Exhibition opening: Alia Farid
Bneid Al Gar
Alia Farid, In Lieu of What Is, 2022. Photo: Philipp Hänger. Courtesy the artist.
Welcome to the opening of the exhibition Alia Farid - Bneid Al Gar.
Alia Farid – the third recipient of The Lise Wilhelmsen Art Award – is presented in a major solo exhibition, her biggest so far and the first in the Nordics. Farid (b. 1985) works with a variety of different media, including textiles, film, and sculpture. Her complex work mediates between the past and the present and, in a poetic processing, draws out omitted histories that push against standard narratives. She explores questions of conflict and control and how power and violence are inflicted on nature and people.
This evening we offer opening speeches, music performance with Mariama Ndure and music by DJ Adipop. Between 6–7PM we offer a glass of wine or mineral water. After 7PM the bar is open.
Welcome!
Photo: Ian Clontz
Mariama Ndure is a unique creative and performing artist who, in recent years, has placed herself prominently on the Norwegian music scene. Ndure grew up in Norway with Gambian parents and says herself that having a background in two different cultures has influenced her artistic work. Her music draws on West African traditions, soul, hip-hop, rnb, modern jazz and improvisation. In October, she will release her debut album Rituals.
This evening Ndure will be joined by the wonderful vocalist and composer Rohey Taalah. Together, they will take the audience on a journey in a dynamic voice landscape.
Photo: Chai Saeidi
DJ Adipop has been playing in clubs in Norway and abroad since 2012. The Oslo-based DJ plays a forward-leaning and exciting mix of electronic music with strong references to genres from the Caribbean and Africa. DJ Adipop has played at festivals such as Øyafestivalen and Vinjerock, as well as clubs in Stockholm, London and New York. She has warmed up for international names such as Kingdom and Jillionaire, and made radio shows for Radar Radio in the UK.
In addition, she has also made mixes for, among others, Rinse FM and NTS Radio and released her own music on the French indie label HTS.
-
Alia Farid lives and works in Kuwait and Puerto Rico. She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Escuela de Artes Plásticas de Puerto Rico in San Juan, a Master of Science in Visual Studies from the Visual Arts Program at MIT in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and a Master of Arts in Museum Studies and Critical Theory from the Programa d'Estudis Independents MACBA in Barcelona. In 2023-24, she was the David and Roberta Logie Fellow at Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University. She has had solo exhibitions at Kunsthalle Basel, Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis, Kunstinstituut Melly in Rotterdam, Portikus in Frankfurt am Main, Chisenhale Gallery in London, and CAC Passerelle in Brest. Farid has been selected to present her first public art commission in the Americas through the Stanford Plinth Project, on view in Stanford University 2023-26.
-
The Lise Wilhelmsen Art Award Programme is a collaboration between Henie Onstad Kunstsenter and the Wilhelmsen family. The award is presented biannually to recognise the contribution of an outstanding international artist making work that is important and relevant to our time. The award is intended to mark a significant milestone in an artist's career. The recipient is appointed by an international jury, and the award consists of three parts: an honorarium of 100,000 US dollars, an exhibition at Henie Onstad Kunstsenter, including a publication and educational programme, and an acquisition of the artist's work for the Henie Onstad Collection. Alia Farid is the third recipient, following Otobong Nkanga in 2019 and Guadalupe Maravilla in 2021.