Fatou Åsbakk

Date: 19.01. – 18.02.24

Location: Atelier Nord, Olaf Ryes plass 2 (entrance from Sofienberggata).

Opening Hours: Thursday and Friday 15-18, Saturday and Sunday 12-17.

Please join us for the exhibition opening on Thursday 18.01.24 starting at 19:00.

Ever since her studies at the Oslo Academy of Fine Arts, Fatou Åsbakk has said that she aims to become “Norges største filmskaper”, which directly translated to English, could be taken to mean “Norway’s greatest filmmaker”. However, the Norwegian adjective “størst” can also be taken to mean “largest”. It does not seem likely that Åsbakk is attempting to become Norway’s largest filmmaker in terms of waist size or height, although this interpretation cannot be completelyruled out. A more normative reading would take “størst” to mean most important or most influential. But neither Åsbakk nor her films seem particularly concerned with succeeding on the terms of mainstream film. This is in despite of Åsbakk’s grasp of, and frequent references to, film and literature’s respective cannons.

A third possible meaning of “størst” is most numerous or most productive. The title and content of Åsbakk’s exhibition at Atelier Nord, Norway’s Greatest Filmmaker Is Holding a Pretrospective, but the Gallery Believes That People Will Interpret the Title Literally, so They Asked Her to Call It Something Else does not completely shy away from this interpretation. The gallery is filled with screens of all sizes and formats, from small cathode-ray tube televisions to wall-sized projections. In the midst of this cacophony stands a director’s chair with “Norway’s greatest filmmaker” embroidered in thick capitals on the backrest. Assuming the position of the auteur filmmaker is an exercise in will and confidence. In this case, it happens with a certain sense of irreverence and a fascination for “grand” personalities.

Every single film from the artist’s extensive and genre-transcending filmography is on display. For example, Bergmann bekjenner (2018), where Åsbakk films herself watching an interview where the director Ingmar Bergman talks about his many neuroses, while she mimics him. Grøde (2017), Åsbakk’s graduation film from the Oslo Academy of Fine Arts, is based on Knut Hamsun’s novel Growth of the Soil (1917). Here, 100 clips from Åsbakk’s archive of self-produced video material are set to an equal number of excerpts from the book.

Moreover, several films are shown for the first time. 16.07.23 eller mitt forsøk på å forsere fjernsynstårnet (2023) is an adaption of Dag Solstad’s novel 16.07.41 (2002), where Solstad describes his walks in Berlin in detail. In Åsbakk’s film, her walks in the German capital mix with parts of Solstad’s book. Like Solstad, Åsbakk insists that her selfhood is separate from the version of her that appears in the work, and that the film must be considered fiction, not biography or documentary. Fotnoter fra fattighuset (2023) follows Astrid Åsbakk, who has worked as a volunteer at the food bank Fattighuset for many years. The film provides insight into everyday routines that are mostly glossed over when Fattighuset is discussed in the media.

Fatou Åsbakk lives and works in Oslo. She graduated from the Oslo Academy of Fine Arts in 2019. Previous solo exhibitions include Prosessen er for lett sa Lasse, du må kalle det noe annet at Kunsthall Oslo in 2022 and Etyder at Destiny’s in 2018. Åsbakk’s first novel, Været og Uvirksomheten, was published by Kolon forlag in 2020.