The new addition to the Kistefos Museum outside Oslo, The Twist Gallery, is an exciting architectural project. It has opened its second summer season with the exhibition “Come Out!” which shows a selection of artworks from founder Christen Sveaas’ Art Foundation. He has recently donated half of his art collection to the foundation, so the foundation has now taken ownership of all the exhibited works. Come Out! To Internationally Acclaimed Art Center In Norway.
When the planned opening exhibition, Declaration of Independence, was stranded in Los Angeles due to the Coronavirus, a new exhibition was urgently curated by William Flatmo, selected from the vast collection owned by Christen Sveaas. So, this summer, visitors can experience works by 32 contemporary artists, including Andreas Gursky, Marina Abramovic, Isa Genzken and Wolfgang Tillman.
Related: Sculpture Park With a Twist in Oslo
New exhibition curated in a few weeks
“The program committee really had to totally rethink and work intensely to put in place an exhibition worthy of Twist and Kistefos,” says newly appointed director at Kistefos, Birgitte Espeland, who for 20 years has been involved in the development of Bogstad Gård in Oslo, and most recently as director at the Holmenkollen Ski Museum in in Oslo.
An architectonic gem
The Twist Gallery, officially opened September 2019, has gotten its name from the arresting 90-degree twist that makes the structure look like a computer-generated vision. The Danish architect Bjarke Ingels Group, called it the ‘inhabitable bridge’, a reference to Florence’s Ponte Vecchio. The Twist connects the two sides of the Randselva River via a multipurpose walkway and sits roughly 43 miles north of Norway’s capital.
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An ambassador of art
One of the works in this year’s exhibition is a photograph by American fine-art photographer David LaChapelle, “Deluge”. It shows a group of naked people about to drown, surrounded by consumer products and brands. At the same time, they earnestly take care of each other. It might make someone associate the picture with the corona crisis.
“Christen Sveaas has ambitions to try new things,” says Espeland. “He donates Norwegian art to foreign museums to show the world the quality and breadth of Norwegian artists. At the same time, he wants to present world-class contemporary art to a Scandinavian audience. He invites international curators to put together exhibitions. At Twist, there is a new exhibition every year, and the sculpture park is expanded with two sculptures a year. Most of the sculptures are site-specific. That is, the artists create their artwork directly with the location in mind.”
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Swedish artist duo
From June 21 through October 11, a new exhibition by the Swedish artist duo Nathalie Djurberg and Hans Berg will be on display in Nybruket Gallery. The exhibition Flowers in the Attic combines three recent films, as well as the installation The Clearing, and invites viewers into the surrealistic and imaginative dream world of the artist duo.
Nathalie Djurberg and Hans Berg have worked together for over 10 years and have developed a distinct and powerful audio-visual language. The strong colors, the cartoonish characters and the atmospheric music create a seductive and accessible expression, while opening the door to the darker side of man’s multifaceted nature.
The Kistefos Museum
Kistefos is one of the largest sculpture parks for contemporary art. It opened in 1999 and consists of 45 sculptures by prominent Scandinavian and international artists. To mention just a few, Yayoi Kusama, Bjarne Melgaard, Kjell Nupen, Fernando Botero, Olafur Eliasson and Tony Cragg.
Come Out! To Internationally Acclaimed Art Center In Norway
Visitors to Kistefos can cross The Twist to complete their circuit of the park, while also admiring the bridge as an attraction in its own right. The 1,000-square foot structure links two distinct art galleries, serving as a bridge between the river’s north and south banks.
Perhaps we should interpret the new exhibition “Come Out!” as a call to visit Jevnaker and its internationally acclaimed art center Kistefos.
How to get there
To reach The Twist from Oslo, take advantage of Norway’s excellent public transport system by hopping on a bus or train from Oslo’s Central Station to Hønefoss (75 minutes), followed by a local bus to the stop at Kistefossvegen (15 minutes). From there, you’ll have to walk the last stretch (less than one mile) to reach the museum. It’s worth renting a car to make the trip, however, both to shave a bit of time off the journey—the drive to Jevnaker takes about an hour from downtown Oslo—and also to explore a few other sites in the area.
“We are working on bus departures from the local train station directly to the museum twice a week, but we’re not there yet,” says Birgitte Espeland. “In the future there might be a train connection. The Randsfjord Line which was terminated in 1989 is still in use for freight trains along the Oslo–Bergen route.”
All photos © Daily Scandinavian/Tor Kjolberg
Come Out! To Internationally Acclaimed Art Center In Norway, written by Tor Kjolberg