Mulighetsperleporten

The Pearly Gates of Opportunity is a fictional audio play, whose protagonist is Bente Ø, the opportunistic Mayor of Ørsvåg in Northern Norway. As well as being the Mayor, Bente Ø is a small business owner, and sits on as many local boards as she can. Her ambition has driven her to climb over many in order for her to reach the top of the career ladder. One fateful day, Bente Ø stumbles down a flight of stairs to her undignified death after officially opening a new shopping centre in her municipality. Her ghost narrates the story to us, dramatizing and reenacting scenes from her former life.

The Pearly Gates of Opportunity illuminates how seductive and dangerous empty political rhetoric is to a media obsessed contemporary society. Luktvasslimo’s work reveals existential questions as it leaps between comedy and tragedy.

The Pearly Gates of Opportunity was produced throughout the pandemic year of 2020 and is a product of both social isolation and self-reliance. Luktvasslimo performs all of the characters himself, a practical solution which also echoes the way that we talk to ourselves when we are spending a lot of time alone. The work’s fixation with local business, gossip and politics is the kind of storm in a teacup that is universal, perhaps more now than ever after months of little to no travel.

The Pearly Gates of Opportunity is Trygve Luktvasslimo’s third work that is set in a fictional Northern Norway. The first, the short film Leirdue (2018), a TV interview with a 15-year-old, the only survivor after the Hurtigruten shipwreck Northern Norway's Titanic. The second, the short film Shallow Water Blackout (2019), premiered in Svolvær in as part of Lofoten International Art Festival. The work examines the climate debate's most well-known arguments and rhetoric, with two revolutionary children placed in the middle.

The Pearly Gates of Opportunity is punctuated by a chorus that performs a cappella versions of Bach, Vivaldi and Pergolesi. The music is arranged by Mikael Rönnberg from Vocal Art, Northern Norway's foremost professional vocal ensemble. Singers are soprano Stine Mari Langstrand, all Soetkin Baptist, tenor Kristian Krokslett and bass Henrik Sand Dagfinrud. The new recordings were made in collaboration with sound designer Håvard Christensen.

The Pearly Gates of Opportunity is a chamber piece, developed with the pandemic restrictions in mind, specifically produced for a small number of listeners at any given time. The work is a multi-channel audio installation conceptualized specifically for Oslo Kunstforening and Rådmannsgården. Eight audio channels will be spaced throughout the gallery rooms so that the resonant properties of the rooms are activated, like ghosts.

The Pearly Gates of Opportunity is Trygve Luktvasslimo's first solo exhibition in Oslo.

The audio play The Pearly Gates of Opportunity will be played at given times at Oslo Kunstforening.

Duration: 50 minutes
Language: Norwegian
Seats must be reserved beforehand, due to infection control.

The antique rugs in the exhibition are generously lent from the exhibition space No13 Contemporary. Trygve Luktvasslimo has received support for the exhibition from the Visual Artists' Remuneration Fund.