Office for Contemporary Art Norway

Younes Rahmoun, Ghorfa #7, Al-Âna/Hunâ (Traveling to the mangroves of river Wouri, Douala, Cameroon), 'Salon Urbain de Douala', 2010. Courtesy of the artist and Doual'art

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OCA is pleased to announce the opening of its Winter/Spring 2012 Semesterplan with the lecture 'Poetics of the Infra-Ordinary' by Art Historian and Tate Modern Curator Elvira Dyangani Ose as part of her participation in OCA’s International Visitor Programme. This lecture is the first in a series of talks and discussions OCA will host throughout 2012 relating to contemporary art, society and politics in Africa to explore dialogues initiated at 'Condition Report', a symposium organised by Raw Material Company in Dakar in January 2012. 

About the Lecture
In his book L'infra-ordinaire published in 1989, Georges Perec calls to the production of a narrative of daily life, of the common things. He emphasises the activist potential of the narration of the habitual, the everyday life, which occurs far from newspaper headlines and big events. Over the past decades African urban spaces have witnessed some of the most innovative, engaging and participatory artistic practices, which seem to follow suit Perec's analysis. Those projects start from the need to address issues occurring in their cultural contexts that would otherwise have remained unnoticed. They produce not only a narrative of daily life experience, but also create a new vocabulary, which connects art and society, abolishing the traditional narrative of author versus spectator. Elvira Dyangani Ose looks at the strategies of some of these initiatives such as 'Le Salon Urbain de Douala, SUD', Douala, Cameroon or the 'Picha Recontres', Lubumbashi Biennale, Democratic Republic of Congo, which pay special attention to the significance of the space in which the art intervention is being produced and reflect on the social relationships that are established in those spaces.
Elvira Dyangani Ose's lecture is also available through radio streaming on OCA's website.

About the Speaker
Elvira Dyangani Ose was recently appointed curator of international art at Tate Modern, London, UK. She is currently a Ph.D candidate in the History of Art and Visual Studies programme at Cornell University, New York, NY, USA. She holds a graduate degree in the Theory and History of Architecture from Universtat Politècnica de Catalunya, Spain. She is a founding member of the Laboratory for Oral Resources in Equatorial Guinea, an independent research group on Equatorial Guinea oral tradition studies and also member of the research group Afroeuropeans at the University of León, Spain. As a freelance curator she developed several interdisciplinary projects, focusing on recovering collective memories, interventions in public space or urban ethnography, most significantly, 'Memoria i Desconcert: Art a Guinea Ecuatorial', 'Urban Emotion o Authentic Fiction'. As a specialist in contemporary African art she has been a guest professor at the University of Barcelona, Spain, and has taken part in lecture cycles addressing African artistic production and contemporary culture. In the last two years she curated an exhibition of contemporary South African artists called 'Olvida quién soy / Erase me from who I am' in collaboration with Tracy Murinik, Khwezi Gule and Gabi Ngcobo and 'Tres scenarios/Three scenarios', both of which took place while she was curator at Centro Atlántico de Arte Moderno, CAAM, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain. She will also serve as the curator for the next edition of PICHA, a biennial of photography and video scheduled for the autumn of 2012 in Lubumbashi, Democratic Republic of Congo.

Upcoming in OCA Semesterplan – Winter/Spring 2012
'Poetics of the Infra-ordinary' by Elvira Dyangani Ose will officially open OCA Semesterplan – Winter/Spring 2012, which will see the artist and author Matias Faldbakken presenting 'Portrait Portrait of of a a Generation Generation' in OCA's public space from Wednesday 28 March to Saturday 23 June. Also, in May 2012 the filmmaker Peter Watkins will participate in OCA’s International Studio Programme. During Watkins's stay at OCA's Munch residency at Ekely in Oslo, his filmwork will be dedicated a short retrospective to be held at OCA from 7 to 14 May.


About O3–funds
Elvira Dyangani Ose's lecture at OCA is supported by O3–funds as underwritten by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs for enhancing collaboration in the contemporary art field with professional artists in countries designated by the MFA. The purpose of the O3–funds as allocated 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. This includes but is not limited to 'professional research visits by cultural producers, artists, and curators', 'short-term residencies for cultural producers and artists', 'seminars, conferences, art projects, workshops that focus on the further development of professional exchange and networking between and among countries', and 'project development on an international scale'.

