2022 Project: KUNSTFELTET

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Artists picking potatoes in the art field.

KUNSTFELTET
October 4 - 7
Hov, Norway

With artist performers:
Oscar Debs (LEB)
Eduardo Scaramuzza (BRA)
Anaclara Talento (UY)
Dalia Huerta Cano (MEX)
Samrridhi Kukreja (IN)
Lexie Owen (CAN)


KUNSTFELTET is an artistic project developed by Gabrielle Paré.

Paré invites six non-EU citizen artists based in Norway to pick potatoes on a potato farm. The potato picking is carried out during week 40, which is the period for the Norwegian tradition of Høstferie (the Autumn Holiday), or "potato holiday" as it was first called. The potato holiday has its roots in the Second World War, when Norway found itself in a situation of great food shortages and distress. Increased cultivation of potatoes, the combination of resources, collaboration and the mobilization of labour by having potato holiday were all measures against a difficult national situation. During the week of potato holiday, schoolchildren were given a break from their studies so that they could help their families and communities with the potato harvest.

Potato picking is also a motif that has been used many times by Norwegian artists such as Johs Rian (Potetplukkere på Tåsen, 1939), Fredrik Collett (To kvinner tar opp poteter, 1881) and Christian Skredsvig (Potetopptagning, 1894), making this image an important inheritance in both Norwegian history and art history.

This project also has its roots in the economic precarity of artists, made all the more visible by the covid-19 pandemic. Among many vulnerable groups were non-EU artists based in Norway who don't have permission to work and earn their livings outside their trained fields—the art field. With cultural sectors being among the first to lock down, many of these artists struggled to earn enough money to survive, let alone fulfill the income requirements of their work permits to continue staying in the country.

In KUNSTFELTET this group of artists perform the role of the "potato picker" in an artistic performance, redefining farm labour as artistic labour. In doing so I re-imagine the image of Norwegian cultural heritage while also extending the art field to a potato field in Hov.

The project is connected to the motivations behind the potato holiday: distress, precarity, collaboration and the need for creative solutions. With support from Kulturrådet, I pay all artists an artist fee for their performance.


Acknowledgements:
KUNSTFELTET wouldn't be what it is without these supporters, collaborators, tip givers and important conversation partners. These individuals have helped me think through concepts of precarity, labour, immigration, Norwegian legacies and heritage, farming and potatoes.

Thank you to:

Oscar Debs, Eduardo Scaramuzza, Anaclara Talento, Lexie Owen, Dalia Huerta Cano, Samrridhi Kukreja, Øyvind Knudsen, Jørn Haglo, Ingrid Halvorsen, Hanna Roloff, Liilian Saksi, Ole Gustav Klevberg, Aksel Ree, A K Dolven, Rodrigo Ghattas-Pérez, Prerna Bishnoi, Anthony Morton, Ina Hagen, Verdensrommet, Victoria Durnak, Helle Johansen, Tor Jacob Solberg, Søssa Jørgensen, Randi Thommessen and Anne Szefer Karlsen. A special thank you to Jan Christensen who graciously agreed to be a consultant in this project, and to Siv Kjelstrup and Sverre Trætteberg for being our wonderful hosts in Hov. Thank you to Pål Bjarne Johansen for planting the seed of this project.

This project was made possible thanks to generous support from Kulturrådet.

2022 Exhibition: eating the other, Cambridge Art Galleries, Canada

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Molly JF Caldwell, Veil series, 2020 – 2022, restrung pearl necklace and organic food materials.

eating the other

Featuring: Molly JF Caldwell, Rajyashri Goody, Gabrielle Paré, Alize Zorlutuna
Guest curated by Noor Bhangu

September 17 – November 30, 2022
Cambridge Art Galleries, Preston

Opening Reception and Artist Performance: Thursday September 29, 2022 at 5:00 PM, Cambridge Art Galleries, Preston.

eating the other is a group exhibition that elaborates on the relationships between food, race, and belonging through distinct artworks and public programming. The exhibition features four artists, offering various entry and exit points into timely conversations around food as a medium for eating together and cooking back.

Artists Molly JF Caldwell, Rajyashri Goody, Gabrielle Paré, and Alize Zorlutuna will share projects emerging out of diverse cultural sites of food production and consumption. Collages, installations, literatures, workshops, and foodstuff will be exhibited together to gesture to the critical potential of food in contemporary art.

