Past Residents
Past Resident2013: Hasselblad Foundation
Tonje Bøe Birkeland
Tonje Bøe Birkeland constructs characters through photography, text, and objects. Her female figures balance on the border between fiction and reality. The landscapes work as a stage and reflect on the making of photographs: character, creator, camera and their common act of travel. The photographs show gaps and parallels in the friction between past and present, one society and another, a human being and a character from the past.
Tonje Bøe Birkeland (born 1985 Bergen, Norway) received an MA in Fine Art from Bergen Academy of Art and Design in 2012. The same year, she was also awarded the Hasselblad Foundation’s Victor Fellowship for the work Tuva Tengel (1901-1985) Letters from Mongolia exhibited as part of the exhibition New Nordic Photography at the Hasselblad Center, Gothenburg. Birkeland has been a part of many group shows in Sweden. She was selected to exhibit her work Aline Victoria Birkeland – The Unknown Adventurer at the Bergen Museum, 2011. She has also participated in group shows at Horizonte, Zingst, Germany and Goldener Kentaur, Munich.
Tonje Bøe Birkeland. Courtesy of the artist.
Tonje Bøe Birkeland. Courtesy of the artist.
Tonje Bøe Birkeland. Courtesy of the artist.
Tonje Bøe Birkeland. Courtesy of the artist.
Tonje Bøe Birkeland. Courtesy of the artist.
Past Resident2013: The Ernst & Olga Gubler-Hablützel Foundation, City of Bern
Quynh Dong
Quynh Dong often performs as herself in her work. She uses elements from her singing and acting experience gained while working at the Zürich Opera House and The Schauspielhaus Zürich to touch on topics such as arrival, longing, paradise, memory, and identity.
Quynh Dong (born 1982, Hai Phong, Vietnam) holds a degree in graphic design from the Design School in Biel/Bienne, a BFA from Bern University of Arts and an MFA from Zurich University of the Arts. In August 2010, Dong won a workshop grant from the BINZ39 Foundation in Zurich where she worked until July 2012. In 2011, she was the recipient of a fellowship at Sommerakademie, Bern. During 2012, Dong’s work was shown at New Jerseyy, Basel; Lucy Mackintosh Gallery, Lausanne; BINZ39, Zürich; Galerie Bernhard Bischoff & Partner, Bern; LISTE17 – The young art fair in Basel; Kunstraum Baden, and Sinopale, Sinop.
Quynh Dong, My Paradise, 2012, Video installation, 15 min. Courtesy of the artist.
Quynh Dong, Drunger and Drueber, 2012, Performance, 15 min. Courtesy of the artist.
Quynh Dong, My Everything, 2012, Performance, 15:30 min. Courtesy of the artist.
Quynh Dong, Let Me Hear Your Voice, 2012, Video, 15 min. Courtesy of the artist.
Quynh Dong, Let Me Hear Your Voice, 2012, Performance, 90 min. Courtesy of the artist.
Past Resident2012: OCA - Office for Contemporary Art Norway
Erlend Hammer
Erlend Hammer is interested in working with a small group of artists on a number of exhibitions. In working frequently with a small number of artists, strong relationships develop over time. A project begins with the discovery of a catchy title. For Bunnies, it must be bunnies, Lautom Contemporary, Oslo, 2009, he invited artists to make works about rabbits. For Oh how time flies, Bergen Kunsthall, 2011, the show came about because an artist had a work rejected for another exhibition; this work then became the namesake for Hammer’s project.
Erlend Hammer trained as an art historian at the University of Bergen, Norway and holds a degree in creative curating from the Art Academy, Bergen. From 2005-2008, he was a freelance art critic, and in 2008 his book Collected Art Criticism 2005-2008 was published by CTRL-Z Publishing. In 2011, Hammer began writing regular commentary for the daily newspaper Dagbladet. In 2011-2012 he was Assistant Editor and then Acting Editor ofKunstkritikk, a Nordic web journal for art criticism. He is currently co-curator of the 7thMomentum Biennial to open in Moss, Norway in June 2013.
Erlend Hammer, Oh How Time Flies, 2011. Courtesy of the artist and Bergen Kunsthall, Bergen.
Erlend Hammer, Oh How Time Flies, 2011. Courtesy of the curator and Bergen Kunsthall, Bergen.
Erlend Hammer, Bunnies, It Must be Bunnies, 2009. Courtesy of the curator and Lautom Contemporary, Oslo.
Erlend Hammer, 2009. Courtesy of the curator and Hordaland Kunstsenter, Bergen.
Erlend Hammer, Baby Snakes Hatching. Ruins. Ruins., 2012. Courtesy of the curator and Mai Hofstad Gunnes UKS, Oslo .