Exhibition with BJØRKA at Oslo Negativ

Prisms of Myopia – Bjørka, Oslo Negativ 2024

12/10/2024 — 27/10/2024

In August of this year, I became a member of Bjørka - a workshop for camera-based artists. While I still work in my studio in Asker, I wanted to have a community in Oslo as well. So now I travel to Oslo one day a week to scan film and meet the wonderful and talented artists at BJØRKA.

During Oslo Negativ, all members exhibit in a group exhibition with the beautiful name Prisms of Myopia, curated by Monica Holmen and with Maya Økland as project manager.

Curator Monica Holmen writes about the exhibition:

In contemporary art, we have long moved beyond the perception of the photographic medium as a document of truth. Like any other artistic medium, camera-based expressions also represent the artist's exploratory gaze, partly subjective and colored by individual engagement. Inspired by myopia, the scientific term for nearsightedness, the exhibition title points to the significance of each artist's dedicated attention and myopic approach to their material.

As a result of an artist's near-sighted studies, and through an insistence on the significance of a given theme, a work of art will attempt to nudge the viewer's gaze in various directions. The very invitation to adopt other viewpoints and see things from multiple perspectives is perhaps also the most important role of contemporary art in our time. A well-known saying talks about walking a mile in someone else's shoes; in art, it's natural to encourage seeing the world through someone else's (metaphorical) glasses.

Like a prism that breaks light rays in countless directions, Bjørka is a gathering place for camera-based artistic development and reflection. Here, 36 artists share analog and digital communal workshops, and for the first time, all are participating in this year's exhibition at Oslo Negativ. Consequently, Prisms of Myopia constitutes a multifaceted image composed of all the myopias that the Bjørka artists represent. Through the exhibition, one also gains insight into some of what occupies contemporary art today.

In Prisms of Myopia, the audience will experience works that draw attention to interpersonal relationships, questions about identity and belonging, and expectations and prejudices in encounters with the people around us. Reflections arising in the wake of the global pandemic, the highly digitalized information society, and how it affects us as human beings are another track in some of the works. A critical look at lifestyles, expectations of constant growth, and how this challenges both the individual and the increasingly strained relationship between humans and nature runs as a common thread in several of the artists' works. Reflections on the place of history are also opened up. What traces of history do we see - be it art history or the larger history - and what implications does it have today? Lastly, there are also more media-specific explorations where photography itself and its possibilities and limitations are the subject of artistic exploration. The results often appear to be abstract and non-figurative, which once again punctures any illusions anyone might have about photography as truth - and rather emphasizes the myopic nature of any artistic project.

Monica Holmen (born 1982) is a curator and coordinator at Nitja Center for Contemporary Art, and a freelancer as a curator, writer, and editor. Holmen is the former co-editor of the magazine Kunstforum, and holds a master's degree in art history from the University of Oslo with the thesis This is MOST Important - Dag Alveng's New York-photographs in light of the American street photography (2010).

The exhibition is supported by Fritt Ord.

Launch of the Anniversary Book

Launch of FF´s Anniversary Book

In connection with FFF's 50th anniversary, the The Norwegian Association for Fine Art Photographers has created a book with nearly 200 submitted contributions from our members, showcasing the enormous diversity of camera-based art today. The book also features six specially commissioned texts where photography and photo books are covered through the pens of journalists, writers, and photo artists Nina Strand, Morten Andenæs, Sofia Maia Ciel, Brad Feuerhelm, Elise By Olsen and Maja Hattvang.

The book will be launched at Fotogalleriet during Culture Night on September 13th, between 6:30 PM and 10 PM!

The book can be ordered here:

https://www.tronsmo.no/produkt/forbundet-frie-fotografer-50-ar/

or at FFF´s office in Møllergata 34 in Oslo.

Radio Interview about silence at NRK Helgemorgen

HOW MUCH SILENCE CAN YOU TAKE?

On Sunday morning, I joined brain researcher Marte Roa Syvertsen and Erling Kagge on NRK Helgemorgen to discuss our experiences with silence. These interviews were a continuation of the article "Silence is the New Superpower" on NRK.no, which focused on the importance of giving the brain silence and peace, so that it can process the experiences we have already had and put them together in new ways.

I was invited to talk about my experiences with silence and the book How Much Silence Can You Take?, where I photographed different forms of silence over a year without social media and a smartphone.

When I started the art project, I didn't know what I would find. But what struck me most was the silence that arose. And the empty spaces and the empty time that were created during a day. The spaces between two events.

