Ingri Haraldsen og Ingvild Langgård:
Årringer

Welcome to the Exhibition Opening February 22, at 18.00, with live music performance by Lisa Lie and Ingvild Langgård!

With “Årringer” (Annual Growth Rings), artists Ingri Haraldsen and Ingvild Langgård collaborate for the first time as a duo. In this exhibition, the audience is invited to participate in a circling back in time – through archaeology, folk songs, Norse mythology, craftsmanship, X-rays, and sculptures.

The exhibition project originates from the artists' interest in archaeology, mythology, and folk traditions, particularly those historically considered women's domains – such as folklore and magic related to weaving, spinning, braiding, women's hair, and singing.

Can one thread through the annual rings and dig backward in time?

A significant inspiration for "Årringer" is the research of archaeologist Marija Gimbutas (1921 - 1994) – who reviewed older archaeological excavations and discovered that the role of women had been underestimated. The legacy of her research has opened the need for a new perspective on women's place in history; skeletons are brought to light again, and gender is changed – iconic warrior graves turn out to be magnificent female graves with skeletons of women in full armor.

Ingri Haraldsen and Ingvild Langgård build upon such archaeological findings and knowledge, imagining what the traces in the earth can tell us. Female figures with bear heads from the weavings in the Oseberg find, or spindle-like objects whose purpose is no longer known today. From many of these cultures, there is little textual material – all knowledge must be extracted from dead remains found in the earth. Teeth. Bones. Hair. Fragments from a fabric. Silent knowledge that may begin to hum when the ears learn to listen.

Ingvild Langgård works with sound and song, exploring how sound, especially singing, resonates and charges a situation, space, and listeners. Sound that colors the entire room and takes us back in time. Langgård is inspired by various folk singing traditions, and in "Årringer," she works with the voice in multiple layers, almost like a fabric.

Langgård also draws from text fragments that shed light on various mythical female figures in Norse religion. These verses are often challenging for us to understand today, as history has been presented through a specific lens, and sources are scarce. Some of these texts open up entirely different interpretive spaces and broaden perspectives. The sound will be accessible throughout the exhibition period, and a version of the work will be performed live on the opening night.

Ingri Haraldsen primarily works with drawing. In the exhibition, she will showcase hand-knotted carpets, etchings, embroideries, and sculptures alongside her pencil and charcoal drawings. Like in an archaeological excavation, the different fragments are connected – charcoal meets embroidery, wool meets ceramics, and etching meets birch. The hard meets the soft in the graves.

Textiles disappear, but they can leave imprints. Permafrost halted time, and the tattoos on the Altai princess can still be seen. Hatshepsut emerges through the sand where the ruins of the new temples stood. Worn away by time, the foundation comes to light. The face that was chiseled away and the sculptures that were shattered are now being pieced together. A different story is told than the one we have heard so far. She has always been there, like the grave in Birka; history books must be rewritten.

Who tells the story? Will the break in the foot where the metal is located reveal that it was a horseback rider who fell off? Was this a warrior? Do the lines in the pelvic bone indicate that the woman had given birth? All these and more fragments of stories are found in Haraldsen's works.