KORO - Kunst i offentlige rom

Relational Paths. Art Beyond Reconciliation. Ideas and Creations from Sápmi and Abya Yala is a result of a multi-year programme initiated by OCA – Office for Contemporary Art Norway, KORO – Public Art Norway and Sámiráđđi – the Saami Council.

Building on long-standing critiques of “reconciliation” as a reliable construct for confronting destructive colonial legacies on Indigenous communities, this new book proposes various modes of relational forms as a more productive framework for acknowledging history, confronting the present and considering new reparative futures. The collaboration and publication were prompted by but have no formal connection to the Norwegian Parliament’s establishment of a Truth and Reconciliation Commission in 2018.

Contributors: Katarina Blind, Christina Hætta, Rosa Chávez, Yásnaya Elena Gil and Eva Maria Fjellheim, Máret Ánne Sara, Colectivo Cherani by Alain Silva, Kissel Bravo Hernández and Bernardo Núñez; Pauliina Feodoroff, Joyce Rivas, Frederik Prost and Inga Wiktoria Påve, Ana Braconnier De León and Juan Esteban Calderón, Anders Sunna, Daniela Catrileo, Joar Nango, Britta Marakkat-Labba, Geir Tore Holm, Drew Snyder and Itzel Esquivel.

Ed.: Eva Maria Fjellheim, Itzel Esquivel and Drew Snyder

Design by Árvu

Publishers: OCA – Office for Contemporary Art Norway, KORO – Public Art Norway, Sámiráđđi – Saami Council and Temblores Publicaciones.

The embassy compound was designed by Japanese architect Junzo Yoshimura (1908–1997) and was completed in 1977. The building combines elements of Western modernism and traditional Japanese architecture. Modular, boxshaped

building volumes, flat roofs, straight lines, and simple surfaces harmonise with a traditional Japanese garden, white ceramic tiles on the embassy’s exterior, a hip-and-gable roof structure reminiscent of temples above the entrance areas, and the adjoining

residence’s shoji paper windows.

During the building’s renovation, the three Norwegian contemporary artists Matias Faldbakken, Sveinung Rudjord Unneland, and Camilla Løw created new artworks specifically for the site, which in different ways are embedded in the building’s distinctive architecture.

Faldbakken and Unneland’s works are placed in the embassy’s reception area, while Løw has created a sculpture that is placed outside near the entrance to the embassy residence.

Camilla Løw’s (b. 1976) sculpture Komorebi is made of oxidised stainless steel and stained mouth-blown antique glass. Antique glass is often used where a decorative glass with a slightly light-reducing effect is desired. The title Komorebi is the Japanese word for sunlight filtering through the foliage of trees. Borrowing from the embassy’s architecture and the nearby trees, the sculpture’s shape is reminiscent of a geometric tree. The materials combine modern technology and traditional craftsmanship in the composition of oxidised steel with mouth-blown glass. The artwork was crafted in

Norway by local artisans from Oslo, then transported to Tokyo, where the sculpture was personally assembled by the artist. The visible screws and joints are part of the work’s expression.

Inside the reception area, we encounter a two-part artwork by Sveinung Rudjord Unneland (b. 1981). The abstract painting H I is composed of four individual canvases, while the textile work Interiør consists of eight individual cushions woven in wool on a jacquard loom, placed on an integrated bench. The patterns on the cushions are photographs of the parts of paintings that are not usually visible, specifically the sides and edges of the canvas where the paint has dripped over the edge. These are the parts of paintings that are often ignored or hidden by frames. The textiles were developed and woven in collaboration with Norwegian textile designer Jon Pettersen and were produced at the Norwegian weaving mill KRIVI Vev.

High on the walls facing the painting and the bench, the artwork Tokyo Escalation by Matias Faldbakken (b. 1973) is mounted. The work is a wall relief in ceramic tiles, designed to resemble staircases and stairwells, including the landings, which are common in public spaces. The linguistic starting point for the title is the connection between the words escalation, scale, stair, and ladder.

The sculptural experience of the work is intended to be one of elevation or upward movement.

In the book, art crtitic Stian Gabrielsen has interviewed the three artists.

Editors: Ole Martin Lund Bø, Endre Aalrust, Ann-Lisbeth Hemmingsen and Robert Johansson

Gjennom skjønnlitterære tekster, arkivfoto og illustrasjoner belyser antologien den gamle bydelen Hammersborg i Oslo hvor det nye regjeringskvartalet ligger.

Hammersborg var den fattige forstaden som ble landets maktsentrum. I over 200 år har byråkrater, politikere og arkitekter kjempet for å forme bydelen etter sine visjoner. Raske skifter og langsomme prosesser har ført til evinnelige bygge- og rivingsprosjekter i en bydel som aldri har funnet sin endelige form.

22. juli 2011 ble Hammersborg også et åsted. Og på den ødelagte tomten vokser en foreløpig siste versjon av bydelen frem. Hva kan den fortelle om oss?

I antologien Her lå en dam går 21 forfattere og 4 kunstnere i dialog med ulike deler av bydelens historiske lag. De har latt seg inspirere av bygningene som ble reist og senere revet, av menneskene som levde der, og av menneskene som strømmet forbi. Sammen tegner de et mangfoldig bilde av det som var, det som er, og det som skal komme.

Redaktører:

Eivind Hofstad Evjemo, Nora Ceciliedatter Nerdrum, Ana Bresciani

Bidragsytere:

Mette Hellenes, Lene Berg, Silje Storihle, Lars Sandås, Ingvild Adelaine Eiring, Torgrim Eggen, Maria Navarro Skaranger, Sunniva M. Roligheten, Tina Åmodt, Priya Bains, Jan Grue, Maria Dorothea Schrattenholz, Gine Cornelia Pedersen, Torgeir Rebolledo Pedersen, Brynjulf Jung Tjønn, Kjersti Annesdatter Skomsvold, Cecilie Løveid, Aina Ertzeid, Cathrine Knudsen, Lars Elling, Gro Dahle, Espen Stueland, Ingeborg Arvola, Kristin Berget, Monica Goksøyr, og M. Seppola Simonsen.

Boken er utgitt i samarbeid med Cappelen Damm og inngår i KOROs arbeid med kunst til det nye regjeringskvartalet i Oslo.

On 22 July 2011, a right-wing extremist detonated a car bomb in Oslo’s Government Quarter, killing eight people. Disguised in a police uniform, he then travelled to the island of Utøya, taking the lives of sixty-nine young participants at a summer camp in a mass shooting. From that day and in the decade that followed, Ole John Aandal photographed the view from his balcony overlooking the Government Quarter. Oslo Arkiv gathers a selection of this extensive archive, poignantly tracing how a city learns to endure loss.

Beginning as an act of observation, the project becomes a ritual of mourning. Weather, light, and landscape shift through the seasons, while the trauma remains just beneath the surface. In this measured rhythm of looking, Aandal captures the persistence of memory and the quiet beauty of a city rebuilding itself under ever-changing skies.

Across 480 pages, Oslo Arkiv transforms repetition into reflection, inviting readers to move back in time as both witnesses and participants in a shared process of remembrance. Published in a limited edition of 750 signed and numbered copies, this artist’s book stands as Aandal’s most ambitious work to date: a monumental work serving as both memorial and visual archive, wherein grief, attention, and the slow passage of time converge.

Limited edition of 750 signed and numbered copies

Published in collaboration with MACK publishing as part of KORO's work with art in the Government Quarter.

Editor: Ana María Bresciani