The Collectors' is not a group show in the conventional sense. The pavilions have undergone a radical reconstruction, and more than twenty artists and designers have contributed to creating a different kind of exhibition format, one that will appear closer to a film set than a conventional art display. Exhibiting artists areThora Dolven Balke, Massimo Bartolini, Hernan Bas, Guillaume Bijl, Maurizio Cattelan, Elmgreen & Dragset, Pepe Espaliú Tom of Finland, Simon Fujiwara, Han & Him, Laura Horelli, Martin Jacobson, William E. Jones, Terence Koh, Jani Leinonen, Klara Lidén, Jonathan Monk, Nico Muhly, Norway Says, (Torbjørn Anderssen, Andreas Engesvik and Espen Voll), Henrik Olesen, Nina Saunders, Vibeke Slyngstad, Sturtevant and Wolfgang Tillmans.

For press enquiries related to the project, and for interviews with the artists, please contact the following:
For Norwegian press: Marthe Tveitan at marthe.tveitan@oca.no
For international press: Brian Phillips/Black Frame at bphillips@framenoir.com.

Wednesday, 27 May / 19:00
ISP Artist Resident Babette Mangolte
'The Sky on location'

Babette Mangolte will give a lecture relating to landscape films and the concept of wilderness. As a part of Mangolte's presentation, the artist will screen The Sky on Location, a 16 mm film (78 min) shot by the artist in 1982, in which she approaches the question: is it possible to confront nature with a real purity of vision? The film is a personal mediation on the landscape of the American West that tracks the ruling conception in nature in the 19th and 20th centuries, from the pioneers through the 'instamatic' tourists, while obsessively following the four seasons. Ernest Larsen writes about the film: 'The elemental vicissitudes of the weather, the exact moment of the day, the colour of the light and the soil and the trees form an acute visual record of the constantly changing mood of the landscape – the film successfully attempts, with quiet, passionate, almost single-minded firmness, to confront us as nakedly as possible with our cultural inability to see nature whole, without preconceptions.'

Friday, 5 June 2009 / 11:00
Fondazione Giorgio Cini, Venice
'Sverre Fehn: A Homage'
a Discussion and Celebration of Sverre Fehn

This event is dedicated to the work of Sverre Fehn (1924–2009), the Norwegian architect who won the prestigious Pritzker Architecture Prize in 1997 and who is known for his Nordic Pavilion at the Giardini in Venice. 'Sverre Fehn: A Homage' will start with an introduction to Fehn's work by Per Olaf Fjeld, the author of an upcoming monograph on the architect's work, followed by a discussion with the artist Dan Graham, the architect Momoyo Kaijima (Atelier Bow-Wow, Tokyo), the curatorHans Ulrich Obrist, the architect Gro Bonesmo (Space Group, Oslo) and the architecture theorist Marco De Michelis.

For more information on the event or to book a place, please contact Suzana Martins at suzana@oca.no.

This event is organised by the Office for Contemporary Art Norway, Oslo in association with Public Art Norway (KORO).

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  the International Artist in Residency Programme at WIELS Contemporary Art Centre, Brussels, Belgium; Capacete, Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, Brazil.

OCA accepts applications for these programmes. Click here for more information.

Upcoming Resident September/December 2009: Geir Haraldseth

Geir Haraldseth is an independent curator and writer from Norway. Haraldseth is currently curating a exhibition of work by assume vivid astro focus at the National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design in Norway together with Stina Högkvist, and acts an editor for Landings Journal. Haraldseth has a BA from Central Saint Martins, London, UK and an MA in curatorial studies from Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, USA. Haraldseth has curated shows at Fotogalleriet, Oslo, Norway; Bastard, Oslo; Center for Curatorial Studies/Bard College; Landings, Vestfossen, Norway and Torpedo, Oslo. Haraldseth has contributed to a number of different journals, including Acne Paper, Stockholm, Sweden and Billedkunst, Oslo, Kunstkritikk.no and Elle Mann, Oslo, and lectured at Art in General, New York, the University of Oslo, and the Art Academy, also in Oslo. Click here for information on International Residencies and application processes, or please contact Alexandra Cruz at alexandra.cruz@oca.no.

