KISTEFOS: A MUSEUM IN A BRIDGE

Inaugurated in 2019 about 80 km north of Oslo, Kistefos is one of Europe’s most important sculpture parks for contemporary art. Built atop the base of a historic wood pulp mill, today Kistefos includes an industrial museum, two art galleries, and an impressive sculpture park in a panoramic setting. Described by its architect Bjarke Ingels as an “inhabitable bridge,” the 1,000-m2 building has a sculptural shape, twisting in the middle as it crosses the river to connect the northern end to the southern end. Selected by international contest, the design of the new building fulfills this singular environment and improves the experience of the visitor to Kistefos, one of Europe’s most beautiful natural sites, in their enjoyment of contemporary art. The collection features over 300 artists and more than 1,700 works. Artists include Martin Kippenberger, Neo Rauch, Hernan Bas, Hurvin Anderson, Keith Haring, Albert Oehlen, Anish Kapoor, Christopher Wool, Damien Hirst, among many others: there are also paintings by de Chirico, Edvard Munch, as well as by other Norwegian artists. We have interviewed Kate Smith, curator of the Kistefos collections.

Would you be so kind as to give us a short profile of your background? Which were the most important events in your life? Was there anyone in particular whom you met during your career that especially influenced you?

Kate Smith: In high school I had an inspiring art teacher who introduced me to the abstract thinking of artists like Jackson Pollock, Cy Twombly, Joan Mitchell, and Kandinsky, as well as to the Land artists Richard Long and Andy Goldsworthy.

At the same time, I studied contemporary dance and I discovered Merce Cunningham and his collaboration with John Cage.And, naturally, it was important for me to be given the book Ways of Looking by John Berger when I was still a teenager.

The combination of these youthful encounters with new waysof seeing and processing the world was cataclysmic. Something was triggered inside me, and the idea that your visual languageas an artist could exist outside of the reign of traditional art was hypnotizing. I studied Fine Art Painting at Central Saint Martinsat a time when painting was not in fashion and the studios were filled with students who created installations, performances, and videos. I remember being blown over by a star in an elevator with Cornelia Parker whose talk I just been to, where her Cold Dark Matter had been shown for the first time. This work still moves me profoundly even though more than twenty years have gone by. This was a key moment in the United Kingdom, where everything was possible in the arts, with the YBA of the previous decade paving the way for other possibilities. Subsequently, I delved deeper into my contemporary curatorial studies and more recently into my research into the exhibition as a form of communication.

Since The Twist first opened (designed by the world-acclaimed Danish architectural firm Bjarke Ingels Group) in 2019, Kistefos has been awarded a central role in the contemporary art scene.In 2020 it was also nominated “a must-see cultural site” by the New York Times. Which do you think are the main aspects that differentiate Kistefos from other institutions?

It’s the combination of art, architecture, and industrialhistory against the background of the Norwegian wildernessthat makes Kistefos unique. These elements are equally important and indissolubly linked, so visitors are constantly beingsurprised during their visit, and, above all, they can experience art and architecture in an informal setting.The surrounding presence of the forest and the rivercrossing the sculpture park has an innate abilityto impress and inspire amazement.

The permanent collection includes amazing masterpieces by international artists like Yayoi Kusama, Tony Cragg, Jeppe Hein, Elmgreen & Dragset. Is there is a specific theme, a leitmotif underpinning the permanent collection,

and how has it developed over the years?

The common thread of the works in the sculpture park is that since 2005 the commissions have always been site-specific. The artists are invited to visit and react to Kistefos’ history and picturesque position so that the resulting works are profoundly and intrinsically connected to the surrounding environment. The works range from very humorous to the monumental and stimulating.

Even though it is only open seasonally, the museum has a great deal to offer annually. In 2022, for instance, it hosted exhibitions by Paulina Olowska and Do Ho Sun and a new permanent site-specific workby the French artist Pierre Huyghe. Can you give us a preview of the shows due to be held in 2023? Is there one exhibition in particular that you’d like to describe more in detail?

In 2023 the works of the great Sir Tony Cragg will be on displayin The Twist, something that is truly unique for Kistefos andthat celebrates the long relationship between the artist and the collector Christen Sveaas. Kistefos has four major works byCragg in the sculpture park and this exhibition will offer visitors the chance to more closely explore the artist’s prolific practice. The exhibition will cover the breadth of the artist’s career fromhis first works using found objects that explore the structure and the form to the more recent virtuosic sculptures, revealing the masterful skills he has assembled in over fifty years of practice.In the Nybruket gallery, which is a wonderfully inspiring ex- industrial space, we plan to present Tracing Absence, an exhibition curated by ten young curators from the MA Curating Art andPublic Programmes, a collaboration between Whitechapel Gallery and London South Bank University. With works selected from the Christen Sveaas Art Foundation, Tracing Absence invites the viewer to experience absence as a process, encouraging us to come

to terms with our malaise, and discover reflection in the void. It is wonderful to be able to offer a platform and good visibility to emerging curators and to show other works from the Christen Sveaas Art Foundation, founded in 2020.

