A K Dolven

1.30 am South, 2003
c-print
117,5 x 150 cm
edition of 15

A K DOLVEN’s practice involves a variety of media; painting, photography, performance, installation, film and sound. The paintings are highly physical, in a direct relationship with the artist’s own body and its movements. The photographs and videos are directed and recorded performances. Recurring themes in her works are the representation of natural forces and their resonance with human sensibilities. Dolven’s work alternates between the monumental and the minimal, the universal and the intimate. Interpersonal relations and interactions are central to her practice, and many of her performance-based works involve collaborations with other people.  
   
 A K Dolven (b. 1953) lives and works in Oslo and Lofoten. She has exhibited extensively internationally, including Kunsthalle Bern; Philadephia Museum of Art; Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin; IKON Gallery, Birmingham; Platform China, Beijing; The National Museum of Art, Oslo; Amos Rex, Helsinki; and Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Denmark. Her work is included in collections such as The Art Institute of Chicago, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Hoffmann Collection, The Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma, La Gaia Collection, Goetz Collection, Fundacion Salamanca Ciudad de Cultura, Malmö Museum, National Museum, Norway, and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Denmark. She has won the Prins Eugen –medal in Sweden in 2005. 

A Other Teenager, 2016
16 x 1 metre video projection, 2 channel audio, 31 minutes 31 seconds
Performer: Tale Dolven
Composer: Stian Westerhus

touching the sky with snow on my fingertip, 2018
oil on aluminium
31 x 31 cm

to you, 1994-2018
video, 16 mm black and white film digitalized
8 : 29
Edt. 3
Performer: Tale Dolven

pigment print
149 x 149 cm

touching you with snow on my fingertips, 2018
oil on aluminium
31 x 31 cm

Warmth II, 2008
c-print Diasec
150 x 200 cm

hitting the sky with snow on my shoulder II, 2018
oil on aluminium
31 x 31 cm

bring me back, 2007
HD video installation, 3 screens
13 min 44 sec

bring me back, 2007
3 screen HD video installation

to you 1994–2018
30 Nov – 21 Dec 2018

exhibition view

BioExhibitions

Exhibitions

Bio

A K DOLVEN (b. 1953) has always moved between different media and scale in her practice. Her paintings are, in practical terms, always highly physical, in a direct relationship with the artist’s own body and its movements. Her photographs and videos are directed and recorded performances. Her sculptures range between large scale outdoor works and intimate objects.

A K Dolven, born in Norway, has her home in the Lofoten Islands, but lived and worked for over thirty years in metropolises, Berlin and London. This is reflected in her works. On the one hand, they are marked by a close, natural and unforced relationship with nature, respect for it, and the warmth and respect for other people that are typical of inhabitants of sparsely settled areas. On the other hand, they may contain the density of urban life, the coolness of people living together with millions of their own species, and even their indifference to strange occurrences and phenomena. In any case, human beings are at the core of everything.

A Other Teenager (the title not a typo but a mismatching detail of the kind that is also typical of Dolven’s works, something that makes us stop) is a fifteen-metre long video installation in which people of almost natural size are lying on the floor entwined with each other. They are listening to music composed by Stian Westerhus, inspired by the composer’s conversations with Dolven about the times in which we are living. Slowly and almost imperceptibly, a young woman crawls over and under this human chain and disappears into the right margin of the image. Of the people in the chain, only one – a teenage girl in the middle of the field of view – looks at us, the viewers.

Characteristic of Dolven’s videos and photographs are references to earlier art-historical styles or individual existing works. In these works we can identify at least references to surrealism, minimalism and earth art. Or perhaps we should speak of tangentiality rather than references.

In Dolven’s works, the expansive air of the Lofotens, lightness, the togetherness of people with each other, the joy and opportunity for insight also provided by solitude, the passing of time, the ageing of stone and people create a large cycle in which all things are related to each other.