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.

Babette Mangolte
Artist/film-maker, b.1941 in France, lives and works in New York, USA

The French-born, New York-based experimental film-maker Babette Mangolte was one of the first women accepted into the cinematography programme at L'École Nationale de la Photographie et de la Cinématographie in Paris, France, founded by Louis Lumiére. She discovered cinema with the nouvelle vague and moved to New York City in 1970, where she worked as the cinematographer for Chantal Ackerman and Yvonne Rainer among others. In her work as director from the 1970s, Mangolte focused on performance documentation, working with artists such as Richard Foreman, Robert Whitman, Trisha Brown and Lucinda Childs. Her early film work was a self-examination as to what it means to be a spectator, but also an experiment in narrative film-making. Among the films directed by Mangolte are What Maisie Knew (1976), The Camera: Je or La Camera: I (1977), Four Pieces by Morris (1993) and Seven Easy Pieces (2007). Her films are in the collections of the Centre George Pompidou in Paris, the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Deutsche Kinematek, Berlin and the Cinéathèque Royale de Belgique in Brussels. The first retrospective dedicated to her work took place in 2000 in three German cities – Berlin, Hamburg and Munich – and was organised by Madeleine Bernstorff and Kleus Volkmer from the Munich Film Archives. Her second retrospective was in New York in September 2004 at the Anthology Film Archives.

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 Oslo.

Adam Szymczyk
Director at the Kunsthalle Basel, b.1970 in Piotrkow Trybunalski, Poland, lives and works in Basel, Szwitzerland

Adam Szymczyk received an MA in Art History, Warsaw University, Poland, and participated in the Curatorial Training Programme at De Appel, Amsterdam, the Netherlands (1995). He was a curator at the Foksal Gallery Foundation in Warsaw, Poland from 1997 to 2003. He currently works as a curator and writer, and as the director of the Kunsthalle Basel, Switzerland. Szymczyk has worked on exhibitions and publications with contemporary artists including Pawel Althamer, Christoph Büchel, Douglas Gordon, Susan Hiller, Edward Krasinski, Gustav Metzger, Rosalind Nashashibi, Gregor Schneider, Ahlam Shibli, Superflex, Piotr Uklanski and Krzysztof Wodiczko, and has curated group exhibitions including 'Roundabout' (CCA, Warsaw, 1998), 'Amateur' (co-curated with Mark Kremer and Charles Esche, Kunstmuseum Göteborg, Sweden, 2000), 'Painters' Competition' (Galeria Bielska BWA, Bielsko-Biala, Poland, 2001), and 'Hidden In a Daylight' (co-curated with Joanna Mytkowska and Andrzej Przywara, Hotel 'Pod brunatnym jeleniem', Cieszyn, Poland 2003). In 2008 Szymczyk curated, together with Elena Filipovic, the 5th Berlin Biennial for Contemporary Art, 'When Things Cast no Shadow'.

Ida Ekblad participates in
'The Generational: Younger Than Jesus'
The New Museum, New York, USA
From 8 April to 14 June 2009

Ida Ekblad is currently exhibiting within 'Younger Than Jesus', the first edition of The Generational, a new triennial established by the New Museum, New York, NY exploring the work of artists born after 1976. Within 'The Generational: Younger Than Jesus', Ida Ekblad is exhibiting the work Untitled (M), (2008), which consists of eight connected works produced with ink and chlorine on hand-dyed watercolour paper. She is also presenting works from the series On Other, in which she re-photographs ethnographical an anthropological images, overwriting them with slogans such as 'rainbow children' and 'tolerance'. 'The Generational: Younger Than Jesus' occupies the entire New Museum's building with approximately 145 works by 50 artists, among them Cory Arcangel, Tauba Auerbach, Cao Fei, Ryan Ganderand Patricia Esquivias – all of whom are under the age of thirty-three. Organised by Lauren Cornell, Director of Rhizome and New Museum Adjunct Curator; Massimiliano Gioni, Director of Special Exhibitions, New Museum; and Laura Hoptman, Kraus Family Senior Curator, New Museum, 'Younger Than Jesus' took shape through an open curatorial model in which more than 150 contributors from around the world recommended artists for the exhibition.

