KO

KO

Kunsthall Oslo #5

We are very pleased to announce the details of our new gallery space – the 5th in Kunsthall Oslo’s 16-year history – and to ask you to save-the-date for our (re)opening show. You heard it here first: Tøyen is the new Bjørvika. Except that’s not true, at least not yet. We’re leaving behind offshore finance and high-rises in return for long-term security, new neighbours, and the space to run a live programme for the first time in a decade. We’re very happy that our long-term collaborators @assata will come with us to our new place at Factory Tøyen – that’s Kjølberggata 21, map fans – and happy that we’ll have the excellent mirage.no almost next-door; happy also that we’ll be meeting many other friends on their home ground.

We open on Thursday 21st May at 6pm with a group exhibition titled The Unfolding, presenting artworks by Mariem Abutaleb, Tauba Auerbach, Naum Gabo, Samia Halaby, Magnus Rakeng, Zarina Saidova and Gerd Tinglum, more on that soon. From 8pm in our new shared event space there will be performances by local heroes Abdi the Poet and MikeTV, followed by a DJ set from our close associate Banjee. There is no VIP preview: this event is free and all are welcome. You, specifically, are welcome. There will be culinary art from Javon Bennett and refreshments will be served in the traditional way. 

The gallery will be open Wednesday-Sunday during exhibitions; our riso print shop will be open by appointment Wednesday-Friday. From next year we’ll be running a regular programme of live music and talks in our shared event space; this year we’ll be running an irregular programme of live music and talks in the same space. For those of you who haven’t noticed that we have a new graphic identity – we have a new graphic identity! Thanks to the legendary Norwegian type designer Magnus Rakeng, who is also taking part in The Unfolding, and a project initiated by our own Neslihan Ramzi.

Our youth programme and summer exhibition will continue at the new location. We are very happy to be collaborating with Einar Granum for this year’s summer school – more info on that coming very soon – and we’re right now figuring out what our block party will look like when we arrange it here in August in collaboration with Agenda X. Look out for more from Shof.no, and writing workshops in collaboration with the Norwegian Critics’ Association. 

We’re a four minute walk from Tøyen T-bane (though it can take longer in hanami season as we are now) and 200m from either the 20 bus at Kjølberggata or the 60 at Kampen, and there are parking spaces for bicycles and even two cars. We’ve got two of Oslo’s best cafés – Håndbakt and Farine – on our doorstep and the awesome Silin bakery is just the other side of the prison.

We are indebted to our Board for steering KO into this next phase; Mike Sperlinger, we don’t want to say what a great job you’ve done because then they’ll all want you. Big thanks also to the excellent Drew Snyder of KORO, and to Neslihan for keeping it real from our side; kudos to Kunsthall Oslo’s longtime head technician Øyvind Mellbye for masterminding the creation of the new space. Hamda, Sampson and Calle will also join us, we’ll be seeing more of our regular collaborator Bashir, and we will soon be introducing Hannah and Victoria who are working on this year’s iteration of the Oslo Art and Knowledge Workshop. Thanks, of course, to Factory Tøyen – Amalie, Sindre, Helene, Nils, Lukas, Ørjan – for welcoming us and to OSU, HAV, BU and PBE for their part in creating KO all those years ago. This is also the appropriate time to namecheck some of the colleagues who joined us in carving out a place for art in that imaginary New Oslo that never came to be: Kathrine, Kristian, Mathilde, Elisabeth, Ifrah, Ruben, Rachel, Frida, Anne-Beate, Per Gunnar, Jørn, Rolf, Geir, Cecilie, Eva and Kjell among many, many others. 

Hope to see you all here! 

Best,

The Kunsthall Oslo team

Today’s message has been brought to you by the letters K and O, and by the number 6, six public funders and foundations who together have funded the Kunsthall and all of the artists in our coming year’s programme: Kulturdepartementet, Oslo kommune, Sparebankstiftelsen, Kulturrådet, KORO and Kulturkontakt nord, a huge thank you to all of these people for supporting art above profit. In particular, our move has been part financed by Kulturrådet’s ARENA programme for buildings and infrastructure.

