Wittgenstein on Vacation 
Skjolden - Oslo 
(2015 - 2019)

In collaboration with 
Marianne Bredesen and Siri Hjorth
Supported by KORO (URO) 
Art in Public Space Norway

Documentary by Kirsten Dirksen

ART ART HISTORY HISTORY AGAIN AGAIN
UKS, Oslo (NO) 2013
Gesticulators: Vilde von Krogh, Mikael D. Brkic, 
Sebastian Makonnen Kjølaas
Initiated by Prosjektskolen AS in conjunction with UKS.
Photo: Jon Benjamin Tallerås

ART ART HISTORY HISTORY AGAIN AGAIN was an open forum for dialectical discussion and interpretation of the historical preconditions for art. During this forum we developed our main tool; a timeline that manifested the discussed history. In the form of a classical symposium the participants was encouraged to actively involve themselves in the material as well as additional resources available at UKS. With the idea of man’s separation from nature, through the Dionysian return via utopian ecstasy, and up to heroic materialism, we presented an eclectic array of narratives and action.

Covering 202 013 years, the symposium was held over three weeks, and culminated in an exhibition at UKS. The participants was assigned to unique artistic eras that they interpreted, both conceptually and stylistically.

Silenus claimed that “It is best not to be born, second best to die young”. Let’s rephrase this to “best is not knowing anything, second best is it to know it all”.

Participants:

Alex Sander Fossøy / Markus Theodor Frossli Sundberg / Runa Gidske / Catrine Constanse Gjelsnes / Luka Grbelja Fischer / Hedda Grevle Ottesen / Ole Henry Halvorsen / Simen Halvorsen Tyse / Lise Hartvigsen / Adrian Hidalgo Nygaard / Kristin Hovde / Ida Aurora Høiklev Ribu / Petter Iversen / Marianne Knutsen / Solveig Aurora Lien Granberg / Eirik Lyster / Caroline Løvhaug Harrison / Morten Magnus / Anne Mari Mork Sletta / Sunniva Nilssen / Alexandra Nordfjeldmark / Live Nornes Westli / Helle Pedersen / Tor Andreas Petterson / Natalie Price Hafslund / Roger Robberstad / Tone Elizabeth Sabro / Liam Seeland / Jan Eric Skevik / Katarina Skår Henriksen / Sebastian Slaatten / Kristin Stangenes / Johannes Per Stockhausen Hektoen / Sigrid Voll Bøyum / Frida Yggeseth

Saltarelli Salong (SALT) 
2011 - 2013
Møllergata 37, Oslo
Run by:
Sebastian Makonnen Kjølaas,Siri Hjorth
Jon Magnus Ohren, Morten Ising, 
Martin Johansen, Vilde von Krogh, Luca Andreotti, 
Maren Aarbu Titterud, Marianne Bredesen.
Web ansvarlig:
Michael Hare
Photo:
Martin Johansen

Sandro Steger (2012)

Saltarelli Salong (SALT) operated through weekend exhibitions, happenings, screenings, concerts and workshops mainly focused on exhibiting young artists based in Oslo – and named after Jacopo Saltarelli – an apprentice goldsmith and notorious male prostitute who lived in Firenze during the renaissance. In 1476 Leonardo da Vinci was arrested, spending two month in jail, along with several young companions, on the charge of sodomy with the then 17-year-old Jacopo. He was in his own time accused of being ‘party to many wretched affairs and consents to please those persons who request such wickedness of him‘. SALT believed this to be much the same service delivered by the majority of contemporary art.

–

Holdt til i et gass og splintertett rom i Møllergata 37. Med Megazone, kickboksing og Flørt sexbutikk som nærmeste naboer var vi å finne i strøket som tidligere huset Oslos første sosiale boligbygg, stiftet i 1851,  populært kalt “Bolig’n”. Sorgenfri hospits for menn med kjønnssykdommer holdt også til her frem til 1922. Saltarelli Salong er oppkalt etter Jacopo Saltarelli.

 ”De kom inn i Storgaten. Gina pekte: “Det er Mangelsgården. Der setter dom inn grisefruentimmer”. De böide av til höire ved  Youngsgaten: “Tukthuset! Og der oppe ser du Råstua (=Møllergt. 19)”.   De gik op Youngsbakken: “Der ligger Sorgenfri, “Fila” dom kaller.   Dit kommer dom på hospital, dom som er fulle ta svineri. Og der, på  den are sia, har du Barselsstiftelsen”.

– Utdrag fra Fredrik Parelius’ “Drift”, prostitusjonsroman, 1928

Cecilie Lind (2012)

Espen T. Samuelsen (2012)

Espen T. Samuelsen (2012)

Illegal tree planting by Geir Backe Altern (2012)

Tito Frey (2011)

Tito Frey (2011)

Tito Frey (2011)

 GAGO (Galleri Godteri) 
Showroom for contemporary art,
established in 2009 at Kjellands candy factory in Oslo.
 In cooperation with Morten Ising, Siri Hjorth,
 Can Bora Lundby, Martin Johannsen.
Oslo (NO)
2009 - 2010

At GAGO, located in one of the oldest candy factory’s in Norway, the desires of bourgeois consumer culture is personified. The pictorial language of consumerism is distilled into fine art. Instead of being primarily concerned with providing a space to show works of art in the most neutral way, we make it evident that surroundings and social setting is more than a prominent part of any visual representation. The gallery white cube, the impersonal, clinical art-space that is embraced by the contemporary art world, gives the illusion that art should be seen in a sterile environment, not contaminated by the outside world. In the 1960’s a group of British scientists did a candy experiment. They put a 4-year-old in a room with a marshmallow. They then left the room, promising the child one more marshmallow, if he could wait to eat it for 15 minutes. This experiment was tried out all over the world, and always with the same result; Only one out of three waited for the extra marshmallow. With this in mind we made GAGO a gallery for instant satisfaction. As a marshmallow, we’re not refined, only momentarily desirable.