• Dyangani Ose individual
• Live Audio

Mai Hofstad Gunnes, Bike and Bolex production still. Courtesy of the artist

As a result of Mai Hofstad Gunnes' nine-month residency in Brussels, Belgium, WIELS Contemporary Art Centre presents the 16mm film Bike and Bolex. Echoing the artist's ongoing reflection on the construction of identity, Bike and Bolex shows a group of five women bicycling in circular paths while filming each other with Bolex cameras. According to the artist, 'the revolving movements captured by the five subjective cameras draw a molecular structure without a fixed center and convey an idea of a non-hierarchical multiple subjectivity'. An artist book will be launched alongside the exhibition. French art historian Benoît Lamy de La Chapelle has contributed with an essay that is also accompanying the project.

For press inquiries and more information on this announcement, please contact Devrim Bayar, Residency Curator, WIELS Contemporary Art Centre.

About the artist
Through 16mm film, installation and collage, Mai Hofstad Gunnes (b.1977 in Lørenskog, Norway, lives and works in Oslo, Norway and Berlin, Germany) has developed a personal imagery based on a type of associative logic, where different layers of reality are tested against each other. Her artistic point of departure derives from an interest in concrete systems of categorisation and the translation of these into a more non-hierarchical formalist language. Her recent films, as attempts to externalise inner worlds, involve performers to focus on the embodiment and personification of architecture and science. Recent exhibitions include 'Oh how time flies', Bergen Kunsthall, Bergen, Norway (2011); 'Le choix du titre est un faux problème', Cneai de Paris, Paris, France (2011); 'Goddesses', Museum of Contemporary Art, Oslo (2010); 'Pyrrhic Fortune', Sils, Rotterdam, the Netherlands (2010) and 'A shape of love you can never imagine', Oslo Fine Art Society, Oslo (2009).

About OCA's WIELS Contemporary Art Centre Residency Programme, Brussels
Mai Hofstad Gunnes holds a fellowship from OCA as part of its International Studio Program at WIELS Contemporary Art Centre in Brussels, Belgium. OCA offers a nine-month residency programme for an artist at WIELS Contemporary Art Centre. Applications are accepted from Norwegian artists and international artists residing in Norway. The programme is designed for artists who have already elaborated a specific and promising aesthetic language but seek artistic, theoretical and professional support in order to develop their practice.

• Hofstad Gunnes individual

'Aftertaste' candies served as part of 'Thank you for listening'. Photo: Anne Marte Dyvi, Ytter

The artist-run spaces KNIPSU (consisting of Hilde Jørgensen, Kristin Tårnesvik and Maya Økland), Volt (a curatorial project by Marie Nerland) and Small Projects (consisting of Jet Pascua and Laurent Fauconnier) are participating in Supermarket 2012, an international artist-run art fair in Stockholm. According to curator Pontus Raud, the goal of Supermarket is to 'provide a showcase for artists' initiatives from all over the world and to create opportunities for new networks in the Swedish as well as the international art scene'. Initiated and organised by artists, Supermarket 'invites the wider public to become a part of what is happening on the artist-run scene, offering visitors unexpected meetings and experiences rather than focusing on sales'. An extensive series of lectures and performances titled 'Supermarket Talks' and 'Red Spot Performance Programme' is also taking place throughout the period of the fair.

For Supermarket 2012, KNIPSU will conduct a workshop under the title 'Thank you for listening' together with the artist group Ytter (consisting of Julie Lillelien Porter, Anne Marthe Dyvi and Anngjerd Rustand). As a starting point for the dialogues and works, the 'ethical side of being a wealthy oil nation, and the consequences this has for artists and art in Norway' will be discussed. The workshop will deal with thematically linked keywords such as power, economy, authority and guilt through conversations, performance and visual artworks. A Speakers Corner will be set up and self-made black 'Aftertaste' candies will be served. Volt is participating with ‘an exhibition in the form of a book’, presenting artworks made especially for the occasion by aiPotu, BADco., Milena Bonilla, Phil Coy, Institute for Colour, plan b, Mai Hofstad Gunnes and Per-Oskar Leu.
 Small Projects will present works by artists Ane Sagatun, Kristine Halmrast, Margrethe Pettersen, Joar Nango, Sigurd Gurvin and Eric Zamuco.

For press inquiries and more information on this announcement, please contact Pontus Raud.
Press accreditations can be obtained by contacting accred@supermarketartfair.com.

