Jelsen Lee Innocent

_pavilion_ is a public reading room and salon dedicated to Black art, architecture, and design. Initiated by artist Jelsen Lee Innocent, the project is housed within his Oslo Rådhuset studio and opens in November 2026. The physical space, co-designed and built with artist and designer Kevin Kurang, holds African, Black, and Caribbean published accounts together as a continuous field of creative thought.

Functioning as a site for active engagement rather than a static collection, _pavilion_ hosts events, programming, and gatherings inspired directly by the specific books and their themes.

Currently, it features books on artists such as Widline Cadet, Ulysses Jenkins, Howardena Pindell, and Skip Norman, alongside independent publications from Sojourners for Justice Press, Black Archives Sweden, Coloured Publishing, and Esther A. Fatoye.

We'll be soft-launching with a booth at this year's Kunstbok Oslo. Please stop by!