Which are the key criteria that you and your team follow in terms of a definition of the annual programming and what you offer culturally? Do you follow a particular theme?

The Kistefos museum is privileged to have access to the artworks in the private collection and in the Art Foundation of the founder of the museum Christen Sveaas. This means that the exhibitions

in The Twist gallery are always at first inspired curatorially by one or more artists in the collection. The program is constantly being evaluated and it reflects the most relevant themes in terms of the global situation; furthermore, it aims to make international contemporary art available to a diversified public. Obviously,we focus on diversity and on restoring the equilibrium of representation, therefore that is what is reflected in the program.

What is the “typical” viewer of Kistefos like? Is there a specific public you to talk to?

We have a higher percentage of museum visitors that isn’t typical if compared with other institutions, because Kistefos offers many things. Many of our visitors are not necessarily involved with art before coming here, which is an exciting challenge when we need to think about how to present and disseminate the works.

The goal is to appeal to a vast public, and we are proud to be accessible to and fun for all.

What kind of museum experience do you want your visitors to have?

The visitors should have a high-quality experience, and it should especially be stimulating. Irrespective of your interest, you can be inspired by the art, by the sculpture park, by nature, or by the

Scat Skat Skatt by Yayoi Kusama_Identity by Giuseppe Penone, ©Kistefos Museum. Ph Einar Aslaksen

combination of the magic of Kistefos that defies definition.

As concerns the museum’s future activities, how do you plan to develop it further? How do you manage the museum’s “seasonal” opening, for example, do you plan activities in the winter months as well? How do you envision Kistefos in ten years’ time?

When The Twist opened in 2019, the museum recorded a huge growth in the number of visitors, something that requires careful planning to make their experience the best it can be. We are working on some very exciting plans right now, but for the time being almost all of them are hidden. Winter activities may be a possibility for the future, but for now the season from late April to mid-October works rather well.

Are there things you particularly remember happening while an exhibition was being organized?

Working with artists is an honor because it means you’re tasked with presenting their work in a way they will feel comfortable with, building up intense relationships during the planningand installation of the event. There are too many stories to tell, countless installations during the night, and the indescribably deafening silence of the exhibition space just before it opens. Works blocked in customs, works that disappear while they’re being transported, works that are too big to fit through thedoors, and changes that have to be made at the last minute that miraculously solve our problems. My most memorable installation of an exhibition still gives me the shakes, and it involves trying to organize shows during the pandemic, a task that was sort of like walking in quicksand.

Are there any cultural institutions, either Norwegian or foreign, that you wish to collaborate with in the future?

Kistefos often looks to the Louisiana Museum as a source of inspiration, and it would be fantastic to collaborate with them in the future.

The Twist’s architecture can be seen as a “cultural infrastructure” connecting the two banks of the river. At the same time, it allows the mission of the museum itself to be extended. In your opinion, how close is the relationship between culture and architecture in Norway?

Historically strong, with a highly unique relationship between cultural history, architectural materials, and building techniques.In the past decade or so Norway’s cultural architecturehas been at the forefront in the development of the city center, especially in Oslo with the opening of the Opera House in 2008,in the revival of the harbor district, and in the upgrading of the Tjuvholmen area, where Renzo Piano designed the Astrup Fearnley museum, which became the new headquarters for art.More recently, the opening of the Munch Museum, the National Museum, and, of course, Kistefos have further consolidated Norway as a place for art and culture. I would say that architecture and culture are indissolubly intertwined and that the one is a catalyst for the other. Cultural institutions have become destinations that offer space to inspire, encounter, and reflect.

What do you think of the cultural scene in Norway as compared with Europe or the United States?

The cultural scene in Norway has the advantage of beingsteeped in tradition that is supported in its progress thanks tothe very high level of public funding available, so it is less dependent on private funds with respect to Europe.This makes it possible to create a cultural panorama that is strong, diversified, and free. Norway was traditionally a humble nation rooted in equality and it did not distinguish itself from the crown, which has perhaps led to a cultural scene that is less provocative with respect to Europe or the United States.Nonetheless, the global perspectives, study, and the journeymean that the cultural differences are becomingless evident and it seems that a more general European perspective has emerged in the arts.

In conclusion, as you know, one of Stella’s missions is sustainability: in this sense Norway and the other Scandinavian countrieshave always been at the cutting edge.How can art make people more sensitive to this topic?

The themes of sustainability are naturally front and centerin the mind and the practice of many artists.By provoking or by appealing to the emotional reactionsof human beings, artists can communicate powerfully

and increase awareness. Change no doubt challenges opinions by appealing to human beings’ hearts and minds.