For further press information please contact Gabriel Einsohn, Communications Director, New Museum, at geinsohn@newmuseum.org or Andrea Schwan, Andrea Schwan Inc. atandrea@andreaschwan.com.

Ole John Aandal has been invited to hold a solo exhibition at Iberia Center for Contemporary Art, Factory 798 Art district, Beijing. The Exhibition is produced and coordinated by Porsgrunn Art Society in collaboration with curator Carol Lu. At Iberia Center for Contemporary Art, Ole John Aandal will exhibit the work Juvenilia – Constructing a Soul in Capitalist Societies, which consists of 22 works photographs of adolescents self-portraits collected and recycled from the Internet. From 13 June to12 July 2009

Following a visit of Maria Lind, Director of the Graduate Program, Center for Curatorial Studies (CCS), Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, USA and a guest in OCA's International Visitor Programme in February 2009, Marianne Heier has been invited to exhibit within 'Protective Coloration' at the CCS. According to the curator, Nico Vicario, the lens-based works exhibited within 'Protective Coloration' 'engage the strategy of the monochrome but do not seek an absolute or a purely optical art, instead rendering flat spaces that camouflage representation through the shroud, the crop, or the zoom'. Other exhibiting artists are Iñaki Bonillas, Liz Deschenes and Morgan Fisher. 'Protective Coloration' takes place from 19 April to 24 May 2009.

Sissel Tolaas has been invited to exhibit within 'sk-interfaces', at Casino Luxembourg, Luxembourg from 25 September 2009 to 10 January 2010. Curated by Jens Hauser, 'sk-interfaces' features works by artists reflecting on the way current technologies are changing our lives by progressively replacing natural interface in the skin. Within the exhibition, Sissel Tolaas will present the project Fear, in which she collects and displays the smell of different men who have nothing in common but the fear of body contact.

Inger Lise Hansen has been invited by independent curator Paolo Bianchi to exhibit within 'Höehenrausch', a public art project organised by OK Center for Contemporary Art, Linz, Austria and taking place until 27 September 2009. Part of 'Capital of Culture Year Linz09', the exhibition proposes a tour along a cleverly designed system of routes in which the visitors will experience the highpoints of Linz. For 'Höehenrausch' Hansen will develop a new film work where the artist investigates the roof surface to present the viewer with a different experience of the site.

Curators Anna Martine Nilsen, Kalle Brolin and Graciela Taquinu, professor at the University of Buenos Aires have invited Sabina Jacobsson, Birgitte Sigmundstad,Astrid Johannessen and Lotte Konow Lund to participate in 'Paralelos y Meridianos' at the Centro Cultural Recoleta in Buenos Aires, Argentina. 'Paralelos y Meridianos' consist of two platforms – a screening of video works from Argentina, Sweden and Norway – and takes place from 20 to 25 July 2009.

Sverre Strandberg and Anna Daniell are currently participating in the exhibition 'Nordic Design' at Total Museum of Contemporary Art in Seoul, South Korea. According to Amie Ann, the exhibition's Art Director, 'Nordic Design' aims to introduce to the Korean visitors characteristics of Nordic design, such as functionality and simplicity. Among other artists exhibiting are Sami Rinne and Ribo. The exhibition closes on 24 May.

Per Kristian Nygård and Are Blytt have been invited to exhibit within 'Exile' at Kunstcentret Silkeborg Bad, Silkeborg, Denmark. The exhibition investigates the concept of exile – to be or feel homeless. The artists' duo will exhibit Narnita, a work consisting of video, paintings, drawings and photograph that deal with transsexuals. 'Exile' is curated by the Kunstcentret Silkeborg Bad and Pro Artist Groupz and will be on view from 16 May to 30 August.

