New Visions
The Henie Onstad Triennale for Photography and New Media
Henie Onstad presents the second edition of New Visions—The Henie Onstad Triennial for Photography and New Media. The triennial takes the pulse of experimental practices within contemporary photography and new media.
This second edition of the triennial presents works that push the boundaries of photography and automated image-making, to examine acutely relevant issues such as resource extraction, energy distribution and data harvesting.
The exhibition brings together works by 22 artists that tackle urgent questions relating to energy production and distribution, the extraction of natural and humanmade resources—from oil to data—and the ecological, social and political consequences of these ventures. The artists have ties to Norway, the Middle East, North Africa, Eastern Europe and Central Asia; regions that are connected by extractive economies.
Anna Engelhardt and Mark Cinkevich, Still from Onset, 2023. Courtesy of the artists.
New Visions 2023 includes several new commissions, some tailored to the spaces of Henie Onstad.
Visitors are invited beneath the surface in search of underseas data cables or into the sky for aerial views that reveal geological change through satellite images. Artists present light both as an information source and as a tool for policing visibility. They explore national identity building by repurposing traditional symbols, ornaments, and patterns.
Many works combine photography with unexpected materials, including salt, algae, silicone, cotton, and simulated nuclear glass. Others explore new technologies such as artificial intelligence and synthetic aperture radar – radar signals bouncing off surfaces and made into images – and their roles in surveillance and planetary observation.
Seif Kousmate, WAHA / Untitled, 2021. Courtesy of the artist.
The title of the triennial refers to the Hungarian artist and photographer László Moholy-Nagy’s text A New Instrument of Vision (1932), which greatly influenced the development of experimental photography in the 20th century. In the early decades of the last century, photography enabled new perceptions of an increasingly mechanized and industrialized world. Similarly, today’s artists use photography to explore the entanglements with machines and processes of automation and extraction.
New Visions 2023 is accompanied by a comprehensive English publication edited by Susanne Østby Sæther. This publication includes a foreword by Caroline Ugelstad, a curatorial statement by Inga Lāce, Reem Shadid, and Susanne Østby Sæther, and an essay by scholar Eglė Rindzevičiūtė, in addition to artist presentations. Design by Håkon Stensholt, ANTI and publishing by Henie Onstad Kunstsenter and Mousse Publishing.
- New Visions – The Henie Onstad Triennial for Photography and New Media
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Haig Aivazian, Tekla Aslanishvili, Sasha Azanova, Neïl Beloufa, Myriam Boulos, Mark Cinkevich, Marat Dilman, Anna Ehrenstein, Anna Engelhardt, Köken Ergun, Giorgi Gago Gagoshidze, Dilyara Kaipova, Seif Kousmate, Basim Magdy, Almagul Menlibayeva, Ketuta Alexi-Meskhishvili, Kristina Õllek, Monira Al Qadiri, Farah Al Qasimi, Emilija Škarnulytė, Lesia Vasylchenko, Istvan Virag.
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The exhibition is curated by Susanne Østby Sæther, Inga Lāce and Reem Shadid.
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Utstillingsprodusent: Silje Hammer
Intern konservator: Hilde Berteig Rustan
Ekstern konservator: Benedicte Nilssen
Museumsteknisk leder: Hans Christian Skui Lindvig
Museumsteknisk team: Dorthe Håker, Sjur Kleiven, Live Haug Hilton, Martin Bech-Ravn, Martine Eid Frisch, Tiago Bom Da Silva og Anders Hergum.
Redaktør: Susanne Østby Sæther
Utstillingsdesign:: Andrea Pinochet, +groma
Design: Håkon Stensholt, ANTI
Kommunikasjonsansvarlig: Therese Manus
Kommunikasjonsrådgiver: Liv Holte Steine
Digital markedsføring: Daniel Weiseth Kjellesvik
A special thanks to Aars for Aars Commission.
The exhibition has been generously supported by Aars, ABG Sundal Collier, Reitan Retail, IFA and SAHA.
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![Myriam Boulos]()
Myriam Boulos, What's ours, Beirut, Lebanon, 2019. Courtesy of the artist.
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![Basim Magdy]()
Basim Magdy, Someone Tried to Lock Up Time, History of the Stars, 2023. Courtesy of the artist.
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![Farah Al Qasimi ny3]()
Farah Al Qasimi, LED Rose, 2023. Courtesy of the artist.
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![Almagul Menlibayeva]()
Almagul Menlibayeva, AI Realism, Qantar 2022, 2022. Courtesy of the artist.
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![Marat Dilman]()
Marat Dilman, Untitled, 2019. Courtesy of the artist.
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![Lesia Vasylchenko]()
Lesia Vasylchenko, InSAR-image from SNRT, 2023. Image: Andreas Kääb and Thomas Schellenberger, Department of Geosciences, University of Oslo. Copernicus Sentinel-1 data / European Space Agency (ESA). Courtesy of the artist.
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![Kristina Õllek]()
Kristina Õllek, Surface Accumulation no. 2, 2022. Courtesy of the artist.
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![Ketuta Alexi Meskhishvili]()
Ketuta Alexi-Meskhishvili, Georgian Ornament, 2021. Installation view, Les Rencontres de la photographie d’Arles, 2021. Courtesy of the artist, Galerie Frank Elbaz, Paris and LC Queisser, Tbilisi
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![Istvan Virag]()
Istvan Virag, Pixel Pitch vol. 4, 2023 (detail). Courtesy of the artist.
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![Haig Aivazian]()
Haig Aivazian, Still from of All of Your Stars Are but Dust on My Shoes, 2021. Courtesy of the artist.
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![Emilija Skarnulyte]()
Emilija Skarnulyte, Still from RAKHNE, 2023. Courtesy of the artist.
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![Dilyara Kaipova]()
Dilyara Kaipova, Curse of Cotton, 2022. Courtesy of the artist.
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![Anna Ehrenstein]()
Anna Ehrenstein, Still from Capitalocene Safari Collage, 2019. Courtesy fo the artist, KOW Berlin, Office Impart.
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![Tekla Aslanishvili Giorgi Gago Gagoshidze]()
Tekla Aslanishvili and Giorgi Gago Gagoshidze, Still from Stone of Hell, 2021. Courtesy of the artist.
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![Monira Al Qadiri]()
Monira Al Qadiri, Reservoir Ten, 2022. Courtesy of the artist / photo: Ludger Paffrath.
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![Köken Ergun and Sasha Azanova]()
Köken Ergun and Sasha Azanova, Polar Silk Road, North Pole, 2023. Courtesy of the artist.
