After the artist's first meeting with Norway in 2018,Sayed Sattan Hasan has been inspired by the story of Fridtjof Nansen, who developed his own sledge to cross Greenland in 1888. Hasan wanted to make his own sledge, but with the Pakistani seating and lounging furniture Charpai as a starting point. The work thus tells about how Hasan, as the character Hasansen, creates the first Charpai sled in history, with the help of a ski maker from Valdres and a charpai maker from Pakistan. With three parallel films next to each other in the large hall, the audience will experience the artist's documentation of the process and the charpai sledge first trip down the ski slope.
- We are looking forward to showing another work from the purchases we made in 2020/2021 - this time in the High Hall. Hasan uses the work to tell about the meeting between two completely different cultures, and what it actually means to be Norwegian today, says museum manager at Sogn og Fjordane Art Museum Mayra Henríquez. One of the main goals for the art museum with these purchase funds was to secure works of art that could reflect the diversity of artists in Norway.
-We want to give the public artworks that promote a broad representation and tell stories from different groups' perspectives. Hasansen's sledge is so apt, and we are very happy to show it in the High Hall, smiles the museum director at the end.
Hasansen's sledge will be in operation from October to December 2022.
Get to know the character Hasansen
In this series of interviews, held against the backdrop of Oslo City Hall, Sayed Sattar Hasan asks the question 'who is Hasansen?' to five cultural commentators: Liisa-Rávná Finbog, Fakhra Salimi, Peder Valle, Marit Silsand and Kjetil D. Kristensen. The film aquires diverse perpectives on the concept of Hasansen, as a figure, and whether the Hasansens Kjelke/Sledge can be regarded as part of Norwegian material heritage. Switching between fiction and reality the film builds upon the myth of Hasansen while simultaneously considering notions of national identity, narratives and folk culture as constructs, which need to be continually questioned in order to maintain relevance.
The text is taken from: https://www.sayedsattarhasan.com/. Reposted with permission.