Sogn og Fjordane Art Museum
Kunstnarduoen Alt Går Bra går ute i snøvær medan dei ber på to Strandamåleri.

Art in the thousand homes – Step in!

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Stad Sogn og Fjordane Kunstmuseum, Høgsalen

Could the pictures you have at home be displayed in the Louvre Museum in Paris?

Maybe not, but in this exhibition, the artist duo Alt Går Bra will ensure that the public's pictures get a place in the art museum – and one of them will play the role of Mona Lisa.

The main hall of the art museum has roughly the same ceiling height as the grand Louvre's Grande Galerie. Here, the public will see a reconstruction of how the Mona Lisa was displayed in 1952 during the 500th anniversary of the Renaissance artist Leonardo da Vinci. This will be a majestic presentation, consisting of an arch with columns, and over a hundred meters of velvet draped around a podium to highlight a single painting. Not with the Mona Lisa, of course, but with a Stranda painting in the leading role.

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Mona Lisa, as the painting was displayed in the Louvre Museum in 1952. From March 21, you can see a reconstruction of this grand spectacle in the main hall of the art museum. Not the Mona Lisa, of course, but with a Stranda painting in the leading role.

Against this installation, the public will encounter a sofa from the 1960s surrounded by "a thousand pictures": Stranda paintings on loan to the art museum from homes all over Sogn og Fjordane. The pictures surround the sofa and thus crown "the living room." Here, the popular Stranda paintings proudly hang on the museum wall. In a symphony of colors and peaceful landscapes, the paintings stand as a reminder of the rewarding activity of the Stranda painters, who gave hope and joy in difficult times.

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A typical Stranda painting: original artworks that were made on an "assembly line" by farmers and fishermen as a side job in the mid-1900s. About half a million such paintings were produced and hung on the walls of thousands of homes.

Between the two monumental installations hovers a small mystery. There will hang a tiny, almost invisible birdcage. What is the meaning of this cage, which itself looks like it is flying in the room like a bird? What are the white cubes inside the cage?

This exhibition raises several issues: what is art and what is not? What is quality in art? What is the role of a museum? What is an exhibition and why do we exhibit in a museum or in our home? What role do the Stranda paintings play in the collective imagination of the Norwegian landscape?

In the museum shop on the ground floor, there will also be an activity and experience area. Here, the public will encounter a carousel where one can test the working method of the Stranda painters. How quickly can you create your own landscape painting?

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Here we see how Stranda painter John Hosøy uses the carousel to paint several pictures at a high speed. Photo: Aage Storløkken / Aktuell / NTB

Art in the thousand homes – Step in! opened on March 21, 2024, and is the first part of Alt Går Bra's exhibition project about the Stranda paintings. The second part opens on the museum's second floor on May 3, 2024.

For more info about the Stranda painters and the exhibition project:

Meir om Strandamålarane og bakgrunn for utstillinga Meir om kunstnarane Alt Går Bra Utstillinga "Kunst i dei tusen heimar" Ovanpå
About Alt Går Bra

Alt Går Bra is an art collective based in Bergen and Paris. Their work has been exhibited, among other places, in the National Museum, Kode, Victoria and Albert Museum, Palais de Tokyo, University of Westminster. AGB's works are represented in the permanent art collections of the National Museum, Kode, and KORO. In 2022, they were awarded the Subjekt Prize as Artist of the Year.

"Kunst i dei tusen heimar" er årets festivalutstilling under Førdefestivalen.
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