Free Education for All

MFA Graduation Show 2023
04.05.23 – 14.05.23

KHIO Kunstakademiet MA Avgang 2023 Presse Web Res 03

Free Education for All: It’s Not Too Late to Change Your Mind is this year’s graduation show from the Oslo Art Academy’s Master of Fine Arts program. It is a gathering of disparate artistic practices from a diverse group of students, many of whom are from countries outside the EU.

Artist statement

Our exhibition title is a response to the Norwegian government’s introduction of tuition fees for non-EU/EEA students, with few exceptions. Contrary to the government’s own political platform, the change was passed in Stortinget on November 29th, 2022. For students at KHiO, the tuition fees are estimated to be 500 000-700 000 NOK per year. This isn’t including the high cost of living in Norway, material costs, and the fees and proof of subsistence required for student residence permits. As witnessed in Denmark and Sweden, where these fees are far less, this will cut off Norway from a world of artists, especially from those of the racialized and geographic Other. Art thrives under plurality.

It has been stated that Norway is no exception to the current day’s economic hardship and that schools need to find other sources of income. We beg to differ. We don’t believe that we are in times of austerity, but rather that wealth and opportunity are being hoarded by the few at the expense of the many.

We are asking for an increase in scrutiny and pressure from the press, university administration and professors, artists, and especially Norwegian residents at large. We have seen in Germany and Slovenia that through constant extensive media coverage, debate, and protest, the removal of recently imposed tuition fees has been successful. The marketization of higher education wasn’t able to catch on.

It’s not too late to return to the principle of free education for all. It’s not too late to change your mind. It’s never too late to change your mind.

Artists

Johan Andrén, Isan Maher Atif, Anna Clawson, Sara Guldmyr, Doris Guo, Yun Hao, Ollie Hermansson, Naeun Kang, Mathew Lacosse, Mariusz Maslanka, Markus Moestue, Rick Seth Ofori, Reyes Santiago Rojas Figueroa, Mark Walker and Nicole Ward. In collaboration with curator Lisa Rosendahl.

Side events

Sunday May 7 | 14:00–15:30
Workshop with Ollie Hermansson:
How To Be a Straight Line (Transition Edition, vol. 2)

Wednesday May 10 | 16:30-19:00
Plot/Oslo invites you to a workshop with Ollie Hermansson:
How To Be a Straight Line (Transition Edition, vol. 2)

Thursday 11 May | 16:00–19:00
Board game demo (with host Markus Moestue)

Friday May 12| 15:30–17:00
Panel discussion: It’s Not Too Late to Change Your Mind. Free Education for All.

Friday May 12 | 17:00-19:00
Publication Launch