As an artist, I am well used to silence, but being allowed to delve into silence in this way felt like a gift, but also a bit unsafe. Because in silence I see my thoughts and feelings more clearly. It is a room for reflections. In silence, as in the night, I can find my darkest thoughts, but also unforeseen insights.

In the silence I give attention to what is closest. Whether it's stroking my children's hair, watching the daily changes in nature, or studying three ants making their way up my coffee cup.

If you want to take the book with you into the summer, it is still available at Tronsmo book store in Oslo and via the Journal Forlag website.

With this I wish you a wonderful summer and will soon log off for vacation with a little less impressions.

If you want to bring the book with you into the summer, you can still find it at Tronsmo bookstore in Oslo or on Journal Forlag's website.

The book is supported by the Fritt Ord Foundation, the Bergesen Foundation, the Norwegian Association of Professional Photographers' Fund, and the Norwegian Arts Council/Artist Grants.

Documentation photos of the book: @leastuedahl

Final weekend at Hå Gamle Prestegård with Sissel Gran

The final weekend of the exhibition at Hå Gamle Prestegård concluded with a guided tour and a highly interesting lecture by the psychologist and writer Sissel Gran on aging. This is my third exhibition at Hå gamle prestegård, so I know how much I will miss the place and the people.

Review by Mona Pahle Bjerke "Den uutholdelige stillheten"

“Marie Sjøvolds fotografier tar seg godt ut i den åpne, lyse, ganske nedslitte kunsthallen.

Utstillingen er kun opplyst av naturlig dagslys, det fungerer veldig fint med bildene, der også lyset spiller en hovedrolle.

Et fotografi som virkelig fanger opplevelsen av stillestående tid, avbilder et mørklagt soverom med et rektangulært vindu. Det fuktige, bleke dagslyset trenger gjennom duggen, som stenger for utsikten.”
— Mona Pahle Bjerke
“Det kan være noe så enkelt som en hårlokk som faller ned over skuldrene på et barn, eller det gylne kveldslyset som tegner sin tegning på veggen.

Jeg tenker at Marie Sjøvold er en slags maler som tegner med lys i sine fotografier.

Jeg liker de stillferdige poetiske bildene hennes, og det interessante og prekært aktuelle konseptet. Vi trenger denne påminnelsen om at stillheten må få lov til å ha en plass virkeligheten.”
— Mona Pahle Bjerke

IN ENGLISH:

REVIEW by Mona Pahle Bjerke, Art critic, NRK.NO

Published 1 June

The Unbearable Silence

An important reminder to take breaks from the noise of social media

«Hvor mye stillhet tåler du?»  

by Marie Sjøvold

Gyldenpris Kunsthall, Bergen

25 May – 10 June

My childhood in the 1980s consisted of hours we had to fill by ourselves – with games, books and ideas.

Today it’s not just children who drown out every vacant moment with digital impressions and impulses.

Neither can adults sit on the bus, stand in the lift, or in a queue and just think a bit. We must always pull out our phone and check the news, an e-mail, an app or something else.

It’s like a disease of our time.

We no longer have any tolerance for silence or boredom.

In the summer of 2018 the artist Marie Sjøvold made a radical move.

She logged off all social platforms, media and apps and acquired an old mobile phone with buttons. With it she could make calls and send messages. She could also check her e-mail on the computer.

But apart from this she decided to disconnect herself from the digital world for an entire year.

Every time she reached for her phone out of habit she took a photo instead.

From the overwhelming material she created throughout she has now carefully selected pictures for a series that is shown through a book and as an exhibition.

A picture of unmoving time

Marie Sjøvold’s photos look good in the open, bright and quite worn down art hall.

The exhibition is only lit by natural daylight which works splendidly with the pictures wherein light also plays a central part.

A photo that really captures the impression of unmoving time depicts a darkened bedroom with a rectangular window. The damp, pale daylight seeps through the dew which blocks the view.

The fact that we can’t look out creates a claustrophobic feeling.

Maybe this inability to look out reflects the loss of the digital ability to look in: the social media window into people’s private spheres which has been abruptly closed.

My guess is that at first it gives a feeling of loss, followed by a deep feeling of relief.

Attentive presence

The photos are characterized by attentive presence, a meditative interest in the everyday moment.

In our social media existence we take pictures all the time.

We hunt for the spectacular and the photogenic.

Sjøvold attempts to stop and think about the things that aren’t so remarkable at first glance, the little experiences that are in danger of drowning in all the media noise that surrounds us.

