villgjessplogen drar over oss

Featuring new works by eight artists, A Murmuration of Wild Geese Flies Over Us comprises a series of sculptures, still lifes and installations presented on a pine Ivar shelving system that usually stands in Volt’s office at the House of Literature in Bergen. Each artist has been invited to show their work on a single shelf.

The common thread linking these artists’ practices is their concern with and use of natural materials – such as wood, clay, stone and silk – as well as various forms of recycling. While the artists have different sculptural approaches, they all create detailed and subtle works that both incorporate and connect to the world around us. The title of the exhibition is taken from Kristin Berget’s latest collection of poems Middelalderen (The Middle Ages, Cappelen Damm, 2024), in which a murmuration of birds flying overhead could serve as a metaphor for the unique ability of art and poetry to achor the world in the present.

The exhibition is installed inside a 1950s ticket office that was originally located on Vågsallmenningen, one of Bergen’s main thoroughfares. Part of the cityscape for 50 years, the kiosk has been restored by Bergen Municipality and relocated to Laksevåg Park.

Maia Birkeland lives on Osterøy. In her practice, she investigates and sheds light on aspects of rural cultural history and nature as a place and resource. Exploring materials, techniques and processes, her installations, sculptures, performances and social projects are united by a fascination for human encounter and for how places and people influence each other.

Birkeland studied at Oslo National Academy of the Arts, and Glasgow School of Art. She has had solo exhibitions at Trafo Kunsthall and Sogn og Fjordane Kunstmuseum, among others. Her work has also been shown at BWA Wroclaw Galleries of Contemporary Art; Drammens Museum; and Janus Vestjyllands Kunstmuseum. As part of an artist duo with Monika Mørck, Birkeland has exhibited at Format, Oslo; Hordaland Kunstsenter, Bergen; and Trøndelag Centre for Contemporary Art,Trondheim. Birkeland is also director of Håsong Art Festival, Hosanger.

Edvine Larssen lives and works between Trondheim and Stokkøya. Her practice, which operates both within and beyond the gallery context, occupies the intersection between the performative, the sculptural and the architectonic. Her installations are conceptual, and also have a material, sensory appeal.

Larssen holds a PhD from the Norwegian Artistic Research Programme at NTNU Art Academy, Trondheim, and has studied at the Centre for Contemporary art, Kitakyushu, Japan; Trondheim Academy of Fine Art, and Kingston University, London. She has been invited to create site-specific works for LevArt, Levanger; the National Museum, Oslo; Tromsø Kunstforening; Kunstnernes Hus, Oslo; Trondheim International Performing Arts Festival and Trøndelag Centre for Contemporary Art, Trondheim – to name but a few. She is also a former professor at the Academy of Arts, UiT, The Artic University of Norway. Larssen has a longstanding engagement with arts policy and is currently deputy chair of the Association of Norwegian Visual Artists.

Cato Løland lives and works in Bergen. Characterized by subtlety, vulnerability and playfulness, his artistic practice draws on a range of techniques and materials – from discarded flea-market textiles and natural found objects to expensive silks, valuable metals and items of high-end industrial production – that provide a wealth of opportunity for artistic creation.

Løland graduated with an MFA from Bergen Academy of Art and Design. His most recent exhibitions were held at Astrup Fearnley Museum, Oslo; Carvalho Park, New York; KODE Art Museums, Bergen; Kunstgarasjen, Bergen; Lundgren Gallery, Palma; Ølhallene, Stavanger; The Address, Brescia; and Paris Internationale. Løland’s work features in the collections of Bergen Municipality; KODE Art Museums; Public Art Norway; Nordenfjeldske Kunstindustrimuseum; Sogn og Fjordane Art Museum; and University of Bergen. A monograph, Cato Løland: Chests, was published in 2022.

Alex Hamish Millar is a Scottish artist based in Bergen. His multimedia installations and sculptures examine the ways in which we relate to technology and the natural environment. Inspired by religious iconology, mythology and occult symbolism, Millar uses assemblage and sculpture to create unconventional associations that challenge typical ideas of nature, cultural value and history.

Millar has a BA in Fine Art from Glasgow School of Art, UK, and an MFA from the Faculty of Fine Art, Music and Design at the University of Bergen. His most recent solo exhibitions were Transit of the Sphinx, Nonneseter Chapel, Bergen, and Revelation Engine, BLOKK Project Space, Bergen.

David A. Rios lives and works in Bergen. Through sculpture, printmaking and installation, he explores notions of absence and the void, seeking to trace that which no longer exists – whether a sense of longing for someone or something, or the emptiness their absence leaves behind.

Rios has a MA in Fine Art from Bergen Academy of the Art and Design. He has previously exhibited at Norske Grafikere, Spriten Kunsthall, Lydgalleriet, Studio 17 and CodexNordica, San Francisco, among others. He is an associate professor at Bergen School of Architecture.

Siv Bugge Vatne lives and works in Oslo. Her artistic practice comprises installation, drawing and sculpture in wood and stone. Since 2018, Bugge Vatne’s installations have been linked to studies of the Voynich Manuscript, a codex carbon-dated to the early 15th century that consists of unique botanical drawings and a text in an unknown language. The artist uses this 600-year-old mystery as a starting point for exploring materials and words in her installations.

Bugge Vatne completed her studies at Oslo National Academy of the Arts and Gerrit Rietveld Academie in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. She has exhibited at Vestfossen Kunstlaboratorium, Nils Aas Kunstverksted, Kunstnerforbundet, the National Museum, Oslo and at Dimensions Variable, Miami, among others. Her works are represented in several collections such as KUBE, Punkt Ø and Public Art Agency Sweden.

Kiyoshi Yamamoto is a Japanese Brazilian artist based in Bergen. In a practice that encompasses textiles, printmaking, jewelry and performance, he poses critical and challeging socio-political questions. For many years, Yamamoto has drawn inspiration from the creative life and work of artist and textile designer Anni Albers.

Yamamoto has an MFA from Bergen Academy of Art and Design and has also studied at London College of Fashion and Escola de Belas Arts, Rio de Janeiro. He has exhibited widely, including at MUNCH, Bodø Biennale, Trøndelag Centre for Contemporary Art, Sandefjord Kusntforening and Nitja. He has created artworks for several public institutions, including the Deichman library in Bjørvika, Oslo. His works have been purchased by Nordenfjeldske Kunstindustrimuseum, KODE Bergen Art Museum, the Norwegian embassy in Brasilia, DNB’s art collection, and Oslo and Bergen municipality, among others. He has taught at the Faculty of Fine Art, Music and Design, University of Bergen, the Academy of Arts, UiT, Artic University of Norway and Sámi University of Applied Sciences in Kautokeino.

Kari Aasen lives and works in Bergen. Her sculptural objects, installations and ceramics examine cycles and processes to investigate transience and the vulnerability of nature. Her focus is often on the process of transformation and the repetitive actions experienced in the encounter between hand and material.

Aasen graduated from Bergen School of Arts and Crafts in 1974 before undertaking an MFA in ceramics from Bergen National Academy of the Arts in 2001. She has exhibited widely in Norway and abroad, and her works are part of several collections, including KODE Art Museums; Nordenfjeldske Kunstindustrimuseum; Nordnorsk Kunstmuseum; The National Museum, Oslo; and Västerås Konstmuseum. She has been the recipient of a number of scholarships and grants, as well as of an honorary award from the Norwegian Association for Arts and Crafts.