The exhibition will be accompanied by a performance developed by Alize Zorlutuna, which extends the themes of the exhibition and questions forms of transactional knowledge within the artworld and the ways in which we give and receive knowledge about ourselves.

Cambridge Art Galleries, Idea Exchange
Preston
435 King Street East
Cambridge ON
N1S 2H4
519.653.3632
ideaexchange.org/cambridge-art-galleries
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Hours of Operation
Monday – Thursday 10:00 AM to 8:30 PM
Friday 10:00 AM to 5:30 PM
Saturday 9:30 AM to 5:30 PM
Sunday 1:00 PM to 5:00 PM

Admission is free and all are welcome.

Cambridge Art Galleries, Idea Exchange presents contemporary art from two galleries in the City of Cambridge: Queen’s Square and Preston. We serve our regional and broader communities through the delivery of contemporary art programs that foster critical cultural dialogue. Our artistic activities engage, embrace, and empower people of all ages and abilities from diverse backgrounds.

Cambridge Art Galleries is situated on the traditional land of Indigenous peoples dating back countless generations. We recognize that it is part of the Haldimand Tract, the traditional land of the Six Nations of the Grand River and Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation.

2022 Exhibition and project: Bygd til by, Norway

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Bygd til by
Stykkjevika, Fyresdal
August 1 — 7, 2022

Bygd til by er en utstillingsplattform for unge kunstnere startet av Aksel Ree og Erle Saxegaard. Plattformen har en nomadisk utforming og reiser mellom bygden Fyresdal og byen Oslo. Fra 1.-7. august var ni kunstnere på stranden i Stykjevika i Fyresdal hvor de lagde en utstilling som forholdt seg til premissene landskapet og bygda gav. Utstillingen var åpen for publikum den 6. og 7. august før den reiser videre til Fortidsminneforeningen i Oslo på Vøienvolden gård der det vil være utstillingsåpning 16. september. 

Kunstnerne som deltar er :
Love Terins
Isak Wisløff
Sofie Brønner
Øyvind Bast Lie
Gabrielle Paré
Emanuel Totland Frogner
Ingrid K Bjørnaali
Aksel Ree
Erle Saxegaard

2022: Appointment to Fotogalleriet Board, Oslo

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Photo credit: Jannik Abel

I 2022 implementerer Fotogalleriet nye vedtekter for å fordele makt i ledende posisjoner og for å styrke galleriets ansvar basert på innbyggernes mangfold. Fotogalleriets formålsparagraf, skrevet i 1979, ble endret i fjor for å sikre en fremtid med tydelig fokus på samfunnsansvar. Styret er derfor fra 2022 utvidet med to medlemmer og to varamedlemmer – både for å sikre at styret speiler samfunnet, men også for å styrke Fotogalleriets strategiske arbeid i tiden fremover!

Ved Forbundet Frie Fotografers generalforsamling i 2022 ble Anne Szefer Karlsen valgt som ny styreleder. Som et resultat av vedtektsendringene er Chiara Ayad og Nastaran Kowkabi valgt inn som styremedlemmer. Thora Dolven Balke fortsetter i sitt verv som styremedlem, mens tidligere varamedlem Andreas Bennin rykker opp som fullverdig styremedlem. Gabrielle Paré og Leslia Vasylchenko inntrer som varamedlemmer.

Anne Szefer Karlsen, ny styreleder i Fotogalleriet, sier:

"Det er en stor ære å rykke opp fra styremedlem til styreleder i Fotogalleriets styre. Etter en grundig prosess over flere år, der vi har rådført oss med organisasjoner som Masahat, og gode samarbeidspartnere som TrAP, er vi endelig kommet til en korsvei der Fotogalleriet tar skrittet inn i en fremtid som speiler samfunnet og som både strukturelt og institusjonelt støtter visjonen til vår kunstneriske leder Antonio Cataldo. Jeg vil takke avtroppende styreleder Morten Andenæs for særs godt samarbeid, og ser frem til å fortsette samarbeidet med Fotogalleriets fantastiske stab og til å bli kjent med det nye styret."

Studioviews 20220603

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I was a part of the jury reviewing applications to participate in an artist residency at Leveld Kunstnartun in Ål, Norway. It was a very intense few days of work.

I took the train to Ål for the final round of jurying. I got to tour the area a bit (gorgeous) and also visit this printmaking workshop that had just recently been set up by artist Lars Monrad Våge.