Sparebankstiftelsen DNB Grant Exhibition 2025

Thursday, November 6 at 18:00, Oslo Kunstforening invites you to the opening of the Sparebankstiftelsen DNB Grant Exhibition 2025. This year’s exhibition presents new works by Ellinor Aurora Aasgaard & Zayne Armstrong, PURPOSE CORE, and Rafiki.

The annual grant exhibition is regarded as one of Norway’s most significant art awards and has been organized by Oslo Kunstforening since 2008, with support from Sparebankstiftelsen DNB. Since its inception, 83 artists have participated, and 21 have received the grant. This year, the grant has been increased to NOK 300,000, and the recipient will be announced during the exhibition period.

New this year is a collaboration with Deichman Bjørvika, where selected works will also be on view. This partnership makes the art projects accessible to an even broader audience, and both venues will host their own events and activities throughout the exhibition period.

PROGRAM
• Welcome speeches will take place outside Oslo Kunstforening at 18:00, by Elisabeth Byre, Director of Oslo Kunstforening; Birthe Mørreaunet Selvaag, Sparebankstiftelsen DNB; and Ana María Bresciani, Chair of the Jury. Please note that Oslo Kunstforening is not universally accessible, and access to our gallery space on the second floor is therefore limited.
• The exhibition at Oslo Kunstforening will remain open until 20:00. Light refreshments will be served.
• Joint departure for Bjørvika at 19:30. The exhibition at Deichman will be open from 18:00–22:00.

This year’s grant exhibition brings together artists who, in different ways, explore identity, community, and the visual and social structures of our time. Ellinor Aurora Aasgaard & Zayne Armstrong examine the individual’s role in late capitalism, where self-optimization, technology, and iconography intertwine in a critical and poetic universe through painting, animation, and text. PURPOSE CORE reflects on the nature of collaboration and the role of art through performative and humorous film manifestos that balance sincerity and cliché, with accessibility as a central theme. Rafiki works with memory, diaspora, and cultural belonging, creating large, beaded tapestries that serve both as mourning cloths and as tributes to heritage and resilience.

Ellinor Aurora Aasgaard (b. 1991) and Zayne Armstrong (b. 1986) live and work in Berlin and Kristiansand. In the exhibition, the duo – who have worked together since 2018 – explores the role of the individual in the age of late capitalism through three projects. A series of monumental paintings combines medieval iconography with Transformers, where Gothic architecture becomes a framework for personal training. The work can be seen as a critique of contemporary self-optimization and the pressures of technology on human labour. An animated film follows the fictional artist character Alexandra through an existential crisis, unfolding in landscapes composed of romantic paintings. The presentation is accompanied by a magazine inspired by so-called soap digests, offering a behind-the-scenes look at the (im)balance between art, work, and life. The works are presented as a total installation at Oslo Kunstforening, while an adapted version is shown at Deichman Bjørvika.

Aasgaard holds a BA from the Malmö Art Academy, and Armstrong holds a BA from Central Saint Martins and studied at the Piet Zwart Institute. Their work has recently been shown at K4, Oslo (2025); the biennial FORT_01, Franzensfeste Fortress, Bolzano (2024); CCA Ujazdowski, Warsaw (2024); Buskerud Kunstsenter, Drammen (2024); NKR, Düsseldorf (2023); The Vigeland Museum, Oslo (2023); Agder Kunstsenter, Kristiansand (2023); Pogo Bar – KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin (2023); and Kunstnernes Hus Kino, Oslo (2023).

Welcome to an artist talk with Ellinor Aurora Aasgaard & Zayne Armstrong on Saturday, November 8, 14:00–15:00 at Oslo Kunstforening. The talk will be held in English and moderated by jury member Pedro Gómez-Egaña.

PURPOSE CORE consists of Ihra Lill Scharning (b. 1986) and Katarina Skjønsberg (b. 1987), both of whom live and work in Oslo. Since 2013, the artist duo has created performative film manifestos that explore existential and everyday themes with a blend of sincerity and cliché. Through the characters PURPOSE and CORE, they question collaboration and artistic production, as well as the autonomy of art in relation to accessibility. The exhibition takes us on a journey through their twelve-year collaboration, combining new and earlier works. At Oslo Kunstforening, they present the installation The Inaccessible Room, drawing attention to inaccessibility – both in a literal and metaphorical sense. Their works can be found both outside and inside the building, while the main part of their presentation is on view at Deichman Bjørvika. In addition, they have created an audio guide aimed at making the exhibition as accessible as possible.