Kunsthall Oslo #5

We are very pleased to announce the details of our new gallery space – the 5th in Kunsthall Oslo’s 16-year history – and to ask you to save-the-date for our (re)opening show. You heard it here first: Tøyen is the new Bjørvika. Except that’s not true, at least not yet. We’re leaving behind offshore finance and high-rises in return for long-term security, new neighbours, and the space to run a live programme for the first time in a decade. We’re very happy that our long-term collaborators @assata will come with us to our new place at Factory Tøyen – that’s Kjølberggata 21, map fans – and happy that we’ll have the excellent mirage.no almost next-door; happy also that we’ll be meeting many other friends on their home ground.

We open on Thursday 21st May at 6pm with a group exhibition titled The Unfolding, presenting artworks by Mariem Abutaleb, Tauba Auerbach, Naum Gabo, Samia Halaby, Magnus Rakeng, Zarina Saidova and Gerd Tinglum, more on that soon. From 8pm in our new shared event space there will be performances by local heroes Abdi the Poet and MikeTV, followed by a DJ set from our close associate Banjee. There is no VIP preview: this event is free and all are welcome. You, specifically, are welcome. There will be culinary art from Javon Bennett and refreshments will be served in the traditional way. 

The gallery will be open Wednesday-Sunday during exhibitions; our riso print shop will be open by appointment Wednesday-Friday. From next year we’ll be running a regular programme of live music and talks in our shared event space; this year we’ll be running an irregular programme of live music and talks in the same space. For those of you who haven’t noticed that we have a new graphic identity – we have a new graphic identity! Thanks to the legendary Norwegian type designer Magnus Rakeng, who is also taking part in The Unfolding, and a project initiated by our own Neslihan Ramzi.

Our youth programme and summer exhibition will continue at the new location. We are very happy to be collaborating with Einar Granum for this year’s summer school – more info on that coming very soon – and we’re right now figuring out what our block party will look like when we arrange it here in August in collaboration with Agenda X. Look out for more from Shof.no, and writing workshops in collaboration with the Norwegian Critics’ Association. 

We’re a four minute walk from Tøyen T-bane (though it can take longer in hanami season as we are now) and 200m from either the 20 bus at Kjølberggata or the 60 at Kampen, and there are parking spaces for bicycles and even two cars. We’ve got two of Oslo’s best cafés – Håndbakt and Farine – on our doorstep and the awesome Silin bakery is just the other side of the prison.

We are indebted to our Board for steering KO into this next phase; Mike Sperlinger, we don’t want to say what a great job you’ve done because then they’ll all want you. Big thanks also to the excellent Drew Snyder of KORO, and to Neslihan for keeping it real from our side; kudos to Kunsthall Oslo’s longtime head technician Øyvind Mellbye for masterminding the creation of the new space. Hamda, Sampson and Calle will also join us, we’ll be seeing more of our regular collaborator Bashir, and we will soon be introducing Hannah and Victoria who are working on this year’s iteration of the Oslo Art and Knowledge Workshop. Thanks, of course, to Factory Tøyen – Amalie, Sindre, Helene, Nils, Lukas, Ørjan – for welcoming us and to OSU, HAV, BU and PBE for their part in creating KO all those years ago. This is also the appropriate time to namecheck some of the colleagues who joined us in carving out a place for art in that imaginary New Oslo that never came to be: Kathrine, Kristian, Mathilde, Elisabeth, Ifrah, Ruben, Rachel, Frida, Anne-Beate, Per Gunnar, Jørn, Rolf, Geir, Cecilie, Eva and Kjell among many, many others. 

Hope to see you all here! 

Best,

The Kunsthall Oslo team

Today’s message has been brought to you by the letters K and O, and by the number 6, six public funders and foundations who together have funded the Kunsthall and all of the artists in our coming year’s programme: Kulturdepartementet, Oslo kommune, Sparebankstiftelsen, Kulturrådet, KORO and Kulturkontakt nord, a huge thank you to all of these people for supporting art above profit. In particular, our move has been part financed by Kulturrådet’s ARENA programme for buildings and infrastructure.