What to See During Oslo Art Weekend

Melanie Kitti & Elina Waage Mikalsen  | Oslo Kunstforening | 22 August – 13 October

Poetic and elegantly composed, ‘where others had stepped there were traces in us’  focuses on two emerging artists. Melanie Kitti’s before I was, before my skeleton was, there was a tear (2024), a series of frescoes on plaster cubes depicting fragments of bodies, animals and plants, sits in dialogue with Elina Waage Mikalsen’s eclectic contributions. Among these is a large all-black textile piece titled After the Sun (2024) resembling a solar eclipse – or a black hole – with thick embroidered lines radiating out from its centre. Elsewhere, her sound piece 97 of the Words includes fragments of a cross-generational conversation in the Northern Sámi language, set against a backdrop of wind and running water. Together these works explore cultures and cycles of life, reminding us of the rich range of human experiences, conversations and creative endeavours often left out of literature, scholarship and monumental art.

Silje Figenschou Thoresen | Astrup Fearnley Museet | 5 September – 17 November

A fragmentary approach is also at play in Silje Figenschou Thoresen’s solo show at Astrup Fearnley Museet. Assemblages constructed from planks, bits of plastic, ropes, rocks, styrofoam and other well-worn materials fill the exhibition hall, which ordinarily houses Anselm Kiefer’s iconic massive bookcase Zweistromland – The High Priestess (1985–1989). At the end of the space, a large window overlooks the Oslofjord: one feels that Figenschou Thoresen’s materials could just as well have been brought in by the tide.

This connection is not only reminiscent of the powerful forces at work in nature, but of the outsized impact human-made debris has on the ecosystem; much will persist long after we are gone. Titled ‘A quiet and protected water, the layers above it, passing undisturbed’ (2024), the show references traditional Sámi architecture, which often incorporates natural and repurposed materials to build temporary or movable structures, reflecting a history of seasonal migration and a close relationship with the environment.

Ahmed Umar | OSL Contemporary | 12 October – 16 November 

Ahmed Umar is having a moment. The Oslo-based artist is included in this year’s Venice Biennale and is currently showing a video installation in the Toronto Biennial of Art. His first exhibition with OSL Contemporary continues his breakthrough series of sculptures based on traditional Islamic prayer beads, ‘Forbidden Prayers’ (2021–ongoing): an excellent introduction for those unfamiliar with his work.

Each sculpture rests on a unique cast of the artist’s right hand, in gestural poses related to prayer. Often made of polished wood with natural materials like leather and animal hair, the sculptures have rounded, abstract shapes. Umar repurposes materials crafted by artisans in various African countries – souvenirs originally sold to tourists – that he acquires in Norway from second-hand shops and online classifieds. Conceptually, this deconstructive approach critiques Western clichés about African art and culture, to which such items often pander out of economic necessity.

Alia Farid | Henie Onstad Kunstsenter | 13 September – 5 January 2025

Located just outside Oslo in Bærum, this expansive presentation of Kuwaiti-Puerto Rican artist Alia Farid at Henie Onstad Kunstsenter is well worth the 20-minute bus ride. Farid’s practice spans sculpture, video, textiles and drawings, with the abundance of oil and scarcity of water in Kuwait and the Middle East a recurring theme. In Lieu of What Is (2022) features five colossal sculptures, representing water-bearing vessels such as jerry cans, plastic flasks and ceramic pots. Her large-scale works continue with Elsewhere (2023), a series of woven and embroidered textiles, which portray the vibrant Palestinian migrant community in Puerto Rico through colourful depictions of shop fronts, signage and restaurant menus in Arabic and Spanish, set against decorative patterns. This series celebrates cultural creolization and human connection, rejecting the xenophobic attitudes to migrants prevalent in Western Europe and elsewhere.

Viktor Pedersen | Kunstnerforbundet | 12 September – 13 October

The centerpiece of Viktor Pedersen’s show at the artist-run institution Kunstnerforbundet is a captivating and surreal film, Navlebeskue (Navel-gazing, 2024), that explores life’s unfathomable complexities on both cosmic and biological scales. It invites viewers to journey inside the artist’s body, entering through his navel. We then encounter his parents against a fleshy backdrop and watch Pedersen dance with his father before their features slowly meld into one another. Is our identity determined by genetics, asks Pedersen, or by upbringing and environmental factors?

Pedersen pays particular attention to how the human body constantly sheds bits of itself in the form of skin cells. These fragments accumulate as clumps of dust, a phenomenon reflected in a series of sculptures featuring vacuum cleaners (Du er her hele tiden, You are here all the time, 2024) and a vacuum cleaner bag (Støvsugerpose, Vacuum cleaner bag, 2024), textured with fleshy silicone and hair. Perhaps they symbolize humanity’s messy entanglement with our immediate environments through the biological traces we leave behind: parts of ourselves, and by extension, parts of our ancestors.

Vanessa Baird | The Munch Museum | 11 October – 31 December 2024

Vanessa Baird’s art chronicles her life in unflinching, self-disclosing terms. Her drawings and paintings have a diaristic quality and she does not shy away from depicting uncomfortable personal experiences related to gender roles, illness and aging, alongside the frictions and turmoils of family life. Her work is underpinned by a startling vitality, sometimes bleak humour, and always an unvarnished honesty.

Baird’s retrospective at the Munch Museum is her largest exhibition to date, presenting 600 works going back to the early 1990s. Among the new pieces on view is an installation, You Must Never Go Down to the End of Town if You Don’t Go Down with Me (2024), that confronts Israel’s indiscriminate war against and displacement of Palestinians in Gaza, depicting the bombing of civilians and hospitals across 51 panels.

^{Main image: Vanessa Baird, To Everything There Is a Season, 2014. Courtesy: © Vanessa Baird / CHOIR and Ole John Aandal}