Vanessa Baird / Ane Hjort Guttu / Jana Winderen / Snorre Ytterstad: Lorck Schive Art Prize 2015

Lorck Schive Art Prize 2015: finalist exhibition for Norway’s biggest art prize opens in Trondheim
An exhibition of new artwork by the four finalists of the Lorck Schive Art Prize 2015, Norway’s biggest art prize and one of the largest in Europe, is on show at the Trondheim kunstmuseum, 24 September 2015–28 February 2016. Vanessa Baird, Ane Hjort Guttu, Jana Winderen and Snorre Ytterstad, selected from a longlist of artists active in Norway, have each created thought-provoking works that engage with major global issues and underline the country’s status as one of the world’s most important centres for the production and display of contemporary visual art. The 2015 winner, chosen by an expert international jury and announced at a special awards ceremony on 12 November, will receive NOK 500,000 (60,000 USD).  

Ane Hjort Guttu’s film Time Passes takes up a challenging position amidst the debate on the prohibition of begging in Norway, exploring the meaning of public space as well as the possibilities, and limitations, of political art in response to poverty and inequality; Jana Winderen’s immersive sound installation, The Wanderer, is made from hydrophone recordings in the Atlantic Ocean, creating a journey through largely unknown underwater environments where species die out before we have even heard them; Snorre Ytterstad’s installation Wires and Strings is an emotional and bodily reaction to the recent events where barriers are created to prevent refugees from entering Europe; and Vanessa Baird’s room of wall drawings entitled I don’t want to be anywhere, but here I am juxtapose her descriptions of human chaos, with  drowning refugees in the Mediterranean and Gustav Vigeland’s permanently installed wall relief Hell.

The 2015 international jury is: Raimundas Malašauskas (curator, Lithuania); Eline Mugaas (artist, Norway); and Jonathan Watkins (Director, Ikon Gallery, United Kingdom).