OSLO.- Galerie Eva Presenhuber announced that Matias Faldbakken's sculpture UPHOLDING has been selected for the National 22 July Memorial in the new Government Quarter in Oslo, to commemorate the terrorist attacks of 22 July 2011 on the island of Utøya.
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Faldbakken's work will be based on the re-erection of the steel frame that was custom-made to move and preserve Picasso's mural The Fishermen. The motif in the stone mosaic is taken from Utøya. It is a drawing of a small wading bird and some reeds and branches reflected in the water of the Tyrifjord. The other side of the structure shows the pattern of the bracing frame, a geometric relief painted in deep blue, deep green and bright red. The colour scheme highlights the distinctive structure that supports the mosaic (and previously supported The Fishermen). The sculpture, measuring 12 x 15 x 6 metres, will frame the designated memorial area. With its frame and mosaic, it will act as a link between the two sites of the terrorist attack, the Government quarter and Utøya.
KORO (Public Art Norway) was commissioned to manage the first phase of the project and oversaw the competition. The multi-round selection process was carried out by a diverse jury of eleven members. The announcement concludes a three-year process that included an international open call and a thorough two-round competition, as well as a series of public seminars.
Background
The bombing in Oslo and the massacre on the island of Utøya on 22 July 2011 were the worst terrorist attacks in modern Norwegian history. Eight people were killed in the Government Quarter in central Oslo, and 69 were killed on Utøya, an island outside the capital that is the historic home of a summer camp organised by the Norwegian Labour Party’s youth wing (AUF). Most of the victims were young people. Many more were injured and subjected to life-threatening danger, both in the Government Quarter and on Utøya. The damage was enormous.
The attacks were politically motivated, carried out by a Norwegian right-wing extremist targeting democratic institutions, the Labour Party in particular, and politically involved youth. The terrorist’s atrocities lack precedent in Norwegian history.
In 2012, the government decided to establish two official memorials, one in connection with Utøya, the other in the Government Quarter in Oslo. The permanent memorial at Utøyakaia, the mainland berth for the ferry to Utøya, opened in the spring of 2022. A temporary memorial opened in the Government Quarter in 2018, which the permanent memorial resulting from this process will replace.
KORO’s previous project relating to remembrance sites was concluded in 2017. You can read more about the process here (in Norwegian).
The Project
The Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development (KDD) has commissioned KORO to develop a preliminary project for a permanent national memorial to be established in the Government Quarter. You can read the commissioning letter here (pdf in Norwegian). In June 2023, the commisioning letter was updated. This letter is available here (pdf in Norwegian).
The government has set off an area for the memorial within the Johan Nygaardsvolds plaza. At the foot of the historic Høyblokka building, the area is close to where the bomb was detonated and to where the entrance to the new 22 July Centre, a national remembrance and learning centre dedicated to the legacy of the attacks, will be. Along with this learning centre, the memorial will be part of the new Government Quarter. Accessible 24 hours a day, the new memorial will be a suitable place for commemorative events. The names of the 77 victims will be part of the remembrance site.
The preliminary project will be carried out as an open call for expressions of interest, followed by a subsequent two-stage art competition for selected artists and architects. The winning proposal will be chosen by an interdisciplinary jury consisting of experts from the fields of art and memory studies as well as persons from relevant interest groups and affected persons.
These are selected to make proposals for the memorial
18 September 2023, an open call was announced with application deadline on 1 November 2023. KORO received 220 applications from artists, architects and groups. 5 and 6 December 2023 the jury met to select ten participants for part one of the competition.
On 5 January 2024 these ten participants were announced:
• Anna Daniell
• A K Dolven and Cathrine Vigander
• Beate Hølmebakk and Per Tamsen
• Henning Sunde, Hanne Tyrmi and Rainer Stange
• Kjetil Trædal Thorsen and Jorunn Sannes*
• Marianne Heier
• Matias Faldbakken
• Merete Røstad and Jad El Khoury
• Monica Narula, Jeebesh Bagchi and Shuddhabrata Sengupta (Raqs Media Collective)
• Sumayya Vally and Suzanne Lacy
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