What happens when new artistic voices are given time, space and close guidance?
This is the question at the heart of Excellent Talent, True Northern Arts Festival’s pilot project for an inclusive talent programme in visual art. In the exhibition, audiences will encounter Halvard Damm Laupstad from Trondheim, Kris-Stian Klausen from Harstad and Mikael Rene Fredriksen from Tromsø – three artists with disabilities who have spent the spring immersing themselves in their own forms of expression and developing new works.
The exhibition opens at Preg on Sunday 21 June at 13:00, with speeches by Mayor Else Marie Stenhaug and Susanne Næss Nielsen, Director of True Northern Arts Festival. The three artists will also introduce themselves and their artworks during the opening.
‘This exhibition shows what can happen when artists are given the right support and facilitation to develop their own expression. Excellent Talent highlights three unique artists and makes visible the value of inclusive artistic practices that make it possible to participate on one’s own terms. We hope audiences will come away with powerful artistic experiences, as well as an understanding of how important accessible development opportunities are to a diverse arts field,’ says Amanda Bach, Project Manager for Excellent Talent.
Building a bridge from youth work to a professional presentation platform
For True Northern Arts Festival, Excellent Talent is also a continuation of the festival’s work with young artistic voices through initiatives such as NUK and Ungdommenes Festspill.
‘For many years, True Northern Arts Festival has been committed to the creative development of young people through NUK and Ungdommenes Festspill. Excellent Talent is our attempt to support talents in visual art who have the commitment and creative drive to continue creating into adulthood. The project creates a bridge between our youth work and the professional presentation platform that the Festival also represents,’ says Næss Nielsen.
Through a mentoring scheme and targeted facilitation, the artists have developed and challenged their forms of expression. Audiences will experience drawing and painting featuring detailed universes, bold fields of colour and motifs that contain humour, seriousness and personal force.
About the artists
Kris-Stian Klausen, 32, is from Harstad. He has been drawing since lower secondary school and has previously exhibited at venues including Trastad Samlinger, Harstad Town Hall and Grytøy Bygdetun.
Mikael Rene Fredriksen, 26, is from Tromsø. He has been drawing and painting since he was a child, has held several exhibitions, including at the International Museum of Children’s Art in Oslo, and has distinguished himself at UKM on numerous occasions.
Halvard Damm Laupstad, 41, is from Trondheim. He has been drawing for the past two years and, last autumn, held the exhibition Nothing Special, in which his drawings were exhibited across the city of Trondheim.
Praktisk informasjon
Exhibition: Excellent Talent: Drawing the World Into Being
Venue: Preg, Harstad
Opening: Sunday 21 June at 13:00
Opening programme: Speeches by Mayor Else Marie Stenhaug and Director Susanne Næss Nielsen. The artists will introduce themselves and their works.
Open: 21 June, 14:00–18:00, and 22–27 June, 12:00–18:00
Admission: Free
Press contact:
Lisa Skaar Næss
Head of Marketing and Communications, True Northern Arts Festival
92834455
Available for interview
- Amanda Bach, project manager, Eksellent Talent, amandabach@outlook.com
- Susanne Næss Nielsen, Director, Festspillene i Nord-Norge, susanne@festspillnn.no
- Eva Lien, Head of Community and Sustainability Festspillene i Nord-Norge, eva@festspillnn.no
Press images:
👉 Link to folder // Photo credit: Amanda Bach
The images may be used free of charge in editorial coverage of the exhibition.