Vestlandsutstillingen 2020

Vestlandsutstillingen (The Westland exhibition) is a touring exhibition since 1922. It is an annual Open Call for artists that holds a connection to Western Norway. The mission is to reflect todays art scene from a local perspective. Originally juried by artists it has since 1998 been annually appointed a curator.

Artists:
Ananda Serné, Catalina Aguilera, Eli Maria Lundgaard, Hans-Marius Pilskog Giske, Inga S. Søreide, Jan Kåre Ruud, Matias Kiil, Marit Silsand, Sofia Heinonen, Sofia Eliasson, Steinar Haga Kristensen, Thor Tao, Tore Winsents, Urd Pedersen, Vilde Salhus Røed

Vestlandsutstillingen 2020 explores the quintessential ‘Norwegian’ in relation to the quintessential ‘international’ in contemporary art. The Norwegian west coastal landscape is inherently vibrant, with a heavy association to the era of national romanticism, which is visible to the area’s artists at all times and thus inevitable.

Curator Elise By Olsen takes interest in how the landscape and its history sculpts art to this day. Simultaneously, we’re living in a time where participating in artistic discourse outside of one’s local existence is possible. In the wake of a digital revolution, which is free from the mental and physical boundaries of time and space; is it possible to rethink and recontextualize national romanticism today? As a response the curator has selected artists who still engage in close dialogue with their surroundings – through organic processes, time-consuming methods and solid materials. Vestlandsutstillingen 2020 rejects expectations of curatorial unity and geographical affiliation in favour of spontaneous, and surprisingly analogue, tensions between materials, works and the audience.

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