STAGE

Opening February 6, 2025 Kristiansund, Norway Presented at Nordic Light Festival Galleries in Kristiansund, STAGE complements the spirit of the Opera Festival by bringing together works from three interdisciplinary artists who blur the lines between contemporary art, dance, choreography, scenography, and theater. While the festival celebrates the historic traditions of Norway’s oldest opera house, this exhibition expands the narrative by exploring the space where contemporary art practices intersect with theater, dance, and poetic performance. Historically, visual art and theatrical performance have had a close relationship—particularly in the post-war era, when artists like Robert Rauschenberg collaborated closely with composer John Cage and choreographer Merce Cunningham. Other artists, such as Bruce Nauman, refused to be confined by artistic disciplines, working across an impressive range of media that explored sculpture, bodily practices, and immersive video environments. Building on this enduring relationship between theater and visual art, the exhibition offers new perspectives on their performative parallels, redefining the interplay between body, space, and narrative. Since the second half of the 20th century, art as an interdisciplinary and experience-based form has contributed to the evolution of artistic presentation, transforming how we perceive and engage with art. Art historian, author, and curator Dorothea von Hantelmann has described this phenomenon as the “experiential turn.” Each of the exhibited works emphasizes this development, using the language of performance—through movement, spatial dynamics, and poetic expression—to create transformative experiences for the audience. These artists use video and photography as channels to create immersive environments that experiment with time, space, and constructed situations, placing the viewer’s experience at the center of the work. These artistic structures also explore the dichotomy between analog and digital, as well as forms of bodily representation, allowing us to reflect on our own physical presence. In doing so, visitors are invited to enter a world where art becomes theater, and performance becomes art, bridging disciplines in a city steeped in performative heritage.