Written during her residency at Atelier Kunstnerforbundet, the text’s starting point is the ancient Greek myth about Persephone and her mother Demeter, goddess of the harvest and the cycle of life. When Persephone is abducted by Hades to unwillingly become his bride in the Underworld, Demeter, in her desperation, causes famine among the humans to negotiate with the Olympian Gods for Persephone’s release. The description of Demeter’s grief that permeates this hymn has been of particular interest to Hagen, as well as how this grief works as a prism for the interpretation of experience and memory.
In the exhibition, while reading or listening to 17 Days, a constellation of references and personal reflections appears across Hagen’s writing about grief, literature, film, environmental issues, memory, and guilt. The red threads across this essay reveal a background map of the process of the work.
In the video, Hagen intercuts between clips lifted from video adverts for the Norwegian state oil company, Equinor, and her own footage. This short loop is accompanied by a longer soundtrack that contains a reading of the full 17 Days for multiple voice pitches, that for the exhibition is read by Taylor Alaina Liebenstein Smith. The newspaper divides the essay across three spreads on the wall, leaving some paragraphs visible and some of them concealed in its folds.
During the exhibition period Hagen will provide a fourth shape to 17 Days through a public reading session, in addition to a screening of her video work Fire Nation (2021) at Atelier Kunstnerforbundet’s Loft. Time and date for both events will be announced.
Ina Hagen (b. 1989, NO) works across digital media, performance, and communal-making practices. Hagen holds a BFA from the Oslo National Academy of the Arts, and participated in the 2021 Maumaus Independent Study Program, Lisbon. She has been selected for several international research- and studio residencies, such as IASPIS in Stockholm (SE), Capacete in Rio de Janeiro (BR), BAR Residency in Barcelona (SE), and Q21 Creative Workspace in Wien (AU). Previous exhibitions include Kunsthalle Wilhelmshaven (DE, 2021); Momentum10 at Galleri F15 (NO, 2019); Index Summer Festival in Stockholm (SE, 2019); and at Institute for New Connotative Action – INCA Seattle (US, 2016) – amongst others. Hagen is actively participating in artist union work, and together with artist Daisuke Kosugi, she co-founded and ran the artist space Louise Dany in Oslo (2016-2020). Since 2016 Hagen has also worked as an art critic, notably for Kunstkritikk.
Thanks to Parabol studio, Blekksprut’n, Nilz&Otto, NOTAM, Miriam Hansen, Ragnhild Aamås, Viktor Pedersen, Sol Archer, Sille Storihle, Ida Madsen Følling, Nikhil Vettukattil.
The exhibition is supported by Atelier Kunstnerforbundet and Notam — Norwegian centre for technology, art and music.
