For the past three weeks Eyes as Big as Plates has been touring the hybrid landscapes of Porsgrunn just south of Oslo, creating a series of new site-specific works for the national art festival greenlightdistrict . Kunsthall Grenland with Andreas Rishovd at the helm was one of the generous supporters of the Kickstarter campaign and together with his star crew continue to champion our project. Standing ovations!
Industrial history, ecology and place identity in Norway’s oldest industrial district has been the starting point for conversations with each participant. The resulting new works will be revealed at the exhibition opening in Kunsthall Grenland this Friday at 2 pm. We will also be showing a cross-section from the Eyes as Big as Plates series, including six works that have never been exhibited before.
We look forward to seeing you!
We got invited to the Thursday gathering at Herøyahuset to present the project in the hope of recruiting some participants. © Karoline Hjorth & Riitta Ikonen One of the two pallets of cardboards to make the covers of the Eyes as Big as Plates book arrived the same day we did. © Karoline Hjorth & Riitta Ikonen Tom Hovinbøle and his dad Jan sharing local knowledge on the Frierfjord industry. © Karoline Hjorth & Riitta Ikonen This is silica slag, an electrolysis byproduct from making additives for the production of steel. Promising Eyes as Big as Plates material. © Karoline Hjorth & Riitta Ikonen Jan at his Frierstranda, soon the hottest beach resort in Porsgrunn. © Karoline Hjorth & Riitta Ikonen A proud Herøya native and patriot, Jan’s latest mission is to revive his childhood beach to its former glory. © Karoline Hjorth & Riitta Ikonen The Frierfjord is notorious for having carried a heavy load of the industrial emissions throughout the past decades. Jan is campaigning for a facelift of the region’s image and especially for this beach where he used to swim as a kid, unaware of the ailing state of his surroundings. © Karoline Hjorth & Riitta Ikonen Each and every one of the cardboards was to receive a couple of these fresh spring greens, lovingly pressed by us. Pictured here is one of the more harmonious moments of the laborious process. Andreas Rishovd from Kunsthall Grenland generously lent us his summerhouse in Kjønnøya as a base. © Karoline Hjorth & Riitta Ikonen Kåre used to work at Herøya as a metallurgist, specializing in applications of aluminium. We met him through his position as an art host at Kunsthall Grenland and he freed an afternoon from his busy schedule to come to Mule Varde. © Karoline Hjorth & Riitta Ikonen Since retiring, Kåre travels the world, writes for the Norwegian Radio Historical Association and works as a researcher on countless topics. The day after the shoot he even came to help out with the Eyes as Big as Plates book cover leaf production. An absolute gentleman! © Karoline Hjorth & Riitta Ikonen In between the shoots we glued leaves onto cardboard. BBC World Service Radio and Finnish tango played a crucial role in keeping us going hour after hour after hour. © Karoline Hjorth & Riitta Ikonen Our maximum speed was 250 book covers in a six hour shift. © Karoline Hjorth & Riitta Ikonen Astrid was the only brave soul to step forward from the meeting at Herøyahuset. This fearless adventurer, model and globetrotter climbed onto a small mountain of slag not far from her house. © Karoline Hjorth & Riitta Ikonen DJ Reem Salameh came to rescue us with her playlist, meticulous glueing and great company. © Karoline Hjorth & Riitta Ikonen Marius is another one of Kunsthall Grenland’s art hosts and a retired star architect. Armed with buckets and a crab trap we headed to Prisgrunn and the remnants of an old nickel factory. © Karoline Hjorth & Riitta Ikonen In the shadow of the big waste mountain of slag, Marius felt the weight of the industrial past. © Karoline Hjorth & Riitta Ikonen He showed remarkable stamina and endurance under pressure for several hours. © Karoline Hjorth & Riitta Ikonen We got better at this as days and hours passed. This is from the last day’s big push. © Karoline Hjorth & Riitta Ikonen The reward for the weeks’ work was seeing the negatives at the lab. Come to Kunsthall Grenland to see the final results, the exhibition is on until June 25th. © Karoline Hjorth & Riitta Ikonen
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