About KNIPSU
KNIPSU is both an artist-run space based in Bergen, Norway, and a mobile platform, producing exhibitions, events, screenings, concerts, workshops and publications. KNIPSU set out to provide an interdisciplinary meeting point for creative exchange and dialogue between artists across national borders. It is run within the framework of collaboration and DIY by Hilde Jørgensen, Kristin Tårnesvik and Maya Økland since August 2010.

About Volt
Volt is a curatorial project initiated in Bergen in 2008 by Marie Nerland, presenting new art projects by Norwegian and international contemporary artists, including exhibitions, time-based media, performances, discursive projects and sound art projects, with a special focus on artists who work across several media and modes of expression. Volt is a non-commercial curatorial initiative that does not have its own exhibition space, but finds suitable locations for each project.

About Small Projects
Small Projects began as a nomadic art initiative in 2001. After receiving support from the Norwegian Arts Council, Small Projects established a permanent location in the city of Tromsø in January 2011.

OCA Support 

The participation of KNIPSU, Volt and Small Projects at Supermarket 2012 has been supported by OCA's International Support Programme.

• KNIPSU group
• Volt group
• Small Projects group

Per Teljer, still from The Cabin, 2011. Courtesy of the artist

'Stories from under a pale moon – videos from northern Europe' is the title of an exhibition and a seminar including Jannicke Låker, Per Teljer, Claudia Reinhardt and Morgan Schagerberg held at the Meta House in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, from 12 to 26 February 2012. Within the exhibition Låker will present Sunday Mornings (2007), which is about a woman who is exposed for a mortal situation in her home after a night out. In Teljer's The Celebration (2001) three outsiders living on state benefits gather to celebrate New Year’s Eve together. Reinhardt's No Place Like Home (2007) explores how the personality and individuality of an ordinary girl in a small town in southern Germany develops. In Schagerberg's City and Nature (2008) crystal crowns slowly rain on a road in a quiet and desolate landscape. The seminar will be held during the last week of the exhibition period, addressing issues such as identity, belonging and alienation, with a special focus on how childhood, society, home and history have formed the artists' expressions.
'Stories from under a pale moon – videos from northern Europe' brings to focus the term 'Bygdedyret' ('the village animal'), which is not, as the artists describe, 'an animal in a regular sense, but rather a mental monster composed of a corporate state in small communities'. The term was created by the Norwegian author Tor Jonsson and is related to 'The Jante Law' first published by the Danish/Norwegian author Aksel Sandemose in A Fugitive Crosses His Tracks (1933). The artists go on to say that the concept of 'Bygdedyret' isn't limited to Norway, but is a well-known international phenomenon. 'Bygdedyret ignores and breaks down all kind of innovations, changes and dreams that pop up in its milieu—sometimes with ignorance and silence, sometimes with mental or utterly physical violence'. 'Stories from under a pale moon – videos from northern Europe' is curated by researcher, author and director Nico Mesterharm.

For press inquiries and more information on this announcement, please contact Jannicke Låker.

About the artists

Jannicke Låker
Jannicke Låker (b.1968 in Drammen, Norway, lives and works in Berlin, Germany) is a video artist known for her explicit treatment of taboos such as shame, guilt, immodesty and mental abuse. She has been presenting her works internationally. Selected venues include Nordic Panarama 2011, Århus, Denmark; Lilith Performance Event 2011 Malmö, Sweden; Norwegian Short Film Festival, Grimstad, Norway (2011); The Israeli Center for Digital Art, Holon, Israel (2010); International Women's Film Festival, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (2010); International Competition South by SouthWest, Austin, Texas, USA (2009) and Festival International de Film et Video de Creation, Beirut, Lebanon (2008).

Per Teljer
Per Teljer (b.1970 in Smögen, Sweden, lives and works in Oslo, Norway) graduated from the Trondheim Academy of Fine Art. He is represented at The Museum of Contemporary Art, Oslo; Bergen Art Museum, Bergen, Norway; The Norwegian Arts Council and The National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design, Oslo. Selected exhibitions include 'What Happened to God?', ACC Galerie, Weimar, Germany (2011); Oslo Screen Festival, Oslo (2010); Trunk '09 – The Nordic Art Video Festival, Östersund, Sweden (2009) and LIAF 04 – Lofoten International Art Festival, Svolvær, Norway (2004). Teljer is an associate professor at the Trondheim Academy of Fine Art.

