22/8/2013
The Goodness Regime
Kunsthall, Oslo
A new film written and directed collaboratively by the artists Jumana Manna and Sille Storihle. With the help of a cast of children, the film investigates the foundations of the ideology and self-image of modern Norway.
The Goodness Regime (21 mins, 2013) is a new film written and directed collaboratively by the artists Jumana Manna and Sille Storihle. With the help of a cast of children, the film investigates the foundations of the ideology and self-image of modern Norway – from the Crusades, via the adventures of Fridtjof Nansen and the trauma of wartime occupation, to the diplomatic theatre of the Oslo Peace Accords. The Goodness Regime was shot in Norway and Palestine, and combines the children’s performances with archive sound recordings and new documentary footage filmed on location. The film will be premiered at Kunsthall Oslo exactly twenty years after the conclusion and signing of the Oslo Agreement by Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organisation in August and September 1993.The work is supported by Arts Council Norway, Sharjah Art Foundation, Billedkunstnernes Vederlagsfond, Norsk Fotografisk Fond, and Office for Contemporary Art Norway. An in-progress version of the film was previewed at the 11th Sharjah Biennial, and the work will also tour to the Bergen Triennial 2013.
Jumana Manna (b. 1987, USA) works primarily with film/video and sculpture, with a focus on the investigation of power structures, subcultures, nationalism and memory. She holds a BFA from the National Academy of the Arts, Oslo and an MA in Aesthetics and Politics from California Institute of the Arts. Recent exhibitions and screenings include Home Works Forum VI (Beirut), UKS Young Artists Society (Oslo), Berlinische Galerie (Berlin) and ICA (London). In 2012, she was awarded The Young Palestinian Artist of the Year Award from the A. M. Qattan Foundation.
Sille Storihle (b. 1985, Norway) is an artist and researcher based in Oslo. Her central areas of interest include gender politics, nationalism and history. With Liv Bugge, she runs FRANK, a salon to build community, show contemporary art and generate discussions addressing hegemonic structures in society relating to gender, sexuality and desire. Storihle holds a BA in Fine Art from Trondheim Academy of Fine Art and an MA in Aesthetics and Politics from California Institute of the Arts. Her artistic and curatorial projects have recently been shown at Unge Kunstneres Samfund (2013), Kunstnernes Hus (2012) and Kunstnerforbundet (2012). She also recently edited the book Postscript on Curing Normality (2013), published by FRANK.
Opening Friday 23rd August 7pm
Kunsthall Oslo
Trelastgata 3, 0191 Oslo
Opening hours: 11-5 Wednesday-Friday, 12-5 Saturday and Sunday during exhibitions. Closed to the public on Monday and Tuesday.
Entrance: 20 kr/free for artists, students, under-16s, pensioners. Group reductions available.