Hanne Øverland og Sidsel Palmstrøm

20. February – 23. March 2025

Free entrance

Trøndelag Centre for Contemporary Art is proud to present two parallel exhibitions featuring textile artists Hanne Øverland and Sidsel Palmstrøm. While both artists are rooted in textile traditions, their practices explore the medium in strikingly different ways, offering diverse perspectives on materiality, craft, and concept.

Hanne Øverland’s exhibition, And this too shall pass, presents a visual color map inspired by the shades of endangered species in Norway, based on the Norwegian Biodiversity Information Centre’s Red List. Through techniques such as embroidery, tufting, and shibori, Øverland merges the tactile qualities of textiles with a focus on the diversity of nature. Her work highlights the urgent need to preserve biodiversity while reflecting on what we risk losing.

Sidsel Palmstrøm’s new site-specific installation investigates the threshold between the physical and the intangible. Using synthetic textile nets, light, and movement, Palmstrøm creates an experience of transformation where visible and invisible connections within human and natural networks emerge. The installation addresses contemporary issues of technology and consumption while inviting reflection on the systems and linkages that bind us together.

Together, Øverland and Palmstrøm show contemporary textile art as both a sensory and conceptual practice. Their works provide us with a powerful platform for reflecting on the complex challenges of our time.

"And this too shall pass" by Hanne Øverland

Textile artist Hanne Øverland explores a wide range of materials and techniques, including embroidery, tufting, flocking, shibori, printing, and painting, always with a strong focus on the textile qualities and the relationship between color and nature. Colors play a central role in her practice, not only as visual elements but as powerful impulses that influence perceptions of form, space, and light, evoking strong emotional responses.

Øverland’s work is characterized by an explorative approach, emphasizing the inherent value and artistic potential of materials. Through experiments with color and site-specific projects, she creates works that enrich the experience of materiality, light, and space.

Her exhibition project And this too shall pass is a descriptive yet subjective color map based on interpretations of the colors of selected endangered species in Norway, drawn from the Red List by Artsdatabanken. Øverland’s project focuses particularly on birds and butterflies.

The inspiration comes from the geologist A.G. Werner, who in 1774 published a color chart for minerals and fossils, using poetic descriptions such as "skimmed milk white" or "white like the white of a human eye" to convey nuances. In a similar vein, the project seeks to explore color as a tool to highlight the important work of documenting endangered species today.

The work is based on photographs and descriptions, which vary widely in quality. Variations in the colors of the species—shifting with seasons, life cycles, and gender—create a dynamic palette. The project simplifies this complexity by highlighting significant colors and combining them with various techniques and materials to reflect the richness of nature. It underscores the necessity of preserving biodiversity while contemplating what we risk losing.

Hanne Øverland (b. 1958) lives and works in Oslo. She graduated from the former håndverks- og kunstindustriskole (SHKS), now Kunsthøyskolen i Oslo, at the Department of Textiles, earning her diploma in 1987. She has had solo exhibitions at Kunstnerforbundet in 1998 and 2007, as well as at Galleri Format Bergen and Vestfold Kunstnersenter. Øverland has participated in numerous group and collective exhibitions, including Norske Kunsthåndverkeres Årsutstilling and Høstutstillingen. Her works are part of the collections of Nordenfjeldske Kunstindustrimuseum, Kunstindustrimuseet i Oslo, and Bergen Kinomatografer, and she has completed several public art commissions. Øverland served as chair of NK from 2017 to 2021.

Sidsel Palmstrøm "Etterbilder".

Sidsel Palmstrøm

Textile artist Sidsel Palmstrøm works conceptually with objects and installations in textile. She combines soft and pliable textiles with simple interventions to shape cohesive and stringent structures. Palmstrøm often seeks a balance point where an idea, a material, and a technique meet, creating something that transcends the material realm. In doing so, she opens up spaces for ambiguous associations and sensory experiences. Her exploration moves between the concrete and the ephemeral, between the tangible and the invisible forces that shape our lives.

Palmstrøm’s new installation consists of three main components: textile nets, light, and movement. Her aim is to investigate how these elements can together create an experience of transformation—something that both is and is not, existing and shifting at the boundary between the physical and the immaterial.

In her earlier works, Palmstrøm has used handmade nets of natural fibers, referencing the net as a historical tool for catching and containing—a symbol of humanity’s role as hunters and gatherers. This time, she employs ready-made nylon nets, set in motion by small motors. The synthetic material, derived from oil, invites new interpretations and points to contemporary relationships with technology and consumption.

The net is a tool with many functions: to catch, hold, carry, and filter. The grid structure reflects our search for systems, order, and clarity while mirroring the visible and invisible networks we create, both in nature and through modern technology. The knots in the net, where one thread meets another, symbolize the small yet vital points where thoughts and ideas connect, creating new relationships.

In addition to the physical nets, the shadows they cast, which charge the space, are an integral part of the work. The aim is to create a pulsating flow that suggests networks, connections, openings, and barriers, inviting the viewer to reflect on the invisible threads that bind us together.

Sidsel Palmstrøm (b. 1967, Trondheim) lives and works in Oslo. She studied at Statens Kunsthåndverk og Industriskole in Oslo (SHKS) from 1991–95. Palmstrøm has held numerous solo exhibitions in Norway and participated in group and collective exhibitions in Norway, Sweden, Turkey, Poland, and Portugal. Her works are part of the collections at the National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design in Oslo, KODE in Bergen, Nordenfjeldske Kunstindustrimuseum in Trondheim, the Research Council of Norway, and Oslo Municipality’s Art Collection. Since 2016, Palmstrøm has worked as an Associate Professor in Textile Art at the Department of Art and Craft at Kunsthøgskolen i Oslo (Khio).