[artinfo] a seminar on "Normality"

[Art&Education]

A seminar on "Normality"

March 28, 2014 
Free admission. Lunch and coffee will be served.

Registration from March 7: <mailto:booking at hok.no>booking at hok.no

Henie Onstad Kunstsenter (HOK)
Sonja Henies vei 31
1311 Høvikodden
Norway
Hours: 10-16h

<http://interspire.e-flux.com/link.php?M=2690&N=8266&L=16074&F=H>www.hok.no

The seminar is the last event of the contemporary 
art exhibition project titled Vi lever på en 
stjerne (We Are Living on a Star), which opened 
on January 30 at HOK. The exhibition takes its 
title from a tapestry woven in 1958 by Hannah 
Ryggen, which hung in the Norwegian government 
building, known as the High-Rise, until July 22, 
2011. The extensive explosion that took place 
that day left the tapestry with a gash in the 
left lower corner. Like a wound that has healed, 
this tear is now barely visible after meticulous 
reconstruction, although a slight scar remains--a 
testament to the brutal tear in the fabric of 
Norwegian society. In a short span of time the 
events of July 22 transformed the experience of 
normality as it was known and, consequently, the 
predictable. The normal was no longer familiar, 
and the abnormal was no longer associated only 
with the foreign. 

During and after the trial against Anders Behring 
Breivik, Norway was encompassed in a larger 
debate about his sanity and responsibility, about 
normality and the soundness of the mind. 
Normality, however, is far more than the opposite 
of insanity. The normative intervenes in all 
parts of society and regulates all our actions; 
it defines what appears as natural and should 
therefore be considered as a highly relevant 
issue in political and aesthetic discussions.

Lectures by Renata Salecl, Even Smith Wergeland, 
Sandi Hilal from DAAR (Decolonizing Architecture 
Art Residency), and Tone Hansen, among others.

Moderated by Thomas Keenan. 

Organized by Henie Onstad Kunstsenter (HOK) in 
collaboration with Fritt Ord (The Freedom of 
Expression Foundation).