The Finnish-Norwegian Cultural Institute and Mesén invite you to a performance by Helsinki-based artist Sasha Huber during Oslo Culture Night on 13 September. The performance is a collaboration with the Master’s Programme in Art and Public Spaces at the Oslo National Academy of the Arts and it will be shown twice and will conclude with an artist talk after the final showing. This is the first time the work will be shown in Norway, and it will take place in the monumental hall of the former Museum of Contemporary Art at Bankplassen 4.
A performance about power, suppression and identity
Sasha Huber is an internationally recognized multimedia artist known for the way she engages with places and peoples to explore various issues related to democracy and colonialism. In Stripped Down to the Bones, Huber directs the audience’s attention to unjust structures in our society where the line between visible and invisible is blurred. The artist herself, joined by a group of people, performs a series of repetitive gestures.
The performance commemorates lives that have been systematically destroyed by colonization and through forced migration. The performance reconstructs an assembly line where identities of people are anonymously processed, divided, and utilized according to desires of a dominant culture. What is left of such lives? The performance tries to embody the body people lose and attempt to flesh apiece after losing their families and cultures.
An artist talk
After the final performance, we will organise an artist talk based on the artwork. The conversation will be concluded in English and led by Merete Røstad, artist, educator, and program coordinator for the Master’s program in Art and Public Space, as well as research director at the Oslo National Academy of the Arts.
Program
When: Oslo Culture Night, 13 September
6 PM Performance
7 PM Performance
7:30 PM Artist talk
Where: The former Museum of Contemporary Art, Bankplassen 4, Oslo, Main hall, first floor
Free entrance
The space is partially accessible. There is an alternative entrance on the left side of the building accessible by wheelchair. There is a lift to the first floor. For entrance, please call (+47) 40 62 40 08 and our staff will welcome you in. Chairs are offered for sitting. There is no induction loop system in the venue.
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About Sasha Huber
Sasha Huber (b. 1975) is a Helsinki-based visual artist with Swiss-Haitian heritage. Huber’s work is concerned with the politics of memory, care, and belonging in relation to colonial residues left in the environment. She works across various mediums, including archival material within a layered creative practice that encompasses performance-based reparative interventions, video, photography, and collaborations.
Huber graduated from the Aalto University School of Arts, Design, and Architecture and is currently completing her PhD at Zurich University of the Arts, Department of Art and Media. She has held several solo exhibitions both in Finland and abroad and has participated in numerous international group exhibitions, including the Venice Biennale in 2015. From 2021–24 her work has been touring under the title “You Name It” which was circulated by The Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery in Toronto.
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The performance is a collaboration between the Finnish-Norwegian Cultural Institute, Kulturbyrået Mesén and the Master’s Programme in Art and Public Spaces at the Oslo National Academy of the Arts. ”Stripped Down to the Bones” is supported by Oslo municipality, the Norwegian-Finnish Cultural Foundation, and Arts Promotion Centre Finland.