2023 will probably go down in the history books as a year of horror, with the bestial bombing of Gaza, the war that continues to impoverish Ukraine and economic downturns. Here at home, the news picture has not been cheerful either. We have had both floods and droughts, and one harrowing political scandal has followed on the heels of the next. Then it is comforting to turn your gaze towards the world of art. For 2023 has been a rich and inspiring art year. Here we will look back at some of the biggest highlights. Expresses a powerful primeval quality What: “Magdalena Abakanovicz: Tangles of thread and rope” Where: Henie Onstad Art Center, Høvikodden When: 27.10.23–25.2.24 It was a completely overwhelming experience to go down into the high, open hall at Høvikodden, which for once almost seems small, diminished by the enormous textile sculptures created from hemp, sisal and rough rope. It was so sensual and tactile that I had to force myself not to touch the works. Abakanowicz’s project expresses something timeless that goes beyond language. They carry within them a powerful primeval quality. Read the full review here. Raw portrayal of longing for beauty and fear of death Photo: DAG FOSSE What: “Børre Sæthre: Last Dance” Where: Lysverket, KODE, Bergen When: 9.6.23–29.10.23 “Last Dance” was the last chapter in Børre Sæthre’s exhibition trilogy about Norwegian cruising culture, AIDS and repressed gay love. A mighty white tree that looks like it’s made of congealed sperm stretches its bare branches toward a dome filled with turquoise light. A spectacular and wonderful work that gripped and excited me. It was also wonderful to see Børre Sæthre, who was the big star of the millennium scene, outshine his own iconic youth works. Read the full review here. Enigmatic giant What: “Louise Bourgeois: Imaginary conversations” Where: The National Museum, Oslo When: 6.5.23–6.8.23 This was an incredibly beautiful and fascinating exhibition full of knowledge. It was academically interesting without excluding the broad teams. The exhibition shed new light on this important artistry. Bourgeois has often been seen as an outsider. The exhibition showed how, through the various parts of her life, she was really on speaking terms with her own contemporaries, and entirely a part of European art life. Read the full review here. Combines something spiritual and something humorous Photo: Camilla Damgård What: “Hilmar Fredriksen: Eye gaze” Lillehammer art museum. Where: Lillehammer art museum, Lillehammer When: 21.10.23–3.3.24 We have few Norwegian artists who are as conceptually rich and as strong in terms of form at the same time as Hilmar Fredriksen. The exhibition at Lillehammer shows this important pioneer for Norwegian concept and performance history. When I try to describe his work, I always come back to a quote from my own old grandfather André Bjerke. I think of his project as “…sacred, ordinary play”. Read the full review here. The color composer What: “Harriet Backer: Every atom is colour” Where: The National Museum, Oslo When: 30.9.23–14.1.24. On tour until 2025. The National Museum’s comprehensive presentation of Harriet Backer shows her as the outstanding color composer she was. She was also undoubtedly an excellent draftsman with a clear sense of form. But there is little doubt that it is her ability to play different shades of color and tones against each other and portray the effects of light, which makes her one of the Nordic region’s leading painters. Read the full review here. Wonderfully ambitious Photo: Stavanger Kunstmuseum/Dag Myrestrand What: “Visionary romantics: Lars Hertervig, Peder Balke and Eugenio Lucas” Where: Stavanger Kunstmuseum, Stavanger When: 29.9.23–31.12.23 I was very inspired by the level of ambition in this exhibition. Here they launch a new term, which shows that romanticism in Norway goes beyond the so-called national romanticism. Like international giants such as Goya and Turner, there is also here at home an exploratory form-dissolving trend in the romantic, which anticipates modernism. Here they have pitted our towering romantics Hertervig and Balke against the contemporary Spaniard Lucas Velazquez Read the full review here. A “once-in-a-lifetime experience” What: “Modern Prophecies: Goya and Munch” Where: The Munch Museum, Oslo When: 28.10.23–11.02.24 This is simply a “once-in-a-lifetime” -experience”. The exhibition offers Goya’s two most famous graphic series completely unabridged. The fact that the exhibition did not quite manage to create the powerful meeting between Munch and Goya that I had imagined was overshadowed by the wonderful fact that here you can study Goya’s wicked gleeful mockery of human folly and the unvarnished depictions of the horrors of war. Read the full review here. Modernism’s great enigmas Photo: Archives Marc et Ida Chagall What: “Marc Chagall” Where: Henie Onstad Kunstsenter, Høvikodden When: 17.3.23–18.6.23 The exhibition highlighted a slightly unknown side of the popular artist. Chagall didn’t just seek refuge in his own surrealist dream world. He was actually someone who, in the interwar period, went in and reflected on the growing anti-Semitism in Europe and the heavy fate of the Jews. But even though there were heavy themes, this artistic universe is so full of beauty, vitality and buoyancy that I still left feeling enriched and lifted! Read the full review here. Made my spine sing Photo: Bill Jacobsen Studio / Festivals in Bergen What: “Camille Norment Gyre”. Festspillutstillingen 2023 Where: Bergen Kunsthall, Bergen When: 25.5.23–13.8.23 This year’s festival exhibition offered an experience I won’t soon forget. Camille Norment creates works that touch purely physically by making the sound vibrate through your body. Lying on a bench that emitted sounds and tones, I became aware of my own skeleton: It felt as if my skull was a cathedral full of sound, and my spine was singing. This is one of the strongest festival performances I have experienced in my seventeen years as a critic. Read the full review here. Superstars of modernism What: “The Forms of Freedom” Where: The Munch Museum When: 23.2.23–21.5.23 One of the great highlights of the spring was the exhibition “The Forms of Freedom”. Here, the museum invited us into a very exciting chapter in the history of modern art. It was about the abstract painting that flourished in the USA and Europe in the 40s and 50s. Only very rarely in Norway do we get to experience original works by the great abstract expressionists. It was wonderful to see works by superstars such as Jackson Pollock, Helene Frankenthaler, Mark Rothko and Asger Jorn. Read the full review here. A towering jubilant Photo: Camilla Damgård/Lillehammer Art Museum / Camilla Damgård What: “Kinds of Blue: Jakob Weidemann” Where: Lillehammer Art Museum When: 13.5.23–27.8.23 Lillehammer Art Museum marked Jakob Weidemann’s 100th anniversary with an extensive exhibition that confirmed the image of him as a highly competent painter who excelled through his clear sense of form and musical sense of colour. The exhibition “Kinds of Blue” became a vital celebration of the towering jubilee. Read the full review here. Politically correct and incorrect at the same time What: “Gába – female creativity” Where: Northern Norwegian Museum of Art When: 18.3.23–18.2.24 This was a wonderful and vital presentation of female, and mostly Sami, artists. The exhibition emphasized the low female and Sami representation in museums in general, but at the North Norwegian Museum of Art in particular; A museum with a special responsibility for the Sami, as it is located in the middle of Sápmi. I liked the sensuous lushness of the exhibition, but also the introspection on the part of the museum. It is also refreshing how the exhibition manages to be both politically correct and incorrect at the same time. Read the full review here.
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List of 2023’s Best Art Experiences – Reviews and Recommendations
