National Museum Norway presents fourth selection of works from The Fredriksen Family Collection
Mark Bradford, Gatekeeper, 2019. © Mark Bradford. The Fredriksen Family Collection, Photo: Annar Bjørgli/Nasjonalmuseet.
OSLO.—
Norway’s National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design announced its fourth presentation of works selected from The Fredriksen Family Collection.
Fragmentation is a phenomenon that some might say, defines our time. Fragmentationis used to describe everything from political polarization and fractured communities to algorithms that distract our attention. At the same time, fragmentation is a vital strategy in today’s art, with origins in the collages and montages of the avant-garde.
The exhibition features works by Firelei Báez, Louise Bourgeois, Mark Bradford, Roni Horn, Suzanne Jackson, Simone Leigh, Wangechi Mutu, Maja Ruznic, Shahzia Sikander, Sarah Sze, and TARWUK.
Bringing together works from The Fredriksen Family Collection, this exhibition examines fragmentation as both theme and technique in global contemporary art The artists break up something whole and then reassemble the fragments to create new forms. Different techniques are used to create these works, such as cutting, grinding, folding, taping, gluing, and sampling—or even the application of flocking algorithms.
Such fragmentation creates new stories about everything from historiography, migration, and identity to an everyday saturated by media technology. Firelei Báez takes the vestiges of the transatlantic slave trade and assembles them into new, more hospitable mythologies, while Wangechi Mutu deconstructs the representations of African women in fashion and pornographic magazines and transforms them into cyborg-like beings. Roni Horn allows seemingly opposing dimensions of gender, material, and place to meet in an androgynous sensibility. And in the works of Sarah Sze, the fragmented attention of screen culture is merged into pictures of intricate media-ecological interaction.
The Fredriksen Family Collection
The Fredriksen Family Collection is dedicated to the memory of Inger Katharina Astrup Fredriksen (1950–2006). It has constantly evolved since the acquisition of its first works in 2018. Considered together, the art in the collection represents a diversity of expressions, positions and strategies, with particular emphasis on art from the post-war period until today.
The Pillars
The Fredriksen Family Collection forms the basis for the National Museum's exhibition series in the dedicated gallery space called The Pillars. Designed by 2050+, the flexible exhibition architecture allows for a series of exhibitions to be displayed with different layouts, colors and expressions, yet with a recognizable identity that both contrasts and complements the museum's presentation of its own collection.
The National Museum
Located in Oslo, Norway, the National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design is the largest art museum in the Nordic countries. The collection, which contains 400,000 objects from antiquity to the present day, includes paintings, sculpture, drawings, textiles, furniture and architectural models. At the National Museum, visitors can experience a comprehensive collection presentation of around 6,500 works, in addition to a varied program of temporary exhibitions and events.
