The climate crisis and the oil state – what responsibility does the art world have?

“The climate crisis and the oil state – what responsibility does the art world have?”
Kunstkritikk Live in collaboration with Kunsthall Oslo
at Litteraturhuset, Wednesday 4th May 7-9pm, and streamed live via YouTube.
The event is free and open to all.

We find ourselves in the midst of a climate crisis that, interwoven with war, pandemic disease and systemic injustice threatens catastrophic consequences. On Wednesday 4th May Kunstkritikk, in collaboration with Kunsthall Oslo, invite you to a panel discussion on the implications of this situation for a state-supported cultural sector reliant on profits from fossil fuels, under the headline: “The climate crisis and the oil state – what responsibility does the art world have?”

In Norway we find ourselves in a particular position, as citizens of an oil nation. We believe that it is time for a wider public discussion, not just about the crisis as a theme but about the structural conditions, pressures and responsibilities that cultural workers and institutions must address. In other European countries, major museums have been pressured to drop oil company sponsorship, but in Norway the state itself is an oil company. What possibilities are there for meaningful action under these conditions?

The panel consists of the artist niilas helander, curator Anne Szefer Karlsen, Miriam Wistreich of UKS (The Young Artists’ Union), and documentary filmmaker Thomas Østbye. The discussion will be chaired by Mariann Enge, editor of Kunstkritikk, and introduced by Kunsthall Oslo.