Liv Bugge is invited to hold a solo exhibition at We-Project in Brussels, Belgium from 20 May to 7 June 2009. Within the exhibition, curated byGauthier Hubert and titled 'You make me want to die in the countryside', the artist will present the sculpture work The Inner Station and three video installations that reflects on the novelThe Heart of Darkness, by Joseph Conrad.

Sopina Irina, Director Murmansk Art and Craft Center, in Murmansk, Russia has invited Brit Haldis Fuglevaag to hold a solo exhibition and present a workshop at Murmansk Art and Craft Center. The exhibition, curated by Brit Haldis Fuglevaa and Sopina Irina focuses on Norwegian tapestry and can be visit until 31 May.

Artist in Residence (AIR) Programme West Norway

The town councils of Bergen and Stavanger presents airwestnorway.com, a website to survey air-programmes in aim to strengthen, promote and develope collaborations between foreign artists, Norwegian artists and west Norwegian institutions, organisations and local communities. At the website artists and other users can find information on the West Norway art scene, a list of festivals and events and a list of Artist Residencies, including links to AiR in Ålvik, Hardanger; Bergsliskorane in Eidfjord, Hardanger; AiR Stavanger, Frida Hansen House; AiR Stavanger, Øvre Strandgate; Tou Scene in Stavanger; AiR Bergen, at USF Verftet; Flaggfabrikken in Bergen; Hordaland Art Centre, Bergen and Sandnes Artist in Residence, among others.

Frieze writer's prize is an annual international award to discover and promote new art critics. The award will be judged in 2009 by critic and art historian James Elkins, novelist and critic Ali Smith and co-editor of frieze magazine Jennifer Higgie. Entrants must submit one previously unpublished review of a recent contemporary art exhibition, approximately 700 words in length, in English. For more information, please visit frieze.com/writersprize.

The primary aim of the Research Program La Seine is to provide students, who have completed a diploma of Masters II (European standard) level, or equivalent with the means to develop their artistic and research in an academic environment that is oriented to prepare them for the demands of the professional context of contemporary and post contemporary art. La Seine is a t-o year program. It runs for two nine-month periods starting in October and ending in June, with four to six new participants selected each year. Information on the Program, applications and admission procedure available at the School or on its website: www.beauxartsparis.fr/laseine/indexenglish.htm.

The Salzburg International Summer Academy provides an opportunity for art students, professional artists, teachers and amateurs to work creatively in painting, drawing, graphic arts, and installation among other disciplines. In total, 25 workshops and courses will be offered lasting between two and six weeks, accompanying programme of artists' presentation, discussions, openings and exhibitions. For a detailed programme of courses and information on grants, please refer to www.summeracademy.at.

The Aarhus Art Building, Center for Contemporary Art in Aarhus, Denmark invites artists and curators working within all media to submit proposals for exhibitions of existing or new projects for the year 2010 under the heading Modifications. The Aarhus Art Building wants to focus on 'détournement', an anti-artistic method where the past – and, indeed, the whole world – is appropriated, annihilated and scandalised. The centre is seeking proposals for group and solo exhibitions plus artistic, documentary and animated films etc. for a special film program under the same heading. For more information please visit aarhuskunstbygning.dk.

HIAP invites international visual artists to submit applications for HIAP Production Residencies for the period of 2009/10. The residency provides professional visual artists with an opportunity to concentrate on developing new concepts and/or producing new works in Helsinki, Finland. Support is offered for the whole production process from the first idea until the finished piece. The length of the residency, the amount of the production budget and other practical issues will be negotiated with the selected artist according to the specific circumstances of their production proposal. HIAP Production Residencies include: travel grant, per-diem grant for living costs in Helsinki, accommodation and workspace and production support, including moderate production budget. For more information please see www.hiap.fi.

The Watermill Center was founded in 1992 by its artistic director Robert Wilson as an international, multi-disciplinary centre for studies in the arts and humanities. Until 31 May, the centre invites emerging artists to submit proposals for the creation of collaborative works which critically investigate, challenge and extend the existing norms of performance practice. All proposals must be submitted online system at watermillcenter.slideroom.com.

*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 organisations 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.

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