FOLK SOM ELSKER KUNST

Anna Daniell (b. 1978) has established herself as a significant voice in the Norwegian art scene over the past ten years. Daniell's sculptures combine references to art history and popular culture in a rich and complex visual language using various materials. The sculptures often become part of larger stories and allegories, staged through interaction and performance. Whether they are read to, interviewed, or danced with, Daniell wants them to have a "life of their own" with their own stories and histories. An example of this is the work 15 sider av Oslo [15 sides of Oslo] (2021), an installation Daniell created for the foyer of Oslo City Hall. Each of the 15 sculptures in the installation represents one of Oslo's districts, and through a ceremony, each sculpture was whispered a secret from a resident of the respective district. 

Daniell's projects often appear playful and humorous on the surface but carry an underlying seriousness. This ambivalence also characterizes the exhibition FOLK SOM ELSKER KUNST. The exhibition explores the role and position of art societies in today's art landscape. Oslo Kunstforening, Norway's oldest art society, functions as a metaphor for all the country's art societies, a reliable "constant" between the new museum buildings of MUNCH and the National Museum. Daniell uses this position as a starting point for an analysis of the contemporary art field's development, something she elaborates on in a text accompanying the exhibition. In the text, she writes that historically, art societies have been a gathering point for people who love art – but, she asks, what unites them today, and what role do they play in this new art field with the mega museums, their overwhelming programmes, and the significant economic disparities that exist within the field? 

FOLK SOM ELSKER KUNST responds to these questions. The works in the exhibition represent art institutions, audiences, and other objects. The sculpture Frøken Munch [Miss Munch] (2024), made of lightweight concrete, and the digital photo collage Mr. Nasjonal (2024) play central roles. Hyllest [Tribute](2024) consists of 144 sculptures in pigmented wax representing all of the country's art societies, connected by meters of wick and symbolically shaped in a fragile material. Elg i solnedgang[Moose in the Sunset] (2024) is a wallpaper that forms a grand backdrop in the story. In a renewed version, the folksy moose has been replaced with a dragon in a fantasy aesthetic.

In the work Welcome (2024), which greets the audience in the first room, Daniell uses one of art history's fundamental techniques, fresco, which usually takes the form of site-specific works where the artwork is embedded in the wall. In Daniell's version, however, the fresco has become mobile in the form of a free-standing fresco wall. Several of the works are reuses of older pieces assembled in new constellations, another characteristic method in Daniell's artistry, connecting her stories and allegories. The exhibition is accompanied by the commissioned work Harpen [The Harp] (2024), a digital composition by Jan Erik Mikalsen. Like the fresco technique's long history, the harp can be viewed as an ancient instrument, with roots back to antiquity. The composition is played at intervals, initially with seductive tones that gradually change character. 

In a dedicated room, Daniell has invited her former assistant, artist Ole Petter Ribe, to present Folkearkivet. It is a project that collects and contextualizes contemporary folk art, focusing on practices that exist outside the professional and institutional field. Folkearkivet features around 20 different contributions of objects, images, and documentation of so-called folk expressions and activities from Oslo and the surrounding area. 

In connection with the exhibition, we will also unveil a new flag made by Daniell, following Elisabeth Haarr's flag, Flagg for kunst[Flag for Art] (2023) which has waved from the facade on Rådhusgata for one year. The flag project is an annual initiative in which an artist is invited to develop a work specifically for the building's facade. Through this, Oslo Kunstforening establishes an arena for art that is not confined to the exhibition rooms. 

FOLK SOM ELSKER KUNST is supported by Oslo kommune. The exhibition will be on display at Oslo Kunstforening from 31 May to 7 July 2024. On Thursday, 20 June at 6 pm, there will be an artist talk and the unveiling of the new flag – welcome!