Norway’s Edvard Munch Museum is set to return its annual Edvard Munch prize, following a partnership with partnership with oil and gas corp Statoil.  The award carries a $66,000 purse, and an exhibition at the museum.  “It is very important not to focus too much on Europe and the US when looking for candidates,” says director Stein Olav Henrichsen, who is focusing internationally for both his panel of judges and potential recipients. (more…)

The Oslo city council in Norway has approved a proposal for a new Munch Museum design on the city waterfront, created by firm Herreros.  The process in building the museum has moved slowly over the past years, with a number of critics challenging the tilting, “Lambda” design.  A vote on zoning is due to take place in November. (more…)

The New York Times reports on the city of Oslo, and its role in the life of painter Edvard Munch after the artist spend several years healing from the abuse of his alcoholism.  Known for his tortured, dark works, Munch’s later canvases exude a certain brightness achieved as the artist returned to a degree of mental clarity.  “My mind is like a glass of cloudy water,” he wrote to a friend during his treatment in Copenhagen.  “I am now letting it stand to become clear again. I wonder what will happen when the dregs settle at the bottom.” (more…)

An all-night sculpture park has opened in the Norwegian capital of Oslo, filled with works from the collection of collector Christian Ringnes.  Overlooking the city, the newly appointed Ekeberg Park includes pieces from Marina Abramovic, James Turrell, Jenny Holzer and Louise Bourgeois, among others, and saw attendance at its opening event reach into the thousands.

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Edvard Munch, The Scream (1893), Courtesy Munch Museet

Edvard Munch is enjoying somewhat of a timely spotlight, having just has his iconic 1895 pastel The Scream set the global auction record at almost $120 million last May, just one year short of what would be the 150th year since his birth.  This correlation is not lost on the Norwegian city of Oslo, where Munch grew up, and 2013 has been dedicated to the pioneering abstractionist, with a pair of landmark shows compiling almost 300 works from Munch’s groundbreaking career in Oslo, Paris, and Berlin.

Edvard Munch, Workers on Their Way Home (1913-1914), Courtesy Munch Museet (more…)

The Nordic Choice hotel chain, in a statement against sex trafficking and exploitation, has begun replacing the pornographic channels on its PayTV system with contemporary art.  Led by owner Peter Stordalen, the hotel has included video works on each TV, including Sam Taylor-Wood’s Still Life from 2001.  “Art is important to me, but hotel art has always had a bad reputation – cheap paintings that match the sofas and so on,” said Stordalen. “I wanted to redefine hotel art to be something unique.” (more…)

A flash mob in Oslo, led by artist Marina Abramovic was shut down this week, following noise complaints.  The performance, done in tribute to painter Edvard Munch, involved a group of over 300 participants “releasing their emotions by screaming,” as Abramovic said.  The sound startled several local residents, who in turn called the police.  “We received four or five  reports,” said police spokesperson Ola Kroken. “But now it’s over.” (more…)

Hyperallergic has posted a thorough exploration of the debate surrounding the brutalist architecture and Picasso murals currently at risk of demolition at Oslo’s Regjeringskvartalet government center, badly damaged in a 2011 car-bomb attack.  Tracing the history of the design, the works, and the debate surrounding their preservation or destruction, the article places brutalism at the center of the debate, noting the continued destruction of many of its architectural masterworks based on their purported unattractiveness.  Joern Holme, the head of the Directorate for Cultural Heritage, echoes this statement, saying: “We can’t demolish the best of a cultural era just because we find it ugly today.” (more…)

The Wall Street Journal reports on Oslo’s burgeoning art scene, which is taking major strides to become a global capital for contemporary art.  Combining a relatively small and close knit community with major efforts to increase the Norwegian city’s cultural offering, the city is already attracting major attention.  “It’s because Oslo’s small. In New York, if you want certain kinds of materials, there are so many rules, and it’s so difficult to get things done sometimes,” says painter Ida Ekblad. (more…)

Plans have been set in place to move Oslo’s Edvard Munch museum to the city’s waterfront, which had previously been delayed for several years to due location and funding considerations.  The new, glass-lined building, titled Lambda, is projected to open in 2018, designed by Spanish firm Herreros Arquitectos.  The decision  “shows that even the starkest political opponents can put aside their differences for the common good”, said city commissioner for culture and industry Hallstein Bjercke. (more…)

The family of late Paris gallery owner Paul Rosenberg has demanded that the Henie Onstand Arts Center in Oslo return a number of paintings seized from him during the German occupation of Paris during World War II .  While the family has provided documents claiming a number of works, including Matisse’s Woman in Blue in Front of Fireplace, the Norwegian museum claims it had no indication that the work was plundered when it was purchased 60 years ago, and that the painting is now the property of the museum under Norwegian law. “We need to investigate this matter properly,” Says museum director Tone Hansen. “It is too early to draw any conclusions. We are in dialogue with the family and will continue to be so. This case has other aspects than pure legal aspects that have to be taken into consideration.” (more…)

The first concrete murals done by Pablo Picasso are in danger of destruction following severe damages to the buildings that house them.  The two buildings were severely damaged in the terrorist attacks of July 2011 in the Norwegian city of Oslo, and government employees have voiced concerns that they may require demolition.  “If the buildings were demolished and the murals integrated into new ones or brought to another site, they would no longer be the works Picasso intended,” says Jørn Holme, the head of the Norwegian Directorate for Cultural Heritage. (more…)

 Gardar Eide Einarsson – Sorry If I Got It Wrong, But Something Definitely Isn’t Right (Gallery View)

Currently on view at the Team Gallery’s space on Grand Street New York City is an exhibition of new work by Gardar Eide Einarsson, showcasing the Norwegian’s multidisciplinary scope, and confrontational approach to exhibition.  In this most recent show, Sorry If I Got It Wrong, But Something Definitely Isn’t Right, the artist explores the intricately connected systems of political dissent currently at play on the global stage.

 Gardar Eide Einarsson – Untitled 1969 (2012)

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