Elisabeth Haarr

A richly illustrated volume on the influential textile art of Elisabeth Haarr.

For over fifty years Elisabeth Haarr has been one of the most significant artists in Norway. From her early experimentation with tapestry as modern visual art in the 1960s to political works with an activist message in the 1970s, and her later sculptural installations of rugs, banners, figures, and drapes, Haarr’s oeuvre has significantly contributed to the consideration of textiles as a material in contemporary art. Today, her work continues to address topics such as feminism, anti-fascism, and environmental protection, and is as relevant as it was forty years ago.
 
Elisabeth Haarr accompanies a monographic presentation by the artist at Bergen Kunsthall. Surprisingly, this is the first extensive career survey of Haarr’s work, with the exception of a two-person survey with Hannah Ryggen in 2008. This book aims to provide entry points into Elisabeth Haarr’s ongoing practice and is illustrated with a wide-ranging selection of works from throughout her career, as well as new works produced for the exhibition in Bergen. Iconic photos of Haarr’s work show banners or other textile pieces hanging in the open, outside of the exhibition space like a flag, or in her garden blowing in the wind. The works are documented with additional material, such as research references and sources of inspiration, as well as images made by the artist during her working process to share her progress with collaborators and friends. These images often show the artist’s personal milieu, such as her studio and the garden of her house in Kristiansand.
 
This richly illustrated publication includes new texts by artist Are Blytt, curator Elisabeth Byre, poet, playwright, and novelist Cecilie Løveid, and curator Steinar Sekkingstad, and a conversation between Elisabeth Haarr and artist Eline Mugaas.

Steinar Sekkingstad is an art historian, writer, and curator at Bergen Kunsthall. He has been a member of the expert committee for visual arts at Arts Council Norway, and was one of the founders of the sound art gallery Lydgalleriet in Bergen. He cofounded Bergen Kunsthall’s concert series Utmark, which has been running continuously since 2008. He has edited a number of publications and written about contemporary art for magazines, publications, and exhibition catalogues.
 
Axel Wieder is a curator, writer, and director of Bergen Kunsthall. He has been director of Index—the Swedish Contemporary Art Foundation in Stockholm, where he organized solo exhibitions with Simone Forti, Stephen Willats, Sidesel Meineche Hansen, Willem de Rooij, and Anna Boghiguian, and a collaborative project by John Skoog and Emanuel Röhss.