Underway

Sørlandets Kunstmuseum is proud to present the exhibition Underway which explores different aspects related to childhood and adolescence. The museum has invited 12 Norwegian and international artists who in various ways deal with this subject matter. There are several reasons for choosing this theme. Children and young people are an important focal group of the museum, at the same time as we as a society have never focused as intensively as we do now on this segment of the population. The exhibition nevertheless has a universally human theme to which everyone can relate.

The title Underway signals that at the core of the theme are different forms of change, development and transformation. The transition from childhood to adolescence happens in a short time and involves both physical and mental changes. But this is not an exhibition about puberty in a narrow sense. It presents artworks that engage with the theme through a wide range of perspectives. The exhibition’s subject matter ranges from female sexual awakening, puberty’s bodily metamorphoses, gender identity and male self-representation, to works that tell about an individual’s psycho-social development, or which present typical examples drawn from contemporary youth culture. Another aspect is how political events such as today’s refugee crisis in Europe can affect the life and development of children and youths.

Participating artists (in alphabetical order):
Marit Victoria Wulff Andreassen (Norway), Rineke Dijkstra (Netherlands), Andrea Gjestvang (Norway), Annika von Hausswolff (Sweden), Preben Holst (Norway), Ove Kvavik (Norway), Peter Land (Denmark), artist group Leo Gabin (Belgium), Sharon Lockhart (USA), Wynne Neilly (Canada), Mari Slaattelid (Norway), Fiona Tan (Netherlands)