Hjorth & Kjølaas

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The artist duo Hjorth & Kjølaas’s works fall into categories such as satire, caricature, avant-garde, erotica, camp, art history, philosophy and social criticism, as shown through drawings, performance, costumes and sculpture. A common denominator for their projects is their rootedness in a local, historical context. Hjorth & Kjølaas take a speculative approach to customs and myths, historical figures and events. The works are partly critical of prevailing narratives, also partly satires over the deep-seated insanity of civilized society.

Hjorth & Kjølaas’s five drawings in coloured pencil present characters developed for the series The Research Expedition (2024), which consisting of 17 drawings about a research voyage in which the distinction between art and science becomes ‘moistened’. Two older characters – an artist and a researcher – discover different cultural and natural-historical connections. The action in the drawings can be interpreted in different ways, through numerous hidden references.

The series of drawings is connected to The University Gate (2024), a monument to academic freedom, consisting of two enormous creatures in burnt wood. The Research Expedition was commissioned by KORO for Nord University in Bodø, in order to mark the university’s major investment in sustainability and ‘the green transition’ at Noatun, a new building for marine biology, aquaculture and genomics. The series of drawings, which will be installed in Noatun in the autumn of 2024, is also a monument to academic freedom – the freedom to think and move in whatever direction each person chooses for themselves. This principle is under increasing pressure, Hjorth & Kjølaas point out, yet it is of fundamental significance for researchers and artists alike.

The artist duo Hjorth & Kjølaas consists of Siri Hjorth (b. 1986) and Sebastian Makonnen Kjølaas (1985). Both artists live and work in Oslo. They studied at Oslo National Academy of the Arts and work with drawing, sculpture and performance. The two have collaborated on numerous art projects since 2009, and in 2016 they married in the Emanuel Vigeland Mausoleum. They have exhibited at (a selection) the National Museum, Oslo (2022); Kunstnerforbundet, Oslo (2022); Henie Onstad kunstsenter, Høvikodden (2021); Ekebergparken Sculpture Park, Oslo (2020); Kunsthall Oslo (2020); Kunstnernes Hus, Oslo (2020); the Bauhaus Museum, Dessau (2019); and Fondazione Prada, Venice (2018). During 2021 the duo participated in an artist residency programme at Cité internationale des arts in Paris. Their works have been purchased by KORO and for the Henie Onstad Collection and the City of Oslo Art Collection.