Main Building

To You (Kunstgaven 2018–2020)

This year works by 14 contemporary artists, all either from or based in Norway, fill the four floors of the Main Building at Vestfossen Kunstlaboratorium in the exhibition Til deg / To You. The exhibition presents great breadth in forms of expression, themes and materials – from ceramic sculptures and paintings to drone films and interactive site-specific installations. Many of the artists represent a young, exploratory and experimental contemporary Norwegian art scene such as it appears today. The more established artists were, or still are, pioneering within a certain medium or in their own generation. What all the artists share in common is that they are socially involved; their works often contain political undertones and address current critical issues. As part of this year’s programme for the public, we show video interviews that give you the opportunity to become better acquainted with the individual artistic practices.

The exhibition presents both recently made works and recently purchased works that are the result of collaboration between VKL and various artists (or their representing galleries) during the period 2018–2020. This is thanks to Kunstgaven – a grant given to VKL by the philanthropic foundation Sparebankstiftelsen DNB, which we at VKL want to pass on to our public through this year’s main exhibition, its mediation and the administration of this art. A significant part of the Kunstgaven project, besides purchasing works, is to collaborate with producing artists by having them use our guest studio in Vestfossen. VKL’s main exhibitions annually fill 2,500 square metres of space with art, and this naturally results in much collaboration with other institutions and art collections. The guest studio and Kunstgaven have given us a special opportunity to work closely and more extensively with producing artists. They have been invited to come to Vestfossen and to use the guest studio while working on new productions and in connection with the exhibition, thus for a time becoming part of the local art scene. Given that the project was first postponed due to the pandemic, then moved forward in the schedule by a whole year, several of the artists will be offered studio space in Vestfossen after the exhibition. We therefore look forward to further collaboration with several of the artists, also in the future.

The art is acquired and produced ‘for you’ as a visitor to Vestfossen Kunstlaboratorium, with the gift we have received from Sparebankstiftelsen DNB. We hope it is a gift rich in content, and we will do our utmost to administer it and make it available for you to engage with and enjoy.

Participating artists:

Aurora Sander
Anja Carr
Anders Eiebakke
Marianne Heske
Audar Kantun
Bjarne Melgaard / Sverre Bjertnes
Matthew Quentin Midtskau
Maria Pasenau
Aase Texmon Rygh
Kjartan Slettemark
Ahmed Umar
Ane Djuvan Winnje