CV

A K DOLVEN

Born 1953 in Oslo
Lives in Lofoten

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS

  • 2021
    • The New National Museum, Oslo* (Retrospective exhibition)
  • 2019
    • Trondheim Kunstmuseum, Trondheim*
  • 2018
    • To You 1994–2018, Galerie Anhava, Helsinki
  • 2017
    • what do i do with the world, Galleri Bo Bjerggaard, Copenhagen
  • 2016
    • A Other Teenager, OSLcontemporary, Oslo
    • ahead, Svalbard Kunsthalle, Longyearbyen
  • 2015
    • please return, IKON Gallery, London
  • 2014
    • teenagers lifting the sky, Wilkinson Gallery, London
  • 2013
    • when I discovered the end I wanted to live really long, Kunsthall 44 Moen –Rene Block, Moen
  • 2011
    • Shining Light, Galleri Elverket, Ekenäs
    • change my way of seeing, Galleri MGM, Oslo
    • The Finnish Untuned Bell, Ekenäs
    • Shining Light, Galleri Elverket, Ekenäs
    • vertical on my own, Galleri Bo Bjerrgaard, Copenhagen
  • 2010
    • the day the sky became my ground, Wilkinson Gallery, London
    • Untuned Bell, Tullinlokka, Oslo
    • looking for balance, Platform China, Beijing
    • the day the sky became my ground, Sørlandets Kunstmuseum, Kristiansand
  • 2009
    • ahead, Nordnorsk Kunstmuseum, Tromsø
    • A K Dolven – Værker, Galleri Bo Bjergaard, Copenhagen
  • 2008
    • H20, St Petersburg
  • 2007
    • bring me back, Galerie Anhava, Helsinki
    • what can I do for you, Kunstnerforbundet, Oslo
    • Galleri Bo Bjerggaard, Copenhagen
  • 2006
    • amazon, Wilkinson Gallery, London
    • madonna and amazon, carlier|gebauer, Berlin
    • MGM Gallery, Oslo
    • Festival Artist, Molde
    • Bouhlou Gallery, Bergen
  • 2005
    • Olga Korper Gallery, Toronto
  • 2004
    • DA2 Domus Artium, Salamanca
    • moving mountain, CAC Contemporary Art Centre, Vilnius, AroS, Århus
    • Kunstmuseum and Bergen Kunsthall, Bergen
    • from last winter, Munch Museum, Oslo
    • The Girls Room, Gallery MGM, Oslo
    • 2:57, Galerie Anhava, c/o Korjaamo, Helsinki
  • 2003
    • The Clock, Niels Borch Jensen Print Gallery, Berlin
    • The Meal, Anthony Wilkinson Gallery, London
  • 2002
    • between the morning and the handbag, Galerie Anhava, Helsinki
    • between the morning and the handbag, Anthony Wilkinson Gallery at The Galleries
    • Show, Royal Academy of Arts, London
    • 2:57, carlier | gebauer, Berlin
    • headlights, Henie Onstad Kunstsenter, Oslo
    • Imagespassages, le Musee d’Annecy
    • stairs, Staatliches Museum Schwerin
    • where do I meet reality, Bo Bjerggaard Gallery, Copenhagen
  • 2001
    • South London Gallery, London
    • Kunsthalle Nurnberg, Nurnberg
    • Kunsthalle Bern, Bern
    • Kunstnernes Hus, Oslo
    • Galleri Bouhlou, Bergen
    • it could happen to you, Northern Gallery of Contemporary Art, Sunderland
    • Videos and Films from 1995-2001, Moderna Museet, Stockholm
    • Visual Arts at Sadlers Wells, Sadlers Wells, London
    • Site Gallery, Sheffield
  • 2000
    • Fred-Thieler Prize, Berlinische Galerie, Berlin
    • puberty, Galerie Gebauer, Berlin
    • 13 Quai Voltaire, Caisse des Depots, Paris
    • Anthony Wilkinson Gallery, London
    • Galleri i8, Reykjavik
  • 1999
    • Video Gallery, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia
  • 1998
    • Special Someone, video project in Galerie Gebauer, Berlin
    • januar, Galerie Anhava, Helsinki
    • Artist of the Year, Norwegian International Filmfestival, Haugesund
    • Galleri Bouhlou, Bergen
  • 1997
    • The Power of The Flower, Galleri 29, Växjö
  • 1996
    • short happiness last long, Galerie Gebauer u. Thumm, Berlin
    • teenagers and balconies, Galleri STRUTS, Oslo
  • 1995
    • Galleri Bouhlou, Bergen
    • til deg, Bodø Kunstforening
  • 1994
    • drop me drop you, Galerie Anhava, Helsinki
    • Tromsø Kunstforening, Tromsø
    • starting over, Galerie Gebauer u. Günther, Berlin
    • to you, permanent outdoor sculpture, Hå and Munich
  • 1993
    • engel, permanent outdoor sculpture in Oslo, Lodz, Berlin, Derry (until 1997)
  • 1992
    • linkshändig engel rechtshändig engel, Galerie Gebauer u. Günther, Berlin
    • Gallery Adelgatan 5, Malmö
    • Henie Onstad Art Center, Oslo
  • 1991
    • 1991, Nordic Art Center, Helsinki and Bergen Kunstforening
  • 1990
    • Thorden Gallery, Gothenburg
    • Galleri 29, Växjö
    • 1988
    • Wang Galleri, Oslo
    • Künstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin
    • Artist of the Year, Nord Norske Festspill, Harstad
  • 1986
    • how to survive on a volcano island, Drammen Kunstforening
  • 1985
    • Shadows are not made by Light but by Human Beings, Frognergalleriet, Oslo
  • 1983
    • Tromsø Kunstforening

