Brytninger

Oslo Kunstforening turns 190! Join us for a celebration featuring an archive exhibition, a new flag, layer cake, and bubbles, on Thursday 21 May, 17–19, in the Festsal on the ground floor of Oslo Kunstforening. With contributions from artists Hedevig Anker and Anna Sofie Mathiasen, director of Norske kunstforeninger Jonas Ekeberg, art historian Frode Ernst Haverkamp, and artistic director of Oslo Kunstforening Elisabeth Byre.

2026 marks the 190th anniversary of Oslo Kunstforening, founded in 1836. Oslo Kunstforening is Norway's first institution for contemporary art and the oldest membership organisation in Norwegian cultural life. Practically every Norwegian artist has exhibited here over the years, and the institution forms an important part of Norwegian art history. For this anniversary year, artist and art historian Hedevig Anker has been invited to undertake an in-depth exploration of our history through an archive exhibition, and artist Anna Sofie Mathiasen to develop new artistic works. Mathiasen has created an anniversary flag to fly above Rådhusgata, as well as a series of collages commenting on the more curious aspects of our varied history.

In recent years, Oslo Kunstforening has been working systematically to digitise its extensive archive, held primarily at the National Library and spanning nearly thirty shelf-metres. The work is painstaking and time-consuming: documents and lists, often handwritten, are spread across different categories and folders. The long-term aim is to present a complete exhibition history – with artists' names and exhibition titles – reaching back to the very beginning, nearly 200 years ago. In the association's early years, there was no permanent premises and no organised exhibitions; instead, lotteries of artworks were held, several of which are today considered iconic in Norwegian art history. What is now presented digitally in the exhibition space is not a comprehensive overview, but a first step. Even so, the material is impressively substantial, featuring thousands of artists' names – both Norwegian and international. Together, they bear witness to an institution of shifting directions and at times unclear profile – but with an enduring commitment to the service of art.

Alongside this exists another archive – preserved in drawers, cupboards, and lofts – that holds the institution's institutional and visual memory. Here one finds exhibition catalogues, invitation cards, newspaper clippings, posters, photographs, printed matter, and objects that together tell a complex story. In collaboration with Hedevig Anker, selected highlights from this material are presented in the archive project we have titled Brytninger.

Since its founding, Oslo Kunstforening has continuously presented contemporary art without ever building a permanent collection. The purpose has remained the same, but the conditions, surroundings, and audiences have been in constant flux. Through this exhibition, we examine how such shifts have left their mark on the way the institution has communicated its activities across different eras.

Anker writes: "The seemingly ephemeral printed matter – posters, invitations, and catalogues – together constitute a rich and diverse body of material. They show how the association has communicated with its audience over time, while also reflecting developments in visual expression, aesthetic ideals, and cultural currents. Some periods are richly documented, while others leave few traces. What do these gaps tell us, set against the more complete parts of the archive? In this field of tension, one senses how the association has balanced economic conditions, artistic ambitions, and audience expectations – and not least in dialogue with its members, who have been a cornerstone since the beginning."

As a commentary on the whole, the archive exhibition is flanked by Anna Sofie Mathiasen's collages. These draw attention to lesser-known aspects of the association's history – among them the fact that the premises were used as storage for potatoes and winter clothing during the war. She has also created a new flag (pictured above) to fly above Rådhusgata, featuring three central figures in Norwegian cultural life: Henrik Wergeland, Johan Sebastian Welhaven, and Camilla Collett. The first two were engaged in a fierce cultural conflict, with Wergeland championing national independence and public enlightenment, while Welhaven – one of the kunstforeningen's founders – belonged to the conservative side that defended the ties to Denmark. At the same time, he courted his arch-enemy's sister, Camilla. The flag thus becomes a fitting commentary on the title of the archive exhibition, Brytninger, which has been a recurring feature throughout Oslo Kunstforening's 190-year history.

Hedevig Anker (b. 1969, Oslo) lives and works in Oslo. She is educated from Oslo National Academy of the Arts and holds a postgraduate degree in art history from the University of Bergen. Anker has worked on several archive projects, including the book Lyset i flatene – i arkivet etter Harriet Backer (2021) and most recently Alt vil forsvinne (2025), which engages with archives from her own family history. She has had numerous solo exhibitions, including at Sandefjord Kunstforening (2025), Shoot Gallery (2021), Kunstnerforbundet (2017), Stenersenmuseet (2010), and Lillehammer Art Museum (2016).

Anna Sofie Mathiasen (b. 1995, Copenhagen) lives and works in Oslo and holds a master's degree from the Oslo National Academy of the Arts. Working from a basis in animation and drawing, she develops cross-media and montage-based narratives in the form of installation, drawing, collage, sculpture, and video. Mathiasen has had solo exhibitions at, among others, Galleri K, Nitja, O-Overgaden, Copenhagen, BO – Billedkunstnerne i Oslo, and Guttorm Guttormsgaard's Archive. She has also participated in group exhibitions at, among others, Kunstnernes Hus and the Instituto Valenciano de Arte Moderno in Valencia.