We are very proud to be part of the exhibition Death to the Curator at Kunsthall Oslo: a collaboration with 15 artist-run initiatives from the Nordic region, plus one from Addis Ababa: Alta Art Space, Bananskolen & Goodiepal, Gize, hangmenProjects, Khartoum Contemporary Art Center, Kling & Bang, Manège, Podium, Skogen, Small Projects, Sorbus, Sydhavn Station, Tenthaus, Third Space, Vandaler forening and Vermilion Sands.
April 12 - May 2, 2021
The project consists of a public exhibition of newly commissioned and existing works—large-scale silkscreen prints, sculptures, textiles, video, performance—as well as an installation of Unboxing – the Goodiepal collection and the launch of an ambitious publication with contributions from all of the collaborators plus additional texts. There will also be a «distributed conference»—under the conditions imposed by the pandemic—with live online contributions from around the region.
Artist-run initiatives are taking on a variety of forms and creating new models as they re-evaluate what it means to produce value, artistic and otherwise, in contemporary society. As Honza Hoeck writes in his essay for the publication, «It is quite rightly the artist’s task to create unreasonable organisations.» Of those taking part in this project, some manifest as schools or research collectives, some are community activists, some orbit the commercial gallery circuit, some are primarily open spaces or social platforms, and some are conceived as artworks in themselves. It is also important to note that many of the artists participating in this project do consider themselves curators, even to the point of seeing curatorial work as an integral part of their artistic practice. What is key is that their practices always aim to promote, create, preserve, explore or extend some form of collectivity.
