The Sparebankstiftelsen DNBs art grant 2021 is awarded Anne Haugsgjerd for her films «Thoughts on an Exhibition» (2021), «More Woman, More Cry» (2021) og «Life in Frogner». The grant is NOK 200 000.
Anne Haugsgjerd (born 1944) lives and works in Oslo.
Haugsgjerd makes films which are often humorous and reflective, biographical, and self-deprecating. The films are a mixture of fiction and documentary, which was a new concept in the 1980s when she made her first film, Livet på Frogner. It was shown at film festivals around the world and received the audience award at Short Film Festival in Trondheim 1986. In 1987 it was nominated for an Amanda at the Norwegian Film Festival in Haugesund. Her second film, Flink pike, sitt pent! was also shown internationally, including at The Kitchen in New York.
In 2014, Haugsgjerd received an award for best short documentary at Nordic Docs in Fredrikstad and the Terje Vigen award at the Short Film Festival in Grimstad for the film Opp ned er alt abstrakt, sa pappa.
In 2016, Haugsgjerd, as the first Norwegian, was invited to present a comprehensive retrospective at the short film festival in Oberhausen, Germany, where she also received honorable mention for the film More Woman, More Cry from 2021. The film was also voted best documentary at the short film festival Short to the Point, Romania.
In 2021, Haugsgjerd’s films have been shown at the 67th International Short Film Festival, Oberhausen, Short to the Point, New York International Woman Festival, San Francisco Indie Festival, International Competition Tabor Film Festival, The Norwegian International Film Festival, Toronto International Woman Film Festival , Riga International Film Festival, Seoul International Senior Film Festival, International Woman’s Film Festival KIN, Society for Visual Anthropology Film and Media Festival (SVAFMF), Svaneti International Film Festival.
Haugsgjerd is a graduate of the Norwegian School of Arts and Crafts (SHKS) with a diploma in graphic design. Haugsgjerd worked as a designer of magazines and books before she furthered her education through courses at the Statens Studiesenter for Film, the Dramatic Institute in Stockholm and the Danish Film School.
Liilian Saksi(born 1989) lives and works in Skotterud, Innlandet.
In her practice, Saksi uses wool from her own flock of sheep as a raw material which is then hand spun. Her work emphasises repetition and variation in colour, pattern and texture. Saksi’s technique creates a literal tension in the material and its interaction with colour. Saksi’s work is an antithesis to factory farming and industrial wool collection. By focusing on and following the animals’ needs and value, and with her increasing intimacy and closeness to the material of wool, Saksi has, since 2020 lived and worked on a small farm that is run based on the sheep’s lives and needs.
Saksi has participated in several group exhibitions including Kunsthåndverk 2017 at Nordenfjeldske kunstindustrimuseum, Trondheim; TALENT 2020 Munich; and Wonderful Everyday, dotdotdot Stockholm (2020). Solo exhibitions include Between Things at Galleri Storck, Oslo (2015); and FLOCK at SOFT gallery, Oslo (2018). Future solo exhibitions will take place at Kongsvinger Kunstforening (2022), Kunstnerforbundet i Oslo (2023) and KRAFT Bergen (2024). She has an MFA in Medium- and Material Based Art at the Oslo Academy of the Arts from 2017.
Maia Urstad(born 1954) lives and works in Bergen.
Urstad works at the intersection of audio and visual art. Communication technology is a recurring theme in her practice, often with the use of radio as a central auditory, visual, and conceptual element. Her works deal with different aspects of our technological development, and the soundscapes, traces, and stories we leave behind. Through site-specific sound projects, radio installations, fibre optic works in collaboration with Hilde Hauan, and other sound explorations, Urstad sends signals out into the world and draws lines both into our past and towards our future. She has been an active contributor to the Norwegian and international contemporary art scene since the mid-80s, and in 2017 was appointed as City Sound Artist of Bonn, Germany. In 2019, she was awarded the Rune Brynestad Memorial Grant, and her work MURMUR was acquired by the Norwegian National Museum in 2020.
Urstad’s solo and collaborative work has been presented at The XIV Biennial of Media Art, Santiago de Chile (CL), PROA Fundación (AR), Kunsthuset Kabuso, Norsk Teknisk Museum, Bergen Kunsthall, Trafo Kunsthall Oslo, Barents Spektakel, and Lydgalleriet i Bergen (NO) Bonnhoeren (DE), Struer Tracks (DK), Lighthouse Brighton (UK), Sonic Acts (NL), Borderline Festival (GR), High Zero Festival (US), Singuhr Sound Gallery (DE), Moderna Museet (SE), The 5th Marrakech Biennial (MA), KODE – Bergen Art Museum (NO), Johannesburg Art Gallery (SA), Prefix ICA in Toronto (CA), and Electrohype, Malmö Konsthall (SE)
About the jury
Jury leader is Behzad Farazollahi, visual artist and founding member of MELK. The remaining members are Randi Grov Berger, visual artist and founder of Entrée, Marianne Hultman, artistic director of Oslo Kunstforening; Mike Sperlinger, writer, curator and professor of theory and writing at the Oslo National Academy of the Arts and Elise Storsveen, visual artist.
Background
Since 1986 Oslo Kunstforening has held a competitive exhibition and awarded a stiped, with the kind support of Sparebanken Oslo og Akershus.
Since 2008, Sparebankstiftelsen DNB and Oslo Kunstforening have awarded grants to Ellisif Hals and Susanne Skeide (2008), Ignas Krunglevičius (2009), Ann Cathrin November Høibo (2010), Kaia Hugin (2011), Marie Buskov (2012), Sandra Mujinga (2013), Ingrid Lønningdal (2014), Andrea Bakketun and Christian Tony Norum (2015), Tor Børresen (2016), Emilija Škarnulytė (2017) and Eirik Sæther (2018), Germain Ngoma (2019), Berivan Erdogan, Hanni Kamaly and Kjetil Skøien (2020).
More via Sparebankstiftelsen DNB’s website.
Read more about last year’s grant exhibition here.
Oslo Kunstforening is supported by the City of Oslo and Arts Council Norway.
