Collaboration, Community, Unity

Agenda Art and Craft
Friday 01.12.23

Belonging Photo Jacky Jaan Yuan Kuo Web 15

In this Agenda we will look closer at what collaboration, community and unity can mean within art, and not at least for an artistic practice.

The Agenda Arts and Crafts seminar series is organized by the Oslo Academy of the Arts in collaboration with Kunstnernes Hus.

About the event

No one person is an island, but rather a peninsula, which always, even with its own geographical position away from any other landmass, is always directly tied to a larger mass, a way in and out, one that in turn gives an exchange of information, feelings, and history. And like no person is an island, neither is art, but is in a continual conversation with the world around it, with the people that view and experience art, but also those who partake in its creation in different ways. Artists’ are in this manner far removed from being an island, but is rather in the middle of the world where they continuously create ties to all sorts of objects, people, and ideas, and in this manner, the world becomes the raw material the artist work with and through.

In this Agenda we will therefor look closer at what collaboration, community and unity can mean within art, and not at least for an artistic practice. Because, the artist is not necessarily a lone person creating in a vacuum in the limes of an artist myth, but rather how collaboration between artists’ in different forms can create new ideas and possibilities, how artist can create community both within art and the greater society, how art can reveal hidden truths and groups within society, and at last hoe people, society, relation is a vital part, and at times, the material, to actually be able to create.

Program

09:30-10:00 Coffee and mingle

10:00-10:05 Introduction by Marius Moldvaer

10:05-10:50 Tenthaus - Matilde Balatti and Shahrzad Malekian

11:00 - 11:45 Group 66 and the Relationship Exhibition - Olea Julsrud-Steinkjer

12:00 - 13:00 Lunch

13:00 - 13:30 Marius Dahl

13:45 - 14:30 Makda Embaie

14:30 - 15:00 Q&A

At various points during the day the contribution from Stacy Brafield will come in the form of exercises and compositions for the audience.

Contributors

Matilde Balatti

Matilde Balatti (IT/NO) er en kunstadministrator og forsker, bosatt i Oslo. På Tenthaus er hun ansvarlig for administrasjon og jobber med forskning.

Matilde har en bakgrunn i kunsthistorie og en mastergrad i Arts and Cultural Management fra Leuphana University i Lüneburg, Tyskland. Hun er interessert i eksperimentelle tilnærminger til administrasjonsspraksis innen kulturfeltet, slik som deltakende budsjettering (Participatory budgeting) og kreative administrasjonsteknikker. Matilde har deltatt på flere internasjonale konferanser hvor hun diskuterte disse emnene, inkludert Nordic Culture Policy Research Conference (2023), Connect/Cut Infrastructures and Collective Activity ved University of Copenhagen (2022), Arendalsuka (2022), og MUŻE.X - Shaping Museum Futures arrangør av Malta University (2021).

Matilde leder også prosjekter lokalt, inkludert i skoler og lokale seniorsentre, samt internasjonalt. I 2023 koordinerte hun prosjektet "The Artist is Present - Contemporary Art Residencies in Schools" i samarbeid med Latvian Center of Contemporary Art.

Shahrzad Malekian

Shahrzad Malekian (IR/NO) is a transdisciplinary artist who works with video, performance and sculpture/installation - often in combination. In their artistic practise, Shahrzad often uses the body as a tool for exploration and as a medium to explore the body in a social, cultural and political stance, norms and structures.

Shahrzad employs strategies such as collaboration and participation to explore performativity and interaction in both art institutions and public spaces. Their work has been shown internationally in exhibitions and museums in Iran, Brazil, USA, Germany, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Portugal and London. Their video works have been selected for the International Film Festival Rotterdam (2013), Gothenburg International Film Festival (2013), and Doclisboa(2019). Shahrzad holds a BFA in Sculpture from Tehran University of Art and an MFA in Art and Public Space from Oslo National Academy of Art, Norway.

