Cecile B. Evans, *For a Future Adaptation of Giselle (Willis' battle of whatever forever*), 2021. Courtesy of the artist and Kistefos Museum. Photo: Jon M. Sandbu. *Liquid Life,* 2021.

Work in progress

Liquid Life, this year’s exhibition at Kistefos Museum, Jevnaker, opened on Sunday 23 May and will be finalised in mid-June.

A conversation with curator Martha Kirszenbaum, by Nina Strand

Featuring work by seven international artists such as Pierre Huyghe, Sandra Mujinga and Cécile B. Evans, this exhibition is inspired by the times in which we live. Its fulcrum is the term ‘liquid modernity’ coined by Polish sociologist Zygmunt Bauman in his 2000 book of that name, which examines how we moved away from a 'heavy' and 'solid', more hardware-focused modernity to a 'light' and 'liquid' software-based modernity, a transition that changed the human condition. ‘It’s a very interesting text’, Kirszenbaum tells me at the exhibition opening. ‘It’s still relevant today, since our postmodern world is ruled by immediacy. We’re realising that the physical ties between people have eroded, and my question for this show is how to find connections to live together again.’

With only seven artists, the museum’s extraordinary architecture plays an important role: ‘ I’m not interested in filling the space as a curator,’ says Kirszenbaum. ‘I’m very interested in small gestures.’ Kirszenbaum and the artists – the show includes five commissions – were also inspired by the contrast between the museum and its surroundings: ‘The Twist, this hyper-modern jewel of architecture that I’m blown away by, and the mysterious Norwegian woods that surround it.’

Sandra Mujinga, Coiling, 2019. Courtesy of the artist and Kistefos Museum. Photo: Jon M. Sandbu. Liquid Life, 2021. — Sandra Mujinga, *Coiling*, 2019. Courtesy of the artist and Kistefos Museum. Photo: Jon M. Sandbu. *Liquid Life*, 2021.

The show opens with Sandra Mujinga’s tent-like sculpture placed in a corner and bathed in her characteristic green light, inspired by the green screen. According to Kirszenbaum, Mujinga’s work functions as: ‘the fairy godmother of the show, floating around us while we walk.’

This light leads on to the three-channel screen film installation by Cécile B. Evans, A Future Adaptation of Giselle, made in cooperation with Ballet National de Marseille / (LA) Horde. Kirszenbaum explains: ‘It is a feminist ballet in which Giselle is trying to escape the paternalist order, helped by the Willis—a sisterhood of spirits of women jilted at the altar on their wedding day.’ A trailer was shown at the opening, juxtaposed with footage showing previous versions of the ballet, with a ten-minute film to be installed in mid-June. ’Evans selected eight students and eight dancers from the company’, Kirszenbaum tells me, ‘all dressed in their collection of costumes dating from when Roland Petit was the director, who was friends with designers Christian Lacroix and Jean Paul Gaultier.’ The work by Evans focuses on the battle, and she is currently working on an animation for the film, which will eventually turn into a feature film.

For the twist in the gallery, which bridges the Randselva River, Laure Prouvost was inspired to make a new waterway to accompany the existing one. Hers is filled with debris and materials from the surrounding woods, as a comment on our ecology, and leads up to a monitor showing a clip from her 2019 film They Parlaient Idéale, showing a brass band playing in the Palais Idéal du Facteur Cheval.

In the panorama gallery you will find a Pierre Huyghe’s installation, a hybrid object that will dissolve during the course of the exhibition. Works by Ane Graff, Oliva Erlanger and Max Hooper Schneider can also be explored, and Schneider is coming to the museum for a one-month residency to broaden the sense of this being an exhibition in progress. Kirszenbaum elaborates: ‘He’ll make a work on site, and have it evolve in the space when the museum is open, so that the audience can follow it’s development. This new installation is inspired – like many others in the show – by Norwegian folk tales, and by Norwegians’ love of dark metal music.’ The exhibition also opens and closes with a commissioned sound piece, composed and produced by Parisian-based Samson, with artists as Nils Bech among others.

‘Liquid Life also reflects how our times are impacted by COVID’, says Kirszenbaum. ‘Some of the works haven’t arrived, and almost none of the artists could be here today, except Ane Graff. Rather than hiding or lying about the fact that the show had these challenges, I made it a concept. Everyone who visits is part of the artwork itself’, Kirszenbaum concludes.

Ane Graff, The Goblets (Soil Edition), 2021. Courtesy of the artist and Kistefos Museum. Photo: Jon M. Sandbu. Liquid Life, 2021. — Ane Graff, *The Goblets (Soil Edition)*, 2021. Courtesy of the artist and Kistefos Museum. Photo: Jon M. Sandbu. *Liquid Life*, 2021.