Artist Talk: Art, Responsibility and the Ocean as Commons.

25. October kl. 16:15 – kl. 17:30

Free entrance

In connection with Laura Gaiger’s solo exhibition As Emperors Own Empires (9 October – 9 November), Trøndelag Centre for Contemporary Art invites you to a conversation exploring how art, architecture and ecological responsibility intersect in relation to the ocean – as landscape, resource and site of conflict.

Welcome to a conversation between Nabil Ahmed and Laura Gaiger

Laura Gaiger’s exhibition "As Emperors Own Empires" addresses the ocean as both a political landscape and a shared resource, with a particular focus on resistance to Norwegian industrial extraction in international waters. Through monumental works painted on sailcloth, canvas, panels and fresco, Gaiger examines the unsettling intersection between desire, control and collective responsibility – emphasising landscapes shaped by extractive industry, law, and environmental activism.

This conversation brings together different professional perspectives to reflect on the roles that art and architecture can play in facing global ecological crises and questions of collective ownership of natural resources.

Laura Gaiger (b. 1992, UK) grew up near Southampton and is now based in Bergen. She holds a BA from The Glasgow School of Art (Scotland) and an MA from the Bergen Art Academy. She teaches colour at Bergen Art School and drawing at Bergen School of Architecture, and works as Senior Engineer in Painting at the Department of Contemporary Art, University of Bergen.

Nabil Ahmed is Professor at Trondheim Academy of Fine Art (KiT, NTNU). His research focuses on ecological injustice, geopolitics, and the role of art in environmental and social crises.

The event will be held in English and is free and open to everyone.

Supported by BKH (Bildende Kunstneres Hjelpefond).