In Jannik Abel's artistic practice, themes such as belonging, vulnerability, heritage, and impermanence are central. Since the 1990s, the artist has worked with installation, photography, film, and performance. In 2016 Abel transitioned to a completely environmentally friendly production that produces no waste. Abel now lives and works on the peninsula Nesodden and has for the past five years largely focused on installations in the forest. “Impossible” physical actions have become artworks, created solely by hand and using simple tools like saws, knives, and axes. In this way, the artist aims to comment on and counterbalance the overconsumption and environmental crisis that affects today's society.

The exhibition at Kunstnernes Hus will consist of two large installations in wood, harvested and processed by hand, and a dialogue program around a long table made of reclaimed material that has been collected from different art institutions in Oslo.

"Someone has to take a step in a different direction. Art has a responsibility not only to point out the environmental crisis but also to be part of the solution. That’s why I create works from materials that already exist, which I gather almost exclusively from nature. What doesn't become art becomes firewood or soil", says Abel.

Jannik Abel (b. 1973, Oslo) was educated at the San Francisco Art Institute in the 1990s and has had exhibitions at a number of institutions and public spaces both nationally and internationally. Abel grew up in the art world, as the artist's great-great-grandparents opened Norway's first art gallery in 1864, which has been run by the family for generations.