Newsletter APRIL '26

Heia,

Sometimes, many things happen at once. This edition of the newsletter features news of recent stuff and what’s coming up. There is more, however(!), so I’ll be back in a few weeks with more updates. For the recommendation section this time around, we have the lovely Oslo-based performance artist Finn Adrian Jorkjen.

As always: Any and all responses are welcome through replies to this mail. And you can opt out of receiving them at the bottom.

Well wishes this spring!

DET LIKNER EN KROPP premiering at The Norwegian Short Film Festival

Our new short is nearly finished, and I’m stoked to announce that it’s in-competition for the upcoming Norwegian Short Film Festival! Really excited to show this one, since we’ve been at it for a while. And I hope to see some of you down south in Grimstad this June.

Thank you again to all the wonderful people in the cast and crew:

Partners in crime (producers): Johanna Nyström and Iggy Augunset
Co-director: Sverre Matias Smith

Cast: Me, Joakim Nesvik, Sunniva Eira Sætereng, Sarah Frostmo Faraj, Nevruz Ebru Aksu
Casting: Armita Keyani

DOP: Amelie Mattisson Chue, DFF
SFX/Production design: Izabella Englund
Assistant camera: Andrea White Hveding
Location sound: Oda Ryan Drechsler

Editor: Mali Almå
Sound design: Kim Reenskaug
Grade: Rasmus Hedin - Chemistry Film

Produced by: Skissefilm
Financed by: Norsk Filminstitutt, Viken Filmsenter, Billedkunstnernes vederlagsfond (BKV) and Tvibit

Full line-up and festival overview: https://kortfilmfestivalen.no

Intervention and performance at Nasjonalmuseet

Back in February, I was invited to show works as part of the event Senfredag: Azizam, in conjunction with the exhibition ‘Deviant Ornaments’, curated by Noor Bhangu.

My prerequisite for being part of Senfredag was to be able to make an intervention, which you can see below.

A refusal form invited audience members to sign their name, withdrawing their consent for the museum to measure and quantify their presence. The reasons for doing so are detailed on the paper.

This gesture was meant as both awareness-making, but also a way for audience members to claim a sense of agency and refusal; within a context that Nasjonalmuseet has used to art-wash the ongoing genocide of people in Gaza, whilst trying to position themselves favorably as a democratic institution.

Nasjonalmuseet is a strange institution. But as artists and visitors, it belongs to us and we get to define, dissent, and oppose. What the museum does is not enough. None of this enough. We deserve better.

🇵🇸

Thank you to Håkon Lillegraven, Lisa Andrine Bernhoft-Sjødin and Sofie Amiri for accommodating and helping out with all the works during the event. Print by Nilz & Otto.

List of works shown:
- Form of Refusal, intervention, 2026
- Untitled performance, 12 min., 2026
- Papegøye, video installation, 2019

Last month of HISTORY IS A BLACK CIRCLE on THIS IS SHORT

If you haven’t already, here’s a reminder that this is the last month to watch the 2021 experimental essay short ‘History is a Black Circle’ on the European short film VOD platform, along with a plethora of great shorts and accompanying texts.

About the work:
History is a Black Circle is an experimental video essay that revolves around questions of art, queer experience and history. It’s a story that transcends the fabrics of time and space to inhabit the bodies of past, present and future – and it does so through an array of video sources and formats. The film is a recorded documentary, speculative fiction and a reflection on the notion of ‘black’.

About This Is Short (from their website):
The European streaming platform THIS IS SHORT was jointly launched by several film festivals in 2021 and has operated as a year-round and globally available streaming service since November 2023. The focus is on fascinating films, curated by fabulous festivals. The offer is aimed at the curious and cinephiles, at arthouse and festival audiences, at those who make films and those who want to discover talent. It’s all about great cinema, with due brevity.

You can subscribe to This Is Short for the small fee of 0,99 EUR per month.

https://thisisshort.filmchief.com

FINN ADRIAN JORKJEN recommends!

In this column, I invite someone I know to make a recommendation. It can be anything really, whether a piece of media, an experience or something else entirely. This time, Finn recommends a varied list of stuff!

Finn Adrian Jorkjen is a visual artist and performer born in Arendal and based in Oslo. Working primarily with performance, video, and text, he investigates identity and the human condition across digital and physical spaces. Jorkjen’s practice frequently employs humor, staged situations, and pop-culture tropes as tools for rigorous self-scrutiny and to explore the ambivalence of contemporary life.
He has presented work at institutions including Kunstnernes Hus, Kunstsilo, Rosendal Teater, and Tou Scene. In 2022, he was awarded the Norske Kunstforeningers Debutantpris at Høstutstillingen, and in 2024, he was shortlisted for the Sparebanken Sør Kunstpris. In addition to his solo practice, he is one half of the performance duo Koppen & Jorkjen. Jorkjen holds an MFA from the Oslo National Academy of the Arts (KHiO) and a BFA from the Trondheim Academy of Fine Art (KiT).

"Hope you're all doing swell! My recommendations for now start off with Elise Nohr's upcoming solo exhibition «Speed Tongue» at 69 in Oslo, which opens Friday 24th of April. I'm not sure about the contents of the show, but I'd definitely go to the opening for the performance!!! I am an avid and unconditional stan of Nohr's body (-ody) of work, and I believe the show involves radio controlled cars (?). Vroom vroom!

My second recommendation is Julio Torres's Problemista (2024) mainly for the line "a guggenheim grant to pursue being cute in the arts" and whatever Tilda Swinton was instructed to do during the whole movie. (tbh, lukewarm feelings on his new comedy special, I fear).

Lastly I'd like to share a little of my podcast rotation which consists of The 404 Media Podcast (audio), Taylor Lorenz's "Power User" (audio) and Joshua Citarella's "Doomscroll" (I enjoy this as video, for reasons).

Oh btw, did you hear that The Onion is trying to turn InfoWars into a parody website?”

All the best.

a queer and riotous pride month
azaadi wishes for
Palestine, Sudan, Iran, Rojava, Congo, Kashmir, Ukraine
and all the peoples globally
fighting colonialism, fascism or imperialism