Nordic Time Zones: Time-based art across disciplines in the Northern Landscape


Wednesday, March 26, 2014 Henie Onstad Kunstsenter, Oslo

(Closed roundtable, by invitation only)

In March 2014, the Arts Research Center is partnering with Professor Knut Ove Arntzen (University of Bergen) to explore “Nordic Time Zones: Time-based art across disciplines in the Northern Landscape” as part of a generous research grant funded by the Peder Sather Center. For the past three years, ARC has explored a variety of time-based art practices from different disciplinary and regional perspectives. We have considered time-based practices in relation to the formal legacies of visual, performance, and cinematic forms. We have focused on places where experimental artists and curators learn from and revise each other, as well as the blindspots that still exist amongst contemporary circles of sculptural, choreographic, theatrical, musical, photographic, video, and installation art practice. Increasingly, visual artists in painting and sculpture are turning to the temporal and relational dimensions of performance and media. Meanwhile, choreographers, videographers, and theater-makers have found new contexts for exhibiting their work in art museums and galleries. What do we make of this hybrid work in time-based art? How is time-based art received in museums, in theaters, in film festivals, and in site-specific installations? What new forms of encounter – international, aesthetic, and interpersonal – are crafted in this exchange? How do these hybrid art forms respond to the issues and pressures at work in different regions of the world?

Our new Nordic Time Zones collaboration will explore Nordic art practices and debates, starting with Norway as its launching pad. Our goal is to build upon the current interdisciplinary art pursuits of scholars and curators affiliated with the University of Bergen where collaborations with BIT, PAHN/Performing Arts Hub Norway, the National Theater of Norway, PAB, and the Office of Contemporary Art Norway are already underway.

Participants include Shannon Jackson (Arts Research Center, University of California); Knut Ove Arntzen(University of Bergen); Lars Mørch Finborud (Henie Onstad Kunstsenter); Frans Jacobi (Bergen Academy of Art and Design/KHiB); Jonas Ekeberg (Curator, Writer); Elisabeth Leinslie (PAHN/Performing Arts Hub Norway); Hilde Hauan Johnsen (Bergen Academy of art and Design (KHiB)); Sigrun Åsebø (University of Bergen); Sven Åge Birkeland (BIT Teatergarasjen); Hanne Tomta (National Theatret, Oslo); Karin Sanders (University of California); Kurt Johannessen (Performance Art Bergen Association); Jon Refsdal Moe (Black Box Teater / Oslo Internasjonale Teaterfestval); Karen Kipphoff (Norwegian Theatre Academy); Siren Leirvåg (Institutt for kulturstudier og orientalske språk avd Teatervitenskap); Camilla Eeg-Tverbak (Norwegian Theatre Academy) with Henriette Slorer (Norwegian Theatre Academy) andJohannes Deimling (Norwegian Theatre Academy); and Per Ananiassen (Teaterhuset Avant Garden); among others.

Photo credit: birdseyepix.com/Christopher Hagelund