Claudia Reinhardt
Claudia Reinhardt (b.1964 Mannheim, Germany, lives and works in Bergen, Norway) studied visual communication at Hochschule für bildende Künste, Hamburg, Germany. Solo shows include 'Liebesmüh' - Lover's Labour', Galerie Richter & Brückner, Köln, Germany (2011); 'Heimat-Hotel', Bredaphoto International Photo Festival, Breda, the Netherlands (2008); 'Underdagen', Hordaland Kunstsenter, Bergen (2007) and 'She must be seeing things', The Pound Gallery, Seattle, USA (1999). Reinhardt has been teaching at the National Academy of the Arts, Bergen, since 2000.

About O3–funds
Jannicke Låker, Per Teljer and Claudia Reinhardt's participation in 'Stories from under a pale moon – videos from northern Europe' at the META House is supported by O3–funds as underwritten by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs for enhancing collaboration in the contemporary art field with professional artists in countries designated by the MFA. The purpose of the O3–funds as allocated 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. This includes but is not limited to 'professional research visits by cultural producers, artists, and curators', 'short-term residencies for cultural producers and artists', 'seminars, conferences, art projects, workshops that focus on the further development of professional exchange and networking between and among countries', and 'project development on an international scale'.


OFFICE FOR CONTEMPORARY ART NORWAY
The Office for Contemporary Art Norway is a foundation created by The Norwegian Ministry of Culture and The Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in autumn 2001. The main aim of the Office for Contemporary Art Norway is to develop collaborations in contemporary art between Norway and the international art scene. The Office for Contemporary Art Norway aims to become a key contributor to the discourses of contemporary art.

• Låker individual
• Teljer individual
• Reinhardt individual

Still from Fritz Lang's Das Testament des Dr. Mabuse (1933)

Per-Oskar Leu has been invited by Triple Canopy to hold the solo exhibition 'Crisis and Critique' from 10 to 19 February 2012. In this video and audio-sculptural installation, the artist takes as his point of departure the German playwright Bertolt Brechtʼs appearance in 1947 before the United States House of Representatives Un-American Activities Committee. According to Triple Canopy, Leu is using Brecht’s plays, screenplays, films and signature leather jacket as touchstones in order to 'orchestrate a theatrical presentation of archival recordings and audio-sculptural objects’. The centerpiece of the installation is a new video edited by Leu, weaving together German films of the 1930s and 40s that dramatise the trial format, including Fritz Lang’s M (1931) and Das Testament des Dr. Mabuse (The Testament of Dr. Mabuse, 1933); Brecht’s Kuhle Wampe, oder: Wem gehört die Welt? (Kuhle Wampe or Who Owns the World?, 1932); Hangmen Also Die! (1943) and the film adaptation of his Die Dreigroschenoper (Threepenny Opera, 1931). In combining archival recordings of the 1947 testimony with excerpts from period films and using the current moment in America’s history as a Brechtian Verfremdungseffekt (distancing effect), the exhibition 'considers the distance between historical truths and fiction and asks: What role can or should the artist play during watershed political moments?’

OCA Support 

Per-Oskar Leu's solo exhibitions at Triple Canopy has been supported by OCA's International Support Programme.

About the artist
Per-Oskar Leu (b.1980 in Oslo, Norway, lives and works in Oslo) graduated from the Städelschule, Frankfurt, Germany, in 2009. He has recently presented solo projects at Dortmund Bodega, Oslo; 1/9 Unosunove, Rome, Italy; Vanish, Frankfurt; and Johan Berggren Gallery, Malmö, Sweden. His work has been included in exhibitions at the Malmö Konstmuseum, Malmö; Entree, Bergen, Norway; Centro per l’Arte Contemporanea Luigi Pecci, Prato, Italy and SWG3, Glasgow, Scotland. Leu has also contributed to LISTE Performance Project, Basel, Switzerland and Frieze Projects, London, UK.

About Triple Canopy
Triple Canopy is a non-profit organisation functioning as an online magazine, workspace, and platform for editorial and curatorial activities. Working collaboratively with writers, artists, and researchers, Triple Canopy facilitates projects that engage the Internet's specific characteristics as a public forum and as a medium, one with its own evolving practices of reading and viewing, economies of attention, and modes of interaction. In doing so, Triple Canopy is charting an expanded field of publication, drawing on the history of print culture while acting as a hub for the exploration of emerging forms and the public spaces constituted around them.

Read The New York Times review here.

• Leu individual