Highlights from the year in mediation 2023

Throughout 2023, Fotogalleriet has in line with its strategy for mediation, outreach and community building continued and produced new productions in and outside of its exhibition space.

Fotogalleriet wishes to thank all artists, partners, collaborators and funders who make the extensive interdisciplinary mediation productions and events linked to our artistic programme and mediation strategy possible!

The exhibition project Queer Icons continues to be groundbreaking, and has been developed for and is now touring nationally as part of the nationwide programme for art in schools, DKS, by and with exhibition designer Harald Lunde Helgesen and co-author Caroline Ugelstad Elnæs. The DKS iteration of ‘Queer Icons’ has been developed and curated by Fotogalleriet’s Curator and Head of Mediation and Communication Håkon Lillegraven in collaboration with producer for visual arts in DKS Oslo Inger-Johanne Molven, and exhibition curator and Artistic Director of Fotogalleriet Antonio Cataldo. The production is made possible with funding from DKS Oslo. DKS productions by artists Marin Håskjold and Susanne Hætta also continued in the 2023-24 academic year.

Queer Icons was initiated by photographer Fin Serck-Hanssen, and consists of photographs by Fin, text by authors Bjørn Hatterud and Caroline Ugelstad Elnæs, and exhibition design by Harald Lunde Helgesen. The exhibition was first shown at Fotogalleriet March-May 2022, and has since been shown as part of Oslo Negativ, Oslo Kulturnatt, Elvelangs, Pride Art, the Literature Symposium in Odda, Ringsaker Library, and the Art Association in Mo i Rana. The book Skeive Ikoner can be purchased in most Norwegian bookshops and online and is published by Pitch forlag (in Norwegian).

The analogue pin-hole camera course by Lena Maria Vida, first developed as part of her internship at Fotogalleriet in 2021, has continued to engage new participants from youth to students and adults with Norwegian as a second language in public libraries such as Deichman Tøyen and Deichman Bjørvika, as well as the university OsloMet. The production is supported by Sparebankstiftelsen DNB.

As a one-week residency to inspire new visual arts productions for schools, DKS-LAB took place this spring with artists Sara Guldmyr and Ollie S. Hermansson, Trygve Ohren and Charlotte Røstad, Hjørdis Kurås, and Carolina Vasquez. DKS-LAB 2023 was produced in partnership with Oslo Kunstforening with producers Sofia Clausen and Lona Korjenic-Hansen. DKS-LAB is co-funded by Kulturtanken, DKS Oslo, and the City of Oslo.

The summer saw the facade of our exhibition space be taken over by the Momentum 12 biennial Together as To Gather, curated by our neighbours Tenthaus collective for Galleri F15 in Moss. Fotogalleriet also nominated artist Ilavenil Jayapalan to perform as part of the biennial’s extensive interdisciplinary public programme, who performed as NAGAVER in the cultural landscape surrounding the main exhibition venue in August.

1 September saw the seminar and relaunch of the Nordic Photobook Award as part of Fotobokfestival Oslo, with speakers Delphine Bedel, Bruno Ceschel, Susanne Hætta, Nora Joung, and Moritz Kung. The seminar was inspired by work by artist Marthe Ramm Fortun, which was performed at Fotogalleriet in 2018.

Last but not least, we in March invited audiences to the Norwegian cinema premiere of the artist film ‘Days’ by Ellinor Aurora Aasgaard and Zayne Armstrong, with moderator Knut Åsdam. The film screening was part of an ongoing partnership between Fotogalleriet and Vega Scene, and followed the exhibition Days shown at Fotogalleriet in 2021, and a digital screening of the pilot version of the film in 2022.