Simen Engen Larsen

Using as his starting point the institutional history of Trastad Samlinger, National Centre for Outsider Art, Simen Engen Larsen continues to study the production of memories – how memories are managed and the ownership of memories and intellectual property. Trastad Samlinger is located in the village of Borkenes, near Harstad, in the premises of an institution that was called ‘Nord-Norges Åndssvakehjem’ from 1954 to 1991. Those who lived here were defined as ‘intellectually disabled’, which at the time included both psychiatric cases and functional variations. Although the residents were defined as ‘untrainable’, they eventually received art lessons from Sigvor Riksheim. This contributed to bringing out strong artistic expressions and to establishing the careers of well-known artists such as Torstein Nilsen and Herleik Kristiansen. An enormous collection of works by the residents is now part of Trastad Samlinger, which also includes 14,000 photos of everyday life at the institution. The photo collection has not been made public due to privacy issues and out of consideration for the residents.

The core of the works which Simen Engen Larsen presents at LIAF 2024 consists of a series of gouache paintings on coloured paper. They take shape as fuzzy or watery photos that are based on studies of the photo collection from Trastad. These are then printed on semi-transparent paper. Enger Larsen’s mode of immersing himself in the material emphasizes the problematic layers in the collection simultaneously as it implicates him in the history.

The project was commissioned by LIAF 2024 and produced through collaboration with Trastad Samlinger and Trondenes Historiske Senter (Sør-Troms Museum). It is supported by Arts and Culture Norway.

Simen Engen Larsen (1983) studied at Nordland Kunst- og Filmskole in Kabelvåg, Iceland University of the Arts in Reykjavik and Trondheim Academy of Fine Art (master’s degree). He grew up in Kabelvåg and now lives and works in Oslo. His artistic practices centres on the body, gestures and the production of memories. The works take the form of installations consisting of drawings, collages, sculptural elements, video and sound, and he often finds his subject matter through processing his own archive of photos and prints, which he situates in relation to other specific collections.