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

  • 2018
    • The Thailand Biennale: Edge of the Wonderland, Krabi
  • 2018
    • Kunsthall Stavanger, Stavanger
    • Norway Contemporary! Museum Kunst der Westküste, Alkesum
  • 2017
    • Dreamers Awake, White Cube, London
    • A LANDSCAPE, Wilkinson Gallery, London
    • Owners’ Choice, Galleri Bo Bjerggaard, Copenhagen
    • The Order of Things, The Wilson: Cheltenham Art Gallery and Museum, Cheltenham
    • To Do or Not to Be– An Exhibition of Norwegian Video, Kurant Visningsrom, Tromsø
  • 2016/17
    • this is a political (painting), Inaugural exhibition at Kunsthall Trondheim, Trondheim
  • 2016
    • S.O.S Save Our Souls: Art For a Time of Urgencies, Ewha Women’s University Campus, Seoul
    • Deduction, Gallery 49, Murmansk
    • Different Angels, Höhenrausch 2016, imoökulturquartier, Linz
    • The Shadow Never Lies, 21stMinsheng Art Museum, Shanghai
    • Hverdagsbilleder, Randers Kunstmuseum, Randers
    • Thrill of Heights – Different Angels, Lentos Kunstmuseum Linz
    • Fire Under Snow, Louisiana Museum of Art, Humlebæk
    • natureculture, curated by Maaretta Jaukkuri, OSL Contemporary, Oslo
    • this is a political (painting, Kunsthall Trondheim, Trondheim
    • Everyday Images – Video Art in Multiple Dimensions, Randers Kunstmuseum
  • 2015
    • ADAM, ANDY, ALEXANDER…, Galleri Bo Bjerggaard, Copenhagen
    • Remember Lidice, Edition Block GmbH, Berlin
    • Art/Nature, Museum für Naturkunde Berlin
    • Poor Art – Rich Legacy: Arte Povera and parallel practices 1968 – 2015, The Museum of Contemporary Art, Oslo
    • PROPHETIA, Miró Foundation, Barcelona
    • LOVE & LOSS, Fashion and Mortality, Lentos Kunstmuseum, Linz
    • Voyage to the Virtual, Scandinavia House: The Nordic Centre in America, New York
    • Self Image and Identity, Turner Contemporary, Margate
  • 2014
    • ReMix, Bury Art Museum & Sculpture Centre, Bury
    • Shades of Black on White, Gallerie Bo Bjerggaard, Copenhagen
    • Presenting DIAS, DIAS, Vallensbæk
  • 2013-14
    • PLAY, Helsinki Art Museum, Helsinki
  • 2013
    • abstract thinking -using a hammer ad sea-staring is OK, OSL Contemporary, Oslo
    • Tell me her story, Koreana Museum of Art, Seoul
    • AMNESIA, Haugar Vestfold Kunstmuseum, Tonsbery
  • 2013
    • LIFE IS THE ONLY WAY, Bontlabo Bergen, Bergen
    • Munch by others, Haugar Kunstmuseum, Tonsberg
    • Sous l’Amazone coule un fleuve, FRAC, Auvergne
    • PARADOKS. Posisjoner innen norsk videokunst 1980–2010, Museum of Contemporary Art, Oslo
    • Nordic Cool 2013: New Nordic Architecture and Identity, The Kennedy Center, Washington
    • Desire Lines, ACCA The Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Melbourne
    • Two men with glasses and a woman in an igloo, A K Dolven, Daniel Richter, Per
    • Bak Jensen, Esbjerg Kunstmuseum
    • Måneskinnstien – Munch 150, Vestfold Kunstnersenter, Åsgårdstrand
  • 2012
    • Guangzhou Triennial 2012, Guangzhou, China (Due to political reasons and
    • Norwegian citizenship A K Dolven’s work was removed by Chinese authorities.)
    • New Nordic – Arkitektur & Identitet, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebæk
    • Poster Show, Carlier|Gebauer, Berlin
    • A Matter of Words, OSL contemporary, Oslo
    • Norwegian Season, MK Gallery, Milton Keynes
    • Sammen, Trondheim Kunstmuseum, Trondheim
  • 2011
    • Seeing Is Remembering, Stedefreund, Berlin
    • Carnegie Art Award, Kunsthalle Helsinki, Helsinki
    • Absolutt Installasjon, Museum of Contemporary Art, Oslo
    • When a Painting Moves… Something Must be Rotten, Stenersenmuseet, Oslo
    • Folkestone Triennale, Folkestone
