OSLO.- Public Art Norway announced the completion of the National 22 July Memorial in the new Government Quarter in central Oslo, Norway.
The bombing in Oslo and the massacre on the island of Utøya on July 22, 2011 were the worst terrorist attacks in modern Norwegian history. The far-right nationalist killed eight people in the Government Quarter in central Oslo, and 69 people at the AUF (Workers’ Youth League) summer camp on the nearby island of Utøya. In 2012, the government decided to establish two official memorial sites, one in connection with Utøya, the other in the Government Quarter in Oslo.
With his proposal titled Upholding, the Norwegian artist Matias Faldbakken won the international competition to design the national memorial site in the Government Quarter. The decision was announced on April 8, 2025, during a public event at Kunstnernes Hus in Oslo.
Monumental and caring
Faldbakken’s sculpture Upholding stands in the plaza vis á vis the iconic 1958 Highrise Building (H-Block) in the Government Quarter, as a monument framing the memorial site located between the H-Block’s Western Pavilion, and the entrance pavilion to the new 22 July Centre.
The sculpture Upholding is based on re-erecting the large steel rig that was built to hold and relocate Pablo Picasso’s artwork The Fishermen from the demolished Y-block to the new A-block, a result of the Quarter’s comprehensive reconfiguration in the aftermath of the bombing. In Faldbakken’s version, the rig is filled with a monumental mosaic comprised of around 300,000 stone pieces. The motif, taken from Utøya, depicts a small wader bird (a common greenshank) and some reeds and twigs reflected in the waters of the Tyrifjord.
The other side of the structure shows the pattern of the bracing frame, a geometric relief painted in deep blue, deep green, and vivid red. The colour scheme highlights the distinctive structure that supports the mosaic. The rig and the mosaic act as a link between the two scenes of the terrorist attack, the Government Quarter and Utøya.
As part of the work on the memorial, the artist initiated a collaborative process to finalize the mosaic image. Together with the 22 July Centre and KORO, Faldbakken invited survivors, the bereaved, teenagers and members of the public to lay stones in the memorial mosaic together with Faldbakken. For a duration of three weeks around 2,000 people contributed to the work of adding the last 7,000 stones in a provisional workshop at the new memorial site. The final stone was laid by Merete Stamneshagen, chair of The National Support Group after July 22, whose daughter was killed at Utøya. The collaborative work marked the end of a long process that has involved many participants.
A new memorial aesthetic
Faldbakken’s memorial distinguishes itself from a canonical memorial tradition that has shaped much of the commemorative art since the 1980s. By focusing on ongoing maintenance of democratic life and conditions that make democratic practice possible, Upholding challenges the idea of memorials as mainly sites for contemplating past tragedies and loss of lives. In addition to commemorating the people killed in the terror attack, Faldbakken seeks, with his memorial, to engage the public in democratic resilience against the right-wing ideology that inspired the terrorist.
The conclusion of an inclusive process
The memorial will open to the public on July 19, a few days prior to the 15-year commemoration of the terrorist attacks.
The inauguration concludes a four-year-long process which included an international open call and a thorough competition in two rounds, as well as a series of public seminars.
*Image above: On Monday, June 22, Faldbakken met with the national press at the memorial site, together with the National Support Group after July 22, AUF (Worker's Youth League), Public Art Norway (KORO) and the 22 July Centre. The production of the memorial is now in its final stages, and it will be inaugurated on July 19, 2026.