Ihra Lill Scharning holds an MFA from the Malmö Art Academy and a teaching qualification from Oslo and Akershus University College, while Katarina Skjønsberg holds a BA in photography from the Bergen Academy of Art and Design, an MFA from the Oslo National Academy of the Arts, and a teaching qualification from Oslo and Akershus University College. PURPOSE CORE recently participated in the Østlandsutstillingen (2024) and Høstutstillingen (2023), and held a solo exhibition at Prosjektrom Carl Berner, organized by Norsk Billedhoggerforening (2023). Earlier exhibitions include Kunstnernes Hus Kino, Oslo (2023); Nikolaj Kunsthal, Copenhagen (2014); and KHM Gallery, Malmö (2014).

On Friday, November 14, 18:00–20:00, we invite you to a film screening and artist talk with PURPOSE CORE at Deichman Bjørvika. The conversation will be held in Norwegian and moderated by jury chair Ana María Bresciani.

Rafiki (b. 1989) is based in Oslo and Cape Town. In the works presented in the exhibition, Rafiki has woven photographs pixel by pixel with beads – a slow, meditative process that challenges the boundaries of what a photograph can be. The works stem from the artist’s experiences of war and belonging, taking as their starting point the conflict in Eastern Congo and the feeling of existing in several realities at once. Inspired by both astrophysical theories of dark matter and Central African cosmologies, Rafiki explores the invisible forces that hold people and societies together – despite everything. The beads symbolize the hidden particles and connections that exist beneath the surface; small and fragile on their own, yet strong in unity. Rafiki presents the main part of her works at Oslo Kunstforening, as well as one installation at Deichman Bjørvika.

Rafiki holds a BA in International Development Studies from OsloMet and an MA in Social Communication from the University of Agder. She is the founder of the Oslo-based platform Rafiki Art Initiatives (RAI), and her work has recently been exhibited at, among others, Hordaland Kunstsenter, Bergen (2025); Henie Onstad Kunstsenter, Bærum (2024); Bomuldsfabriken Kunsthall, Arendal (2024); and Buskerud Kunstsenter, Drammen (2024). Rafiki’s work is represented in the collections of Preus Museum, Nordenfjeldske Kunstindustrimuseum, and Kunst på Arbeidsplassen. She is one of Atelier Kunstnerforbundet’s selected artists for the 2024–2026 period.

Welcome to an artist talk with Rafiki on Thursday 27 November at Oslo Kunstforening. The conversation will be held in Norwegian and moderated by freelance art mediator Lisa Andrine Bernhoft-Sjødin.

The annual grant exhibition has been organized by Oslo Kunstforening since 2008, with support from Sparebankstiftelsen DNB. This year’s exhibition opens on 6 November at Oslo Kunstforening and Deichman Bjørvika.

The jury consists of chair Ana María Bresciani, curator at MUNCH; Pedro Gómez-Egaña, visual artist and professor at the Oslo National Academy of the Arts; Sandra Mujinga, visual artist and musician; Axel Wieder, director of the Berlin Biennale; and Elisabeth Byre, artistic director at Oslo Kunstforening.

Previous grant recipients include Eline Benjaminsen (2024), Linda Lamignan (2023), Kim Hankyul (2022), Anne Haugsgjerd (2021), Berivan Erdogan, Hanni Kamaly, and Kjetil Skøien (2020), Germain Ngoma (2019), Eirik Sæther (2018), Emilija Škarnulytė (2017), Tor Børresen (2016), Andrea Bakketun and Christian Tony Norum (2015), Ingrid Lønningdal (2014), Sandra Mujinga (2013), Marie Buskov (2012), Kaia Hugin (2011), Ann Cathrin November Høibo (2010), Ignas Krunglevičius (2009), and Ellisif Hals and Susanne Skeide (2008).