Olea Julsrud-Steinkjer

Olea Julsrud-Steinkjer has a background as an Art Historian from the University of Oslo with a focus on feminism, activism and queer art within the Norwegian, and international contemporary art. Olea Julsrud-Steinkjer is a curator, art mediator, editor and lecturer. She har previously worked at the Astrup Fearnley Museet, Munch, Oslo Fotokunstskole and Høstutstillingen, and is currently working at Galleri Würth

Makda Embaie

The nation state and language are central concepts in Makda Embaies practice. The works are expressed through sound, text, film, and installations. What happens when th art practices and tries living through the question of what language consists of? How can we practice language and other expressions as specific instead of language as a property of the nation state? Makda has studied at Konstfack, Biskop Arnös författarskola and has taken the post-master Decolonizing Architecture at the Royal Academy of Arts in Stockholm. In 2022 she received her master’s degree from the art academy at KHiO. Recent works include the public light and sound installation "Gravel scatters time" in Gothenburg, the sound installation "If joy was the door, what would be the room?" at the Malmö Art Museum in the Latvian Collection, "The Geography of Cups" in the project (Re)Learning the Archive at the Design Archive in Nybro and "Now that we've been together" which has been shown at e.g. Kunstnernes Hus in Oslo and during Oslo Contemporary Music Festival at Gamle Munch.

Marius Dahl and Jan Christensen

Jan Christensen is a Norwegian visual artist, born in Copenhagen in 1977 and resides in Oslo and Berlin. He has a background from the Oslo National Academy of the Arts (Statens Håndverks- og Kunstindustriskole/KHIO) from 1997 to 2000. Christensen has a broad and varied artistic practice with a long list of exhibitions, both with his own projects and various artistic collaborations. In addition, he has taken on roles as a curator and contributed with professional expertise in various contexts, such as lectures, debates, artistic councils, grant juries, and acquisition committees.

Marius Dahl is a Norwegian visual artist, born in Oslo in 1969 and resides in Drammen. After completing his education at the Oslo National Academy of the Arts (Statens Håndverks- og Kunstindustriskole/KHIO) from 1994 to 1999, he lived and worked in Istanbul, Turkey, for ten years. He has taken on roles as curator, lecturing, jury work, art consultant and board positions. He currently serves as the chairman of BONO and holds other positions in Norwegian art institutions and organizations.

In addition to their separate artistic practices, they have collaborated on a number of public projects and exhibitions since 2011. Their collaborative projects range from studio-based practices to industrial manufacturing and permanent site-specific installations. They have exhibited internationally and their works are found in several public collections in Norway and abroad.

Stacy Brafield

Stacy Brafield (she/her) is an artist (b.1987) in Suffolk, raised in the Lakes District, UK and is based in Bergen, Norway. A graduate from MA Fine Arts at Bergen Academy of Art in 2014. Gathering is the overarching theme in her practice. From the physicality of making gathering spaces to the ephemeral nature of gathering people. Gathering is so important in today's world, a primal force that nurtures a sense of belonging and community, of togetherness and unity. Brafield´s practice bends the conventional notion of art production and places emphasis on the nurturing of culture and community. The departure point is the locality and challenging established norms. Researching human relations, forms of everyday interaction in society and the realities that often go unnoticed. Her work provides a space for the overlooked to be seen and responds to the environment in alternative schools, living sculptures and community installations. Brafield often works performatively with voice and text. Encouraging the audience through participation to reflect upon society, the interactions and processes through which the individual and the whole are shaping and being shaped.

Brafield is the co-founder of aerial, an artist-run space in Bergen. She has recently exhibited and hosted projects at Momemtum12 (Moss), Vestlandsutstillingen, Hordaland Kunstsenter, Bergen Assembly, Latitute28 (New Delhi), The Royal Standard (Liverpool) and Vulpes Vulpes (London). She was a member of The National Jury for Høstutstilling 2022-2023 and is currently a board member of UKS (Unge Kunstneres Samfund/Young Artists Society).