Elisabeth Haarr, Eline Mugaas, Steinar Sekkingstad
Plattform
Sat 29 May, 14:00

Welcome to this talk with Festival Artist Elisabeth Haarr, Steinar Sekkingstad and Eline Mugaas

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The talk will be held in Norwegian

For more than 50 years Elisabeth Haarr has been one of the most significant artists in Norway, working since the end of the 1960s with textiles in a number of different idioms. From early experimentation with the potential of tapestry as modern visual art to political works with an activist message in the 1970s, and later sculptural installations of rugs, banners, figures and drapes, Haarr’s oeuvre made important contributions to the recep­tion of textiles as material in the art of today. The Festival Exhibition will be her largest exhibition to date and will feature new works in combination with a selection of central works from different moments in her career.

Artist Eline Mugaas has collaborated with Elisabeth Haarr on several occasions, among others as one of the curators behind the exhibition “Hold Stenhårdt fast på greia di” (Kunsthall Oslo, 2013), where Haarr was part of a broad presentation of art and feminism in Norway. Mugaas has during the course of several years photographed many of Haarr’s works, both at exhibitions and not least outdoors, where the works often hang between trees in Haarr’s own garden. For an upcoming book on the occasion of the Festival Exhibition at Bergen Kunsthall, Mugaas and Haarr contributes with a written conversation, reflecting on their close collegial relationship and Haarr’s working process towards the exhibition in Bergen. In this event the conversation continues, and together with curator Steinar Sekkingstad, the two artists will discuss the Festival Exhibition in light of Haarr’s long and rich oeuvre.

Elisabeth Haarr lives and works in Kristiansand. She graduated from the textile line at the Norwegian National Academy of Craft and Art Industry (1963–67) and has among other things taught at the West Norway Academy of Art in Bergen and the Sogn og Fjordane University College. Haarr had her first solo exhibition in 1973 at Oslo Kunstforening, and since then has been active with exhibitions at institutions such as UKS (Young Artists’ Society), Oslo, Bergens Kunstforening, Nordenfjeldske Kunstindustrimuseum, Galleri F15, Stavanger Kunstforening, Christiansands Kunstforening and others. In recent years Haarr has participated in group exhibitions such as “The Shadow of War” at Kunstnernes Hus in 2015, “Förbannad vara du” (Cursed Be You), Kunstnerforbundet, Oslo, 2015, “Unwoven World: Beyond the Pliable Plane” at OCA, Oslo, 2014, and “Hold Stenhårdt fast på greia di. Norwegian art and feminism 1969 – 89”, which was shown at Kunsthall Oslo in 2013 and Kunsthall Stavanger in 2014. In 2016 she held a major separate exhibition at Kunsthall Oslo, called “Strid” (Struggle), and in 2019 she exhibited “Øvelser” (Exercises) at Kunstnerforbundet.Haarr’s work has been purchased by and is represented in a number of collections such as the Norwegian National Museum, Nordenfjeldske Kunstindustrimuseum, Sørlandets Kunst­museum, the Sogn og Fjordane Museum of Art and the Norwegian Foundation for Arts and Crafts. In 2000 and 2014 she was awarded respectively the Ulrik Hendriksen Memorial Award (now the Ulrik Hendriksen Prize) and the Rune Brynestad Memorial Grant for her artistic activity and commitment.

Eline Mugaas is an artist based in Oslo, working primarily with images and installa­tion. Her background includes photography, collage and publishing. Together with artist Elise Storsveen, Mugaas co-curated with Kunsthall Oslo in 2013 the show “Hold Stenhårdt fast på greia di. Norwegian art and feminism 1969 – 89”. For several years Mugaas has also worked closely with the sculptor Siri Aurdal, exhibiting at Kunstnernes Hus in 2016 and publishing an artist book with Primary Information the same year. Recent activity includes shows at Skissernas Museum in Lund, CCVA Harvard University, Munchmuseet on the Move and Kunstnernes Hus in Oslo. Mugaas was the recipient of the Lorck Schive Art Prize 2019.

Steinar Sekkingstad is an art historian, writer and curator. He has been curator at Bergen Kunsthall since 2009. He has edited many publications and published essays on artists such as Mari Slaattelid, Fredrik Værslev, Jan Groth, Richard Tuttle, Halvor Rønning, Tone Vigeland and others. He was one of the founders of the sound art gallery Lydgalleriet in Bergen, is currently board member at Tag Team Studios, and is member of the artistic advisory board of National Tourist Routes in Norway.

Plattform is supported by Fritt Ord.