The Statoil art award, which is handed out every other year, is intended to stimulate young talents and give them the opportunity to develop their art. The award, worth NOK 500,000 kroner, is the biggest of its kind in Norway.
Independent jury
The nominees were chosen by an independent jury of five, chaired this year as in 2009 by the internationally acknowledged Norwegian artist and professor, Olav Christopher Jenssen. The other jury members are Solveig Øvstebø (director of Bergen Kunsthall), Øystein Ustvedt (curator at The National Museum for Art, Architecture and Design), Caroline Ugelstad (chief curator at the Henie-Onstad Art Centre) and Göran Christenson (director of Malmö Art Museum).
“The jury has had a challenging and inspiring task. It is with considerable conviction that we are presenting these four candidates and look forward to the exhibition in Kunstnernes Hus in December,” says Olav Christopher Jenssen.
December exhibition
This year the four nominees are Marte Eknæs, Ane Mette Hol, Tori Wrånes and the group of artists Institutt for Degenerert Kunst consisting of the three artists Anders Nordby, Arild Tveito and Eirik Sæther. The nominees will be invited to display their works at the Nomination Exhibition, where the winner will be announced on Friday 16 December. The exhibition will open at Kunstnernes Hus in Oslo on Friday 9 December.
“The work of the jury enables a series of ambitious and professional presentations,” says Mats Stjernstedt, artistic director, Kunstnernes Hus.
The art award forms part of Statoil’s Heroes of Tomorrow programme, which also awards prizes and grants to talented performers within the fields of education, classical and rock music, design and sport. The Statoil art award was presented for the first time in 2007, when it went to sculptor Camilla Løw. In 2009 it was awarded to artist Lars Laumann.
“Talent is important, but the will and stamina required to express it is perhaps even more important. We wish to give young people the opportunity to develop their talent – and create exciting new works. Innovation, creativity and talent are highly important in both art and technology. The jury has done an outstanding job,” says Jens R Jenssen, leader of the Statoil art programme.
More information on www.statoil.com/artprogramme
The nominees
Marte Eknæs (born 1978 in Elverum, Norway) works mainly with sculpture and digital collage. She applies her process of in-depth analysis and subjective understanding to materials and elements from the urban environment and objects from the domestic sphere. Combining these through a (mis)use of found strategies and her own formal systems, she creates multiple and alternative material relationships. In the gallery the works are often brought together forming temporary site-specific installations that integrate the architectural details in the space. Eknæs studied at the Glasgow School of Art in Glasgow, UK, California Institute of the Arts i Los Angeles, CA, USA and Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design i London, UK. She lives and works in Berlin, Germany and in Stange, Norway.
Ane Mette Hol (born 1979 in Bodø, Norway) works conceptually with drawing. Her work focuses on the relationship between original and reproduction, and it results in two-dimensional drawings, three-dimensional objects, sound installations and animations. She investigates drawing as a concept, where her work often infiltrates the context of the exhibition or questions the characteristics of the medium itself. Her reproductions are often materials or waste after the production of art works and exhibitions, but her work also seeks to explore drawing conceptually through absence and presence. She comments on our collective knowledge of art history in which we constantly recycle what already exists. Hol trained at the Oslo National Academy of the Arts in Norway, and University College of Arts, Crafts and Design, Stockholm, Sweden. She lives and works in Oslo.
Tori Wrånes (born 1978 in Kristiansand, Norway) works mainly with voice and sculpture based in performative art. When the performance is over, the objects are left behind, testifying to the action. Wrånes’ works are about human electricity in a focused period of time, where she tries to expand the concept of reality (through vocal and sculptural experiments). She graduated from Oslo National Academy of the Arts in 2009, and lives and works in Los Angeles, CA, USA and Oslo, Norway.
Institutt for Degenerert Kunst was established in 2008 and consists of artists Anders Nordby, Arild Tveito and Eirik Sæther. Recent exhibitions are Haplorrhini, STANDARD (OSLO), Basel, Switzerland; Give It All Up Again, Gallery D.O.R., Brussels, Belgium; SPÅR, Malmö Art Museum, Malmö, Sweden; Chrysagire (The Gold of Expiation), WIELS Contemporary Art Centre, Brussels, Belgium; Haplorrhini (An Anecdote through a Bottle), Landings Project Space, Vestfossen, Norway.
For more information, contact:
Marius Rosenberg Amundsen
Leader Sponsorship Strategy & Concept
Statoil ASA
T: +47 934 02 305
Email: AMUR@statoil.com