    • Screaming From The Mountain, Landscapes and Viewpoints, Sørlandets Kunstmuseum, Kristiansand
    • Norway Now in NYC, .NO, New York
    • KIND OF NICE, The 20th Anniversary of Galerie Anhava, Galerie Anhava, Helsinki
    • Vidéo & Après, Centre Pompidou, Paris
    • NORSK, une scène artistique norvégienne contemporaine, Galerie Poggi & Bertoux associés, Paris
  • 2010
    • For Alltid, Bomuldsfabriken Kunsthall, Arendal
    • Carnegie Art Award, Listasafn Islands, Reykjavik, The Royal Academy of Fine Arts
    • Royal Academy of Fine Arts, Stockholm, Kunstnernes Hus, Oslo, Kunsthalle Helsinki
    • Sea Fever, Southampton City Art Gallery, Southampton
    • MIXED EMOTIONS/ gemischte Gefühle, Kunsthalle Brennabor / Brandenburg an der Havel, Brandenburg
    • Farbe in der Zeitgenossischen Kunst, Neuen Kunstvereins Giessen
  • 2009 
    • There Is No Road, LABoral Centro de Arte, Gijón
    • One Hundred Years, Kunstnerforbundet, Oslo
    • GSK Contemporary at the Royal Academy, London
    • Nachspiel Vorschpiel, Vestfossen Kunstlaboratorium, Vestfosssen
    • Statens Kunstakademi 100 år, Museet for Samtidskunst, Oslo
    • Mit Dem Fahrrrad zur Milchstrasse, Zeitgenossische Kunst aus der Sammlung Hoffman, Berlin
    • HoviArt 2009, Anttolanhovi, Anttola
    • Maritime Chronicles # 2, Center da Cultura NAIRS|Kulturzentrum NAIRS, Scuol
    • The Eye in the Door, Kunsthallen Nikolaj, Copenhagen
    • AntArctic, Haugar Vestfold Kunstmuseum, Tønsberg
    • Carnegie Art Award, Kunsthal Charlottenborg, Copenhagen
    • Mejan Labs Art Service, Mejan Labs, Stockholm
    • just another shadow,the 7.9 cubic meters’ programme,Stanley Picker Gallery, Kingston
    • HotchPotch– London, MKII, London
    • Zeigen, An audio tour through Berling by Karin Sander, Temporäre Kunsthalle Berlin
  • 2008
    • Hommage à Iver Jåks, Tromsø Kunstforening, Tromsø
    • H2O, Peter and Paul Fortress, St Petersburg
    • Point Of No Return, Rubicon Gallery, Dublin
    • Frauen Porträts, Overbeck Gesellschaft, Kunstverein Lübeck
    • Puberty, Haugar Art Museum, Tønsberg
    • Film Programme Of Thomas Scheibitz, Camden Arts Centre, London
  • 2007
    • 3×2, Etelä-Karjalan Museo, Lappeenranta
    • Collection ’07, Museum for Contemporary Art, Roskilde
    • Pain / Schmerz, Nationalgalerie im Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin
    • The Last Show, Wilkinson Gallery, London
    • Critical Mass, Kunstahalle Bern
    • KIASMA Museum of Contemporary Art, Helsinki
    • Moving Portraits, EMMA Espoo Museum of Modern Art
    • South Karelia Art Museum, Lappeenranta
  • 2006
    • Freedom, Schloss Gross Leuthen
    • Melancholy- Genius and Madness in Art, Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin
    • LIAF Lofoten International Art Festrival
    • Content, Kukturhuset, Stockholm, Borås Kunstmuseum, Sundsvall Museum
  • 2005
    • Willing Suspension of Disbelief, Wilkinson Gallery, London
    • Bathers, Temple Bar and Gallery, Dublin
    • Telltale, Ewha University, Korea
    • London, Kristiansand Kunstforening
    • Images Festival, Toronto, Drake art hotel Toronto
    • Munch, Henie Onstad Kunstsenter, Oslo
    • Munch revisited, Museum am Ostwall, Kunsthalle Dortmund, Germany and Henie    Onstad Kunstsenter, Oslo
    • Situated Self: Confused, Compassionate and Conflictual, Museum of Contemporary Art, Belgrade and Tennis Palace Art Museum, Helsinki
  • 2004
    • Story of the Eye, MEAD Gallery
    • Berlin/North, Nationalgalerie im Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin
    • Syns Punkt, Museum of Contemporary Art, Roskilde
    • Carnegie Art Award, Stockholm, Oslo, Reykjavik, Helsinki, Copenhagen, London
    • Copy-art.net, ICA, London
  • 2003
    • Sight Mapping, Sala Rekalde, Bilbao, Spain and GOMA, Glasgow
