"Cecilia Vicuña's exhibition connects the northern and southern hemispheres through the sea, Amber Ablett explores the many ways in which rest is a necessary companion to productivity, not its opposite, and the MFA graduation exhibition unfolds throughout Kunstnernes Hus, from the external staircase to the bathroom stalls. Here, too, many experiences await, but they require a different kind of attention—a willingness to slow down, tune in, and notice what might otherwise go unseen," says Sarah Lookofsky, director at Kunstnernes Hus on what the public can expect.

Minga for the Sea is a major new commission by the internationally acclaimed Chilean artist, poet, and activist Cecilia Vicuña, developed specifically for Kunstnernes Hus. It is the artist’s first major presentation in Scandinavia and the Nordic region.

Cecilia Vicuña has, over more than five decades, developed a practice that moves fluidly between poetry, visual art, film, and activism. A pioneer of what she termed Arte Precario—ephemeral works created from fragile and found materials—Vicuña has exhibited internationally, including major solo presentations at the Guggenheim Museum and in Tate Modern’s Turbine Hall. She was awarded the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement at the Venice Biennale in 2022 and Chile’s National Prize for Visual Arts in 2023.

With Minga for the Sea, Vicuña invites us to attend lovingly, to listen, and to learn—from the sea, from one another, and from the ancestral knowledges that persist against erasure.

What kinds of relationships and insights become possible when we slow down? And how might rest function as a collective practice that makes space for care, resistance, and new ways of being together?

The Fallow Year is a site-specific installation and participatory project by artist and writer Amber Ablett. In this exhibition, the capsule hotel—a structure typically associated with efficiency, productivity, and transience—is transformed into a space for community, reflection, and slowness. Here, rest is not framed as an escape from or the inverse of work, but as an intentional and political act: a necessary condition for collective transformation, especially for those engaged in care work, activism, and liberation practices, or whose lives are shaped by marginalisation.

With ANTENNE ANTENNE, 18 master's students from the Academy of Fine Arts in Oslo present their graduation exhibition at Kunstnernes Hus. The exhibition consists of various results of the group's interest in collective processes, such as a radio/listening studio, a library, an interactive publication station, a cabaret and performance program surrounded by individual artistic contributions on the first floor of Kunstnernes Hus.

Throughout the summer, you can get closer to the exhibitions through our guided tours led by skilled art mediators who themselves work actively in the art field.

Every Thursday we invite you to an open tour in English at 16:00 and in Norwegian at 17:00. On Fridays you can join a free lunch tour at 12:00 in Norwegian or at 12:45 in English.

"And then there is our year-old restaurant, Juret på Huset, recently named by several reviews as one of the best places in Oslo to eat and spend time. Well, we couldn't agree more," concludes Sarah Lookofsky.

The café is open during the summer with both indoor and outdoor seating and a seasonal menu. Read more or reserve a table.