It can be something as simple as a lock of hair falling down across the shoulders of a child, or the golden evening light painting its picture on the wall.

I feel that Marie Sjøvold is a kind of painter who paints with light in her photos.

I like her quiet, poetic pictures and the interesting and precariously relevant concept. We need this reminder that silence needs a place in reality.

If you don’t want to do like Sjøvold, to disconnect for a whole year, then you can see how nice it is to actually try it for a little while.

Put away your phone, turn off your PC and pull the plugs out of year ears and just be present. Listen to and look at what is around you here and now.

A good start of a project like that is to go to Gyldenpris in Bergen and see Marie Sjøvold’s exhibition.

Review by Tuva Mossin in Kunstkritikk

“Hvor mye stillhet tåler du? rommer en påpekning av at minner er konstruerte bilder, og rokker ved grunnlaget for forestillingene om oss selv og verden rundt oss.”
— Tuva Mossin for Kunstkritikk

READ THE REVIEW HERE

“Står jeg overfor fragmenterte minner, tapte muligheter, eller kanskje en ønskedrøm? Opplevelsen av at det her er snakk om noe forgangent, er særlig sterk i møte med to sammenkrøllede foto i stort format som ligger henslengt på gulvet.”
— Tuva Mossin for Kunstkritikk

IN ENGLISH:

REVIEW by Tuva Mossin in Kunstkritikk.no, 07.06.23

Granddad, maybe?

Marie Sjøvold’s holiday idyll is a New Wave-like balancing act between seductive intimacy and a chilly remark on the constructed character of memory.

Summer arrives late in Bergen this year, but in Marie Sjøvold’s exhibition at Gyldenpris Kunsthall in Bergen you get an intimate and warm hint of the idyll that is fast approaching: sea urchins, bare feet, trickling mountain streams and bare, suntanned skin. In How Much Silence Can You Take? you are met with still images of people in all the situations you typically associate with cottage life in Norwegian nature.

How Much Silence Can You Take?

Marie Sjøvold

Gyldenpris Kunsthall, Oslo

25 May 2023 – 10 June 2023

The airy presentation suits Sjøvold’s snapshots as it encourages a more intimate approach to each of the individual pictures, which in turn are intimate and warm depictions of what is apt to interpret as a family. If you zoom out there is nevertheless something distant and impersonal about its entirety. The people are consistently facing away from the camera, or their faces fall outside the frame. The personal and the intimate in the skin and hair can as such be read as something general, almost archetypical: the child becomes «the child», the mother «the mother» and the father «the father» who live an idealized cottage life at the sea – almost too good to be true. And as I think just that, I become aware of a fleeting quality about the images.

Am I faced with fragmented memories, lost opportunities, or maybe a wishful dream? The feeling that this is about something bygone is especially strong when you reach two crumpled photos in a large format that lie as if thrown on the floor. They show scenes from the same summery reality but the presentation doesn’t let me read these pictures as direct snapshots in the same way as the other photos. This topic is reprised in the final part of the exhibition, where small variants of the crumpled photos are displayed in a small group. But here they are encased in glass and raised on pedestals – like little transparent containers of memories the artist doesn’t want to lose. The memory boxes are framed on one side by a wall-mounted photo of a man – granddad, maybe? – in water to his knees launching a miniature sailboat in the sea.

Two pictures hanging by strings from the ceiling stand out. They are white prints made by 3D-printing photos and pressing them against paper. You have to get up close to discern the subjects: a swimming figure and two hands holding each other. The prints are the very last thing you seem, and they end the exhibition with a hint that new stories are on their way. The vague traces of the photos of which the prints are restorations is a subtle problematization of the exhibition’s other, more conventional images, in that a parallel is implied between the processes of the camera and those of memory. How Much Silence Can You Take? points out that memories are constructed images and shakes at the foundation of our images of ourselves and the world around us.

How Much Silence Can You Take?

Marie Sjøvold

Gyldenpris Kunsthall, Oslo

25 May 2023 – 10 June 2023

Workshop: Words and images

Welcome to a workshop with writer Nina M. Schjønsby and artist Marie Sjøvold

Do you need input on your own texts or images? This workshop gives you the opportunity to discuss your work in a small group, whether you work mainly with text or visual material. We will share experiences and give advice related to the various phases of a work process. The goal is to create a space where we can inspire each other, and where each individual participant receives tangible advice that will take them further in their work.