    • Independence, South London Gallery, London
    • Sensounico, Venice
    • Periferic 6, Prophetic Corners, Biennial Lasi
    • 46664 -1 Minute of Art to Aids, Green Point Stadium, Cape Town
    • Women 2003, Billboard project in Copenhagen
  • 2002
    • Four Women and One Pregnant Man, Gallery MGM, Oslo
    • Sight Mapping, Bohuslans Museum, Udevalla
    • Slow Motion, Ludwig Forum for International Art Aachen
    • White, De La Warr Pavillion, Bexhill-on-Sea
    • Moving Portraits, Wood Street Galleries, Pittsburgh
    • Painting Without Painting, Museum der Bildenden Kunste Leipzig
    • Hollywood Revisited, Aarhus Kunstmueum
  • 2001
    • Interferenze, Palazzo delle Papesse, Centro Arte Contemporanea, Siena
    • Impulser, H.M The Queens Collection at Henie Onstad Kunstsenter
    • Mouvement Immobiles, Museum of Contemporary Art, Buenos Aires
    • Objects in Mirror Are Closer Than They Appear, Team Gallery, New York
    • My Friends, Tromsø Kunstforening
    • On the Way to the Screen, Video of the 90s, Central House of Artists, Moscow
    • Humid, Spike Island, Bristol and Melbourne Festival
    • Lens and Paper/The Beauty of Intimacy, Kunsthalle Baden Baden and Haus am Waldsee Berlin
    • Moving Pictures, Villa Merkel, 5th International Foto-Triennale Esslingen
  • 2000
    • Paintings, Bomuldsfabriken Arendal
    • Century of Innocence – The History of the White Monochrome, Rooseum
    • Norden, Kunsthalle Vienna
    • Nordic Postmodernism, KIASMA Museum of Contemporary Art, Helsinki
    • The Other side of Zero, Tate Gallery Liverpool
    • CRUCE DE CAMINAS artists from Berlin, Sala Plaza de Espana de la Comunidad, Madrid
    • Ausser/Out of House, Trondheim Kunstforening
    • Sensitive, Le printemps de Cahors
    • Carnegie Art Award Nordic Painting, Barbican, London
  • 1999
    • The 6th International Istanbul Biennial, Istanbul
    • Intercourse, Toronto
    • nineninenineninetynine, Anthony Wilkinson Gallery, London
    • La Belle jardiniére – Schloß Wiepersdorf
    • BLICK, film and video, Moderna Museet, Stockholm
    • The Waters, Orchard Gallery, Derry
    • Neste STOPP, Kunst Festival in Lofoten, Våganhallen, Svolvær
    • Carnegie Art Award, Kunstnernes Hus, Oslo
  • 1998
    • Fellessentralen, Kunstnernes Hus, Oslo
    • MOMENTUM, Nordic Festival of Contemporary Art, Moss
    • Pictures for the Blue Room, a contemporary Art Exhibition in the Vigeland Museum,   Oslo
  • 1997
    • Summer of Love, Fotouhi Cramer Gallery, New York
    • Norske profiler, Museum Folkwang, Essen and Rostock Kunsthalle
    • SCREENS, International Video Trondheim Kunstforening
    • Virtual Gallery, project with Oil of Ulay, ITV and ICA, London
  • 1996
    • Strangers in the Arctic, Rundetårn, Copenhagen, Museum of Contemporary Art, Helsinki and AGO, Ontario
    • Heimat, Kunsthaus Kaufbeuren, Kaufbeuren
    • Eine Vitrine, Kunsthalle Helsinki
  • 1995
    • Bild und Malerie, Galerie Wohnmaschine, Berlin
    • Port of Art, Kotka
    • Allegorie de la Richesse, Baroque et art Contemporain, Chapelle St.Louis de la       Sâlpetrière, Paris
  • 1994
    • Europa 94, Munich
    • erzählen, Akademie der Künste, Berlin and Malmö Museum
  • 1993
    • 5 BILDER, Galerie Gebauer u. Günther, Berlin
    • interVIEW, Artist Museum, Lodz
    • Winterland, Olympic exhibition, Atlanta, Tokyo, Munich, Barcelona, Lillehammer City Museum
  • 1991
    • Face to Face, Ars Baltica, Kiel Kunsthalle, Germany, Riga Art Hall
  • 1990
    • JETZ Berlin, Malmö Art Hall
  • 1989
    • Sangen om Norge, Henie Onstad Art Center, Oslo
  • 1988
    • Det grönne mörke, Nordic Art Center, Helsinki
  • 1986
    • Borealis, DAAD Galerie, Berlin
  • 1985
    • BLIKK, Galleri F 15, Moss

