Newsletter OCTOBER '25

Heia,

This edition of the newsletter features a recap on the work I showed at Hamar Performancefestival earlier this month, a reminder to apply for Vårutstillingen, as well as a new recommendation. This time, the guest contributor for the latter is curator and cool person Miki Gebrelul! Stick around for that.

As always, if you’d rather opt out of this newsletter, the link is at the end of the e-mail.

I’m hoping you’re well these days, wherever you are.

_{verbalkunstfilm.com}

Recap of ‘Røde manøvre IV’ at HAMAR PERFORMANCEFESTIVAL

Thank you to Kunstbanken for a wonderful addition of the festival filled with a bouquet of varied practices, and for having us take part in the programme.

It felt so gratifying to have the means and some time to work closely with friends and fellow artists Jo Mikkel and Vilde on the essay performance ‘Røde manøvre IV’. We spent time together over a few days in a small space at Kroloftet and got to test some blood splattering at Oslo Badstuforening.

Credits
Hamid Waheed: Concepts, choreography, text and video
Jo Mikkel Sjaastad Huse: Projector screens, special effects, music
Vilde Jensen: Costumes, special effects
The dramaturgy of the performance is a joint effort.

Thank you to: 
Carl Aquilizan, Kim Reenskaug, Sanjey Sureshkumar, Sarah Kazmi, Oslo Badstuforening and Svartdalskollektivet. As well as Ingrid Blekastad, Christel Sverre, Håkon Brynjulvsrud and everyone else at Kunstbanken.
With financial support from Kulturrådet and Billedkunstnernes vederlagsfond.

‘Røde manøvre IV’ is an essay performance. It’s part of an ongoing series riffing on opacity, the interior body, and a critical play with art, empathy and resistance. It’s also about the color red, because when I truly feel you, I sense something like that lingering.

_{Røde manøvre I: Transluminal (2023), video installation, 8 min loop
Røde manøvre II (2023): Performance at Black Box teater, 25 min, Oslo
Røde manøvre III (2024): Performance at Flyktig/Fugitive, 10 min, Valdres}

Hamar Performancefestival 2025
Dates: 17-19 October
More info on the programme: https://kunstbanken.no/performance/

OPEN CALL: Vårutstillingen 2026

I’m in my second year of jurying Vårutstillingen at Fotogalleriet in Oslo, which has an open call deadline for all works that are somehow lens-based this Sunday, 2nd of November!

If you’re an artist, I sincerely hope you apply, to have a selection of applications representing a really wide breadth of practices. There’s also a decent honorarium involved. Please - make my job as difficult as possible!

About Vårutstillingen

Vårutstillingen was established in 1976 by approval of the Norwegian Association of Fine Arts Photographers’ (FFF - Forbundet Frie Fotografer) annual general assembly. As an opposition to Høstutstillingen, the official Salon tradition in Norway, Vårutstillingen was to be organized by FFF to ensure the inclusion and exposure of lens-based art practices in the contemporary art field. It is an annual group exhibition based on open submissions selected by a jury of fellow professionals.

APPLY HERE

The 46th edition of the Vårutstillingen will open mid-May at Fotogalleriet.

Who can apply?

Participating artists are chosen through an open call process. All artists actively working in Norway can apply. The jury encourages a variety of media and formats, but submitted works should have relevance to photography and the camera based art field. All techniques and materials are welcome. There are no requirements for an FFF-membership to apply for Vårutstillingen.

Jury and trials

The judging process is based on digital applications with information and image-material about your chosen project/projects. After the application deadline, the jury will meet at FFF. Applicants can expect to receive a reply for their submissions in the beginning of December.

MIKI GEBRELUL 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.

Miki Gebrelul is an independent curator. Some of their current positions also include “the committee for government grants – exhibition spaces” at Art, Culture Norway and curator for a project with KORO – Public Art in Norway. They also have experience in instituional practice through their former position at Stiftelsen Fotogalleriet as curator and head of exhibitions. Gebrelul hold a master’s degree in gender studies from University of Oslo. They often work within intersections of queerness and post-colonialism, exploring ways where art can enable possibilities that are normally restrained by social inequalities. Gebrelul is part of collaborative, activist spaces in Oslo offering safe platforms and building communities for queer– and trans people. Their work vary from educational workshops in queer sexual healthcare, abolition workshops to fundraising events.

Miki:
(In Norwegian, English below)

«Margaret Abeshu på Kunsthall Oslo. Åpner fredag 31.oktober.

Robel Temesgen på Nitja senter for samtidskunst. Åpner lørdag 1 november.

Det var i møte med Margaret sitt verk på BO under utstillingen ´STRUKTURA.Time´ kuratert av Lesia Vasylchencko jeg for første gang opplevde kunst jeg kunne relatere til min barndom og bosted, Eritrea. Margaret hadde funnet en video på youtube av faren som synger om en kvinne som venter på sin elskede fra krigen og spilte av klippet i et TV-monitor. Klippet er fra krigstidene i regionen, den våre foreldre opplevde, som jeg antar er rundt 70-80 tallet. Ved siden av TV-en, henger en kjole festet med hår-extensions. Kjolen er laget for kvinnen i sangen, og kan være en bryllupskjole eller begravelseskjole, alt ettersom om hennes kjære kom tilbake. Historien er kjent og møtet med den gjenkjennbare melodien og andre materier som hår-extensions bar preg som ingen annen kunst tidligere har gjort. Helt siden har jeg vært besatt av Margarets evne til å kunne formidle og bevare signifikante historier gjennom tekstil, lyd, materialer og mote.

I en lignende opplevelse så jeg kombinasjonen av en utstillingstittel, norsk kunstinstitusjon og fidelat (benevningen for alfabetet i tigrinja). Ved nærmere lesning skjønte jeg det var amharisk (mest sannsynlig, hvertfall fra Etiopia) og er utstillingen til kunstneren Robel Temesgen. Jeg blir begeistret hver gang promoen dukker opp på min feed.»

"Margaret Abeshu at Kunsthall Oslo. Opens Friday 31st of October.

Robel Temesgen at Nitja senter for samtidskunst. Opens Saturday 1st of November.

It was in encountering Margaret's work at BO during the exhibition 'STRUKTURA.Time', curated by Lesia Vasylchencko, that I first experienced art that I could relate to my childhood and where I lived, Eritrea. Margaret had found a video on youtube of her father singing about a woman waiting for her beloved from the war and played the clip on a TV monitor. The clip is from the wartime period in the region, the one our parents experienced, which I assume was around the 70s-80s. Next to the TV, a dress is hanging attached with hair extensions. The dress was made for the woman in the song, and could be a wedding dress or a funeral dress, depending on whether her loved one returned. The story is familiar and the encounter with the recognizable melody and other materials such as hair extensions had a mark that no other art has ever had before. Ever since, I have been obsessed with Margaret's ability to convey and preserve significant stories through textiles, sound, materials and fashion.

In a similar experience, I saw the combination of an exhibition title, Norwegian art institution and fidelat (the name for the alphabet in Tigrinya). Upon closer reading, I realized it was Amharic (most likely, at least from Ethiopia) and is the exhibition of the artist Robel Temesgen. I get excited every time the promo pops up on my feed.”

All the best.

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