THE SCULPTURE PARK

THE “MILLENNIUM LOCATION”

The Henie Onstad Art Centre is situated on a headland – Høvikodden, just outside Oslo, in grounds that cover around 30 acres. The site was offered by Bærum borough council in 1968, when plans for the establishment of an art centre were afoot. The parkland surrounding the Art Centre also functions as a recreational area for the local population. It is stunningly located near the sea, with public paths, a quay and a bathing beach. In 2000, the public voted it the borough’s most popular place: the “Millennium Location”. It also functions as a sculpture park, and the Art Centre has sited many of its sculptural artworks here throughout the years; some are permanent installations, whilst others are of a more temporary nature, relating to current exhibitions of various kinds. Some of the work has had to be removed due to the effects of wind and weather, whilst other sculptures have simply been relocated in order to create a more dynamic, lively environment.

Arnold Haukeland

The Norwegian artist Arnold Haukeland was commissioned to make this sculpture by Niels Onstad in commemoration of Sonja Henie. It is positioned at the entrance to the park, by the approach road to the Art Centre. The work no longer turns on its own axis like a sundial, as it did originally, but it is nevertheless a distinctive landmark that commemorates the Art Centre’s generous donor.
 

Eugène Dodeigne

This work was donated by Niels Onstad in 1976, and has since been placed in various locations in the Sculpture Park.
 

Émile Gillioli

A smaller version of this sculpture, in brass, can be found in Sonja Henie and Niels Onstad’s Core Collection. The larger version was stored for many years, but has now been placed in the park of Det Norske Veritas, which is adjacent to the Art Centre’s Sculpture Park. The sculpture unites these two neighbouring areas.
 

Henry Moore

In 1975, the Henie Onstad Art Centre organized a major retrospective exhibition of Henry Moore’s work. The artist fell in love with the landscape surrounding the Art Centre. When this work was bought jointly by Niels Onstad and the Norwegian Arts Council in 1978, and donated to the Art Centre, it was Moore’s wish that it be sited on the knoll in front of the centre, where it continues to act as an important landmark.
 

Kai Nielsen

These two major works by the Danish sculptor Kai Nielsen were donated to the Art Centre by Therese and Anton Klaveness in 1978. Mother of Water is a well-known sculpture, and another version in marble may be found at the Glyptoteket Museum in Copenhagen. This is the only existing example of Zeus and Io however. Both sculptures are placed on the grass lawn in front of the entrance to the Art Centre.
 

Sculptures from Borealis 2: Posisjon Nord, 1985

Borealis 2 was a Nordic sculpture project that was organized in collaboration with Nordisk  Konstcentrum in Finland. A group of ten Nordic artists were invited to participate. Their task was to work outdoors, in a natural setting, using available materials, such as wood and stone. The project cannot really be called Land Art, but the work was to be located within the Sculpture Park and the terrain directly adjoining the Art Centre, characterized by its proximity to the sea, woods, old roads and paths, as well as the traditional parkland. Many of the sculptures remain in place today, somewhat battered by the elements and the ravages of time, but they are still an exciting addition to the Art Centre’s Sculpture Park.
 

Bård Breivik

This work refers to one of the oldest building methods known to man – the simple act of laying one stone on top of another. It seems to be yet another natural element in the terrain; like a passage with steps that leads from the park up into the woods.
 

Per Kirkeby

This sculpture is one of Per Kirkeby’s many brick-built installations which he made for parks and urban environments during the mid and late 1980s. The artist used one of the traditional building crafts that is still very much alive in his native country, Denmark. The construction is exceedingly beautiful, and functions here as a free-standing sculpture, well-placed in the terrain, facing seawards.
 

Bjørn Nørgaard

This is a sculpture that is constructed from a range of different materials, placed in a clearing in the middle of the woods. The title – Ragnarokk – refers to a specific legend in Nordic mythology: the final
destruction, or apocalypse, for both gods and humans. The artist had this to say about the  connection between this project and Nordic mythology:

For us, Nordic mythology is with us every time we open and shut our eyes, but in our rucksacks, we carry other mythologies and stories: Greek, South American, African, Chinese, Arabic, etc. It’s part of our education, our culture, the information that’s available, and tradition.

The Vikings travelled – the northern countries have a seafaring culture; thus, the Nordic culture was created at sea, and these seafarers brought all kinds of things home with them. [...] All great upheavals happen when cultures collide, mix together, and synthesize.

I see a great conglomeration of images, consisting of a huge number of individual pictures, manifold, and yet simple, because they can be viewed as one enormous picture that can be interpreted as a series of individual elements. That’s what art can do – create pictures. That’s what we need – new pictures created from old, Nordic, Imagery
 

Jan Håfström

This sculpture, also part of the Borealis project, emerges from the landscape, half overgrown. Its reference points are the kinds of things we find when we wander in the countryside: old walls, excavated cellars, metal objects.
 

Tony Cragg

Tony Cragg’s installation was part of the Borealis project, and emphasizes the strong links between British and Norwegian art.
 

Trygve Fredriksen

This work was originally made as an advertising object, commissioned by an importer of bananas in 1952, to be placed on the roof of their banana-ripening warehouse in Oslo. It was one of Oslo’s best-known landmarks for over forty years, but the warehouse was moved, and the work taken down in 1992. By all accounts, Claes Oldenburg was inspired by the banana – he saw it several times. It is now deposited at Høvikodden, where it brightens up the Sculpture Park and functions as a reminder of Pop Art, with links to various other exhibitions that take place inside the Art Centre.
 

Per Inge Bjørlo

The most recent sculpture to be placed in the Sculpture Park was given to the Art Centre in connection with its 40th anniversary in August 2008. It was originally made for a competition for a monument commemorating those who lost their lives whilst working for the United Nations Peace Corps, to be placed outside the United Nations Building in New York. However, the UN was criticized for drawing attention to itself in this way, and no sculpture was ever chosen. Since then, Bjørlo’s work has been in storage, before finally finding a “home” in front of the Henie Onstad Art Centre.

Bjørlo describes his sculpture thus:

My starting point is myself as a human being – a common emotional experience of being embryo/afraid/anxious.

From the gesture expressing this – pulling my knees against my chest – lying down or sitting up – I have made an abstraction.

Convey the various sides of this emotion – by moulding/sheltering it into an organic shape.