WORKS IN COLLECTIONS
Art Institute of Chicago
Arts Council Collection, UK
Berlinische Galerie, Museum for Modern Art and Photography, Berlin
Contemporary Art Society, UK
Dunkers Kulturhus, Helsingborg
Espoo City Museum Collection
Ernst & Young, London
Fundacion Salamanca Ciudad de Cultura, Spain
Goetz Collection, Munich
Government Art Collection, UK
Hoffmann Collection, Berlin
Horsens Museum
HM The Queen’s Collection, Norway
KIASMA, Museum of Contemporary Art, Helsinki
Kunsthalle Bern
Küpferstichkabinett, Berlin
La Gaia Collection, Italy
Leipzig Collection of Contemporary Galleries
Malmö Museum
Museum of Contemporary Art, Oslo
Museum of Contemporary Art, Roskilde
Nordland County Art Collection
Nordiska Akvarellmuseet, Skärhamn
Nord Norsk Kunstmuseum, Tromsø
Oslo Kommune Art Collection
Philadelphia Museum of Art
Riksgalleriet, Oslo
SOK, Helsinki
Statens Konstråd, Sweden
Stadtliche Galerie Wolfsburg
Staatliche Museum Schwerin
Sørlandets Kunstmuseum, Kristiansand
Tate, Archive Collection
The National Gallery, Oslo

AWARDS
2005 Prins Eugen –medal, Sweden
2000 Fred-Thieler Prize, Berlinische Galerie, Berlin