Upcoming programme
Autumn 2024
Volt, the Bergen-based curatorial project, has announced its autumn 2024 programme featuring new commissioned performances, public artworks, and a group exhibition. This ambitious programme spans various art forms and engages with diverse themes, ranging from the intersection of culture and language to ecological concerns in urban spaces. Volt, founded by Marie Nerland in 2008, continues its long-standing commitment to presenting innovative contemporary artworks and fostering dialogue across disciplines.
The autumn programme begins on September 28, 2024, with the work of Madihe Gharibi and Sahand Sarhaddi. Their collaborative project, the Jeanne d’Arc Project, is based on the history of a French Catholic school and monastery in Tehran, a historically significant building. Gharibi, an Oslo-based artist, has been researching this site since 2018, delving into its stories through various media such as performance, theatre, and installation. Gharibi’s work often explores the interplay between personal emotion and socio-political realities, drawing from both historical contexts and contemporary experiences. Sarhaddi, a filmmaker and visual artist from Tehran, joins Gharibi in this endeavor. While their full collaboration will culminate in a large-scale theatre piece and installation with Volt in 2025, the September event will offer audiences an insight into their ongoing creative process.
On October 1, 2024, Sarah Kazmi presents her new performance, Recipe of/for a Dream (2024). Kazmi, an interdisciplinary artist and writer who divides her time between Oslo and Karachi, draws from found texts in Urdu and Norwegian dictionaries, as well as Norwegian-language textbooks, to challenge false cultural representations. Kazmi’s practice engages with the relationships between food, language, and politics, using local communities as a backdrop to examine these interconnections. Her performance highlights how cultural misunderstandings are often embedded in language, exploring their impact on identities and societies.
A particularly engaging event will take place on October 17, 2024, featuring a collaboration between choreographer Ingri Fiksdal and interdisciplinary artist Louis Schou-Hansen. The project, titled Rehearsing the Not Yet, is part of a long-term initiative exploring alternative histories through speculative fiction. Fiksdal and Schou-Hansen aim to create space for new interpretations of gender, history, and physical practice by imagining what could have been. The series will unfold over several years, incorporating talks, seminars, and reading groups before culminating in a final performance in 2026. As part of this initiative, assistant professor of sustainable architecture Joel Letkemann will present a talk titled “Recovering Architectural Speculation: Futuring and (Science) Fictioning,” where he will discuss the intersection of architecture and speculative fiction. This talk forms the third component of the Rehearsing the Not Yet series and is expected to stimulate thought on how alternative futures can shape the present.
In November 2024, Randi Nygård will unveil her public artwork, Skog vil seia samfunn (Forest Means Society), in the Kronstad area of Bergen. Inspired by Japanese botanist Akira Miyawaki’s method of creating mini forests in urban spaces, Nygård’s project will explore how closely planted native trees can contribute to urban environments by purifying the air, reducing noise, and fostering biodiversity. This sculpture, which also references the intricate ecosystems within these “pocket forests,” will be the focal point of a series of public events. Nygård’s long-term artistic exploration often investigates the complex relationship between humanity and nature, with previous works focusing on environmental concerns such as bogland aromas and the effects of black carbon on glaciers. In Skog vil seia samfunn, she expands her focus to how animals, plants, and human societies can shape public spaces in both urban and rural contexts. The series of events accompanying the sculpture’s unveiling will invite contributions from various disciplines, including philosophy, biology, and cultural science, promoting an interdisciplinary dialogue on ecological issues in public spaces.
Volt’s autumn 2024 programme exemplifies its ongoing mission to bring forward challenging and thought-provoking contemporary art that cuts across disciplines. The organization’s approach to commissioning new work encourages artists to engage with complex social, cultural, and environmental issues in innovative ways. Volt’s programme is supported by the Arts Council Norway and the City of Bergen, enabling it to continue its important role in the cultural landscape.
The autumn schedule will include performances, public talks, and artworks that not only entertain but also provoke reflection and dialogue about the evolving world around us. As the programme progresses, audiences can look forward to discovering how contemporary art can intersect with cultural history, ecological sustainability, and alternative futures.
