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Culture on Speed
Meeting Place for Oslo's Professional Arts and Culture Sector #2
Thursday 24.09.26
Kunstnernes Hus and Fellesverkstedet invite you to Culture on Speed, a meeting place for the professional arts and culture sector in Oslo.
About the event
In January 2026, the City of Oslo and Kloden Theatre hosted the very first Meeting Place for Oslo's Professional Arts and Culture Sector. This time, we are delighted to announce that Kunstnernes Hus and Fellesverkstedet have taken up the baton.
The event will take place at Kunstnernes Hus on 24 September and will serve as a shared platform for fostering meaningful conversations that strengthen and expand access to arts and culture for the people of Oslo. This edition focuses on cultural venues—and the importance of providing spaces where art can be created, presented, and experienced.
The programme will feature speed dating and presentations, and light refreshments. Because a vibrant arts and culture sector is built by the people who come together.
Program
15:15 Introduction and welcome
15:30 Speed dating in the foyer
16:30 Speed presentations in the cinema by, among others:
City Government Secretary Håvard Clementz (Høyre)
Sarah Lookofsky, Director of Kunstnernes Hus
Graham Hayward, General Manager of Fellesverkstedet
Steffen Håndlykken of 1857 (former exhibition space)
Kaja Breckan, Head of Administration at Unge Kunstneres Samfund (UKS)
17:15 Light refreshments and mingling
Conférencier: Sebastian Makonnen Kjølaas
Contributors
Håvard Clementz
Håvard Clementz is a political adviser for culture and business for the City of Oslo. Prior to this, he worked at the Oslo Commercial Association. Among his notable cultural productions—by his own account—is a school revue staged at the National Theatre in 2017. Håvard is affiliated with the Conservative Party (Høyre) and has been active in both the youth and adult wings of the party.
Sarah Lookofsky
Sarah Lookofsky is director at Kunstnernes Hus in Oslo, where she leads the institution's artistic activities and organizational development. A central part of her work is to prepare, finance and carry out an extensive rehabilitation of the historic building ahead of Kunstnernes Hus' 100th anniversary in 2030. The project aims to secure the independent, artist-run institution's long-term future, while at the same time safeguarding its distinctive architectural and cultural heritage. Lookofsky has previously been dean at the Academy of Fine Arts at the Oslo Academy of Fine Arts (KHiO) and Associate Director for International Program at The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York. Previously, she also taught curatorial studies at the Whitney Museum of American Art's Independent Study Program and was an advisor for the 9th Berlin Biennale.
Graham Hayward
Graham Hayward is the Managing Director and one of the initiators of Fellesverkstedet. He studied at the Slade School of Fine Art and became deeply involved in the infrastructure challenges facing artists and other creatives through his work as a project manager at Unge Kunstneres Samfund. In 2011, he launched Norway’s largest initiative providing open access to production equipment for art and design. Fellesverkstedet received the City of Oslo’s Artist Prize in 2016 and the Oslo Open Honorary Award in 2024, both in recognition of its work to create an inclusive production hub for the city’s art and cultural community.
Steffen Håndlykken
Steffen Håndlykken is a curator at Haugar Art Museum in Tønsberg. He trained as a visual artist at the Oslo National Academy of the Arts, where he was part of the final cohort of students to graduate from the Department of Colour. In 2010, he co-founded the exhibition space 1857 in the Grønland district of Oslo with Stian Eide Kluge, which operated until 2019. Håndlykken curated the 2017 Norwegian Sculpture Biennial at the Vigeland Museum. From 2020 to 2024, he served two terms as chair of the board of UKS (Young Artists' Society). He has previously served as editor of UKS-forum and written texts for publications such as Kunstkritikk and Billedkunst, and currently chairs the organizing committee at the Arts Council Norway.
Kaja Breckan
Kaja Breckan has been part of UKS’s core team since 2013, currently serving as Head of Administration. She holds a master’s degree in art history from the University of Oslo, where she conducted research on the representation of women at UKS between 1921 and 1971. She was previously part of the team that initiated Fellesverkstedet in 2010 and was involved with Oslo Art Guide from 2013 to 2016. In 2021, Breckan served on the editorial team for UKS’s centenary publication Kvisten på grenen, grenen på treet and has made UKS’s extensive history a key element of her work in managing the organization today.
