osloBIENNALEN: a biennial that’s breaking the rules

The osloBIENNALEN is taking a different approach…a five-year approach. Departing from the biannual model, as the name implies, the first edition will begin on May 25^th and run through 2024. This year, new artworks will be unveiled in May and then a second set will be on view starting in October.

Titled osloBIENNALEN, the rule-breaking biennial will focus on public artwork, bringing art out of the museum for everyone to enjoy. The osloBIENNALEN also aims to redefine the understanding of art production, collecting, outreach, and display. Throughout the course of the first edition, osloBIENNALEN will feature a rotating programme of old and new artworks that ‘unfolds over time across the city, inviting active participation with a public programme of workshops, readings, concerts, symposia, and performances.’ All of the activities, it should be mentioned, will be free of charge as well. osloBIENNALEN will also expand outside of Oslo into other areas of Norway and internationally. In all, throughout 2019, 26 projects will be revealed with more to come in the following years.

Eva González-Sancho Bodero and Per Gunnar Eeg-Tverbakk will lead osloBIENNALEN as the curatorial team. Both have directed and lead a number of art programmes and will bring their own unique expertise to Oslo’s take on the traditional biennial. González-Sancho Bodero has made a name for herself as director and curator for a number of art institutions including: MUSAC, Leon; FRAC Bourgogne, Dijon; and Etablissement d’en face projects. She has spearheaded a number of solo shows and also co-curated Lofoten International Art Festival (LIAF) in 2013. Gunnar Eeg-Tverbakk worked as a co-initiator and director of Kunsthall Oslo between 2010 and 2012. He served as deputy director of the Kunstnernes Hus in Oslo from 2000-2001 and was also a co-curator for LIAF in 1999.

‘The City of Oslo has a long-standing tradition of supporting art in public space and it is one of our priorities to find new ways of connecting the arts and the general public,’ said Ole G. Slyngstadli, director of osloBIENNALEN in a statement. ‘The curatorial vision of this first edition sets the premise for a five-year program evolving through a series of collaborations with artists and partner organizations, inviting you to rethink and explore Oslo’s public spaces through the production and display of works of art.’

In May, the works by the following artists will commence osloBIENNALEN:

Mikaela Assolent
Benjamin Bardinet
Julien Bismuth
Anna Daniell
Carole Douillard
Ed D’Souza
Mette Edvardsen
Jan Freuchen, Sigurd Tenningen, and Jonas Høgli Major
Gaylen Gerber
Hlynur Hallsson
Rose Hammer (Dora García, Per-Oskar Leu, Victoria Durnak, Nora Joung)
Marianne Heier
Michelangelo Miccolis
Mônica Nador and Bruno Oliveira
Michael Ross
Belén Santillán
Lisa Tan
Øystein Wyller Odden