New Visions: Taking the Pulse of Experimental Practices in Photography and Media Art
The Henie Onstad Art Center was a hotbed of photography in the 1970s, and since 2017 has once again focused on photography by presenting several solo exhibitions featuring new and established photographers from Norway and abroad.
The Aars and Møller Collection has supported this new focus on photography by providing funding for the production and acquisition of exhibitions over the past five years.
As part of this initiative, the Henie Onstad
Art Center presented the New Visions photography triennial for the first time in 2020. The triennial aims to showcase young, international artists working
experimentally within photography. The Aars Commission is a photographic artwork
that is part of and central to the triennial. It is being created specifically for New Visions 2023, and
the photographer behind the work is intended to serve as a draw that makes it even more attractive for other contributors to participate as well.
The Henie Onstad Art Center’s second edition of New Visions will be presented in the spring of 2023, and key themes for the exhibition include energy production and distribution, as well as the extraction of natural and man-made resources and their associated ecological, social, and political consequences.
The focus is on artists and practices with ties to Eastern Europe, the Middle East, North Africa, and Central Asia. Aars’ contribution to the triennial is by Farah Al Qasimi (b. 1991). The photography group has followed the selection process and the development of the exhibition throughout 2022, and one idea under consideration is that the work will be on view at Gamle Deichmanske on Hammersborg Square once the building reopens its doors to the public.
New Visions will be presented at the Henie Onstad Art Center from April 14 to September 17, 2023. More information about the exhibition can be found on the Henie Onstad Art Center’s website.
The top image shows a view of Farah Al Qasimi’s installation at New Visions 2023. Photo: Øystein Thorvaldsen / Henie Onstad Art Center.
The close-up above shows (credits from left to right): Farah Al Qasimi, *Shopping Bags* ( 2023), *Shadow Animals* ( 2023), *Dragon Mart Still Life 2* ( 2023). Installation photo: Øystein Thorvaldsen / Henie Onstad Art Center.
The work below is The Aars Commission from the 2020 Photo Triennial. The photographer is Canadian Sarah Cwynar (b. 1985), and the title of the work is 96 Pictures of Sophie 1, 2 and 3, 2019. Courtesy of Sarah Cwynar and The Approach, London.
