Kulturnatt i Oslo Kunstforening

Open house and concert in the city's oldest building! On Friday 11 September, Oslo Kunstforening invites you to an evening filled with art and music. Experience a self-playing piano, a video installation filmed in both Svalbard and Mexico, an archive exploring the relationship between Palestine and Norway – and a concert where past meets present, and Oslo East meets Oslo West.

This year marks 400 years since Rådmannsgården, the building that houses Oslo Kunstforening, was built in old Christiania. The building is today considered one of the city's oldest preserved buildings, and holds great architectural and cultural-historical value. Here, visitors can experience unique textile wallpapers, friezes depicting scenes from the Old Testament, and a stucco ceiling portraying the seven virtues as female figures surrounded by exotic animals and fruit.

In 2026, Oslo Kunstforening also celebrates its own anniversary – 190 years as Norway's oldest art institution. Located in the heart of the city, with an ambition to be a meeting place for the whole of Oslo, the historic rooms this year set the stage for a meeting between two musicians from different generations and different parts of the city. For the occasion, some of the art association's historic furniture and objects have been brought out and arranged into an atmospheric room, where composer and singer Christian Backer-Grøndahl and songwriter, composer and producer Tarjei Egge-Hoveid will perform an atmospheric sound work in which voice, instruments and electronics merge into a lyrical soundscape, inspired by both folk music and classical expressions.

The same evening, you can also get to know three different artistic practices. In Maritea Dæhlin's solo exhibition A-FI-SA. But it might not be tomorrow, Svalbard and Mexico meet in photographs and an extensive video installation exploring identity, displacement and multilingualism. In the exhibition Moder Evgenia, artist Marte Gunnufsen portrays the everyday life of a former concert pianist who became a nun. At Palestine-Norway Archive Unit, you can dive into a living archive project, initiated by artist Ayman Alazraq, exploring the long-standing relationship between Palestine and Norway.

The exhibitions will be open from 12:00–21:00. The concert starts at 21:00. Doors close at 23:00.
Free admission, open to all.