From October 11 to December 22, 2024, Tegnerforbundet - the Norwegian Drawing Center presents the group exhibition THE TIDES MAKE MOUNTAINS SWAY AND THE SCENT OF PINE CAN CREATE RAIN. Eight artists and a collaborative project that in different ways work with water, participate in the exhibition curated by Randi Nygård.
Participating artists: Sigmund Skard, Munan Øvrelid, Eli Maria Lundgaard, Signe Lidén, Ane S. Landfald, Maja Nilsen, Simon D. T. Wenzel, Thorbjørn Sørensen. The artist group MEANDER: Kjersti Vetterstad, Søssa Jørgensen, Geir Tore Holm, Caitlin Franzmann, Marina Guzzo, Kidauane Regina Alves, Alexandra Neumann, Tomoko Momiyama, Avani Tanya, U Bat Sat, Turakella Edith Gyindo and Randi Nygård.
-
Tegnerforbundet has invited Randi Nygård to put together a group exhibition about water. In her work on the exhibition, Nygård, among other things, has drawn inspiration from her son’s question about why we cannot hold water in our hands. Why does water flow through landscapes, in rivers, fjords, and wetlands, in and out of plants, clouds, cities, animals, the ocean, and our bodies? We cannot give a clear answer, but we know that water is a prerequisite for all life as we know it.
Art is a place where we can continue to wonder, where we don't have to hold on and fully understand. So how is the flowing water, which waters, cleans, moves and changes, floods, clouds and is polluted, present in art?
Nygård has chosen artists with works that open up a strong sense of presence and wonder. In different ways, they show the fundamental poetry of the world. In Signe Lidén's sound installation, we hear the waves of the tide entering the mountains and causing them to vibrate. In Thorbjørn Sørensen's painting of a bouquet of tulips, we encounter the silent presence of a lack of water. Sigmund Skard exhibits a video and does a performance during the exhibition opening where reflections in a cup of tea will meet a nose. Simon Tegnander Wenzel has worked with smells from the cave of childhood. In Munan Øvrelid's painting, we find a cultural-historical space of sea, shadows and darkness. Ane Sivertsen Landfald shows a large drawing inspired by a 14th century fresco that has gone through centuries of flooding, decay and restoration. We see life as a vital and organic movement in Maja Nilsen's collages, and in Eli Maria Lundgaard's video installation, language and consciousness meet the eternal cycle of water as a prerequisite for all life.
A moon calendar, produced by the artist group Meander, contains short instructions about water. The calendar is part of the exhibition and available in a limited edition. Here the imagination flows like a river through the environment in different countries, as the artists wonder what water can express between different states, when it evaporates, freezes and melts out of glaciers. And what would life be like if we didn't have clocks, but followed time in interaction with the sun, moon, water and other living beings? What would a nature reserve with wetlands look like in your neighborhood? What if you were an octopus? Or a drop of water reflecting the world around it?
About the curator
Randi Nygård (1977, Bergen) is an artist. Her work is often based on facts that transcend the natural and social sciences, turning us towards what we humans do not understand, but can still sense and experience. She is interested in connections that are invisible, random or irrational, and the visual representation of these.
_
Files to download:
Artists in the exhibition (Norwegian)
Artists in the exhibition (English)
_
Events during the exhibition period:
Performance Drawing time, chords, points in land, minerals and ether by Simon Daniel Tegnander Wenzel: Thursday, October 10 (exhibition opening), 18:45.
Performance About getting something out of it by Sigmund Skard: Thursday, October 10 (exhibition opening), 18:30 and 19:00.
Curator tours: Wednesday, October 16 at 12:00 / Saturday, November 16 at 13:00.
Networks of Circatidal Earth Bodies, a live audio essay by Signe Lidén: Saturday, November 30, 13:00.
Digital presentation of the lunar calendar at MEANDER: More information to come.
Keep up to date with current events by following us on Facebook and Instagram.
-
Photo: Øystein Thorvaldsen / Tegnerforbundet.
