GESAMTKUNST-
WERK AND
HAT REDEMPTION
with patronage from
UNESCO, Paris
On the Path to
Deeper Artistic Freedom
Part 3
Hatshepsut Art Project
What do hats have to do with art?
We'll come back to that, first I need to start at the beginning again.In Part 1 of this series, I wrote:
"At the start of the 1980s, I decided to study Egyptology at Uppsala University.
Then a little note in a shop in downtown Oslo...
The note said they were looking for someone to join a studio collective in Korsgata at Grünerløkka.
That sealed my fate."
So, among other things, I had contact with Torgny Säve-Söderbergh (1914–1998), a professor of Egyptology at Uppsala University. But ultimately, the visual arts took over.
But a question bothered me, why were some people so focused on becoming "artists" instead of creating art?
I thought about the role of artists in ancient Egypt, working collaboratively to create masterpieces that today leave people in awe. Could such cooperation be possible in today's art world, in our own way, in our own time?
It dawned on me that I could combine my historical passion with art creation. But could I get artists to work together?
We needed a common starting point, allowing each artist to interpret it in their unique way. But simply mixing history and art wouldn’t suffice. That would be like combining a Satanist and a Jehovah’s Witness—resulting in someone knocking on doors to tell people to go to hell (to borrow an old joke).
Suddenly, it clicked: we needed a historical figure as a starting point. Not just anyone, but the female pharaoh Hatshepsut. In the mid-1980s, she was little known, had a fascinating story, and was a worthy representative of her gender.
The Columbus Egg Was Laid!
Hatshepsut’s Temple
The ARtist's Village'
Mission Impossible
When I shared the idea with friends and colleagues they said it was impossible, including the previously mentioned Morten Børresen. He good-naturedly said, "If you pull this off, I’ll eat my hat."Nevertheless, I embarked on this artistic project. But it came at a steep cost—both financially and in terms of effort.
I needed funding, and it took years to secure it. Eventually, one of Norway’s wealthiest companies supported me. Lufthansa Norway sponsored all the artists’ flights to Egypt, and the then-existing Cassette Tax Fund stepped in to help (now under Ministry of Culture and Equality).
Opening, from NRK-TV
A New Gesamtkunstwerk Was Born
The term Gesamtkunstwerk was first used by the philosopher Karl Friedrich Eusebius Trahndorff (1782–1863) in his work Ästhetik oder Lehre von Weltanschauung und Kunst. I love the concept of a comprehensive artwork that merges different art forms into a new whole, where no single form overshadows another but instead mutually enriches each other.We Succeeded!
Photographers, painters, printmakers, sculptors, textile artists, filmmakers, architects, author, and a composer — twenty of us. Except for the last two, we all traveled to Egypt for some weeks, working across disciplines. Later, all costs for the artists’ work were covered, as was compensation for the time spent completing the artworks.
From a section
Of course, not everything was perfect. In hindsight, I probably shouldn’t have followed Grete Faremo’s well-intentioned recommendation to use the newly opened Aker Brygge as a venue. Today, I would have chosen an empty factory space instead—but these are “lessons learned,” now stored in my imaginary backpack.
Daughter of the Sun:
Book published
Thank you, unknown journalist
One of the most significant outcome—besides the art and artists—was a woman who introduced herself as a Financial Times journalist. She had just come from an assignment in Stavanger and, suffering from a migraine, opted to tour the exhibition alone.After nearly two hours, she emerged migraine-free, declaring it the most fantastic exhibition she had ever seen, adding, “And I’ve been around.”
Thank you, unknown journalist—I lost your business card that same evening, but your words remain.
Dracula Elephant.
Back to Egypt
After the exhibition, I more or less went straight back to Egypt. I wanted to study more of the artists who lived in Luxor 3,500 years ago – and later explore contemporary art in the capital, Cairo.Receiving input from a culture beyond Western ideals was important to me, and has given me a not-just-Western intuitive understanding of art.
During nearly fourteen years in Egypt, I returned to Norway only once – to present an exhibition at Barbeint in Oslo in 1994.
This painting from that exhibition represents an important transition toward the kind of intuition I now manage to work my way into.
The painting is titled The Barmaid and the Dracula Elephant, and measures 100 x 150 cm, acrylic on canvas.
The Hat Redemption
When the exhibiton of the art-project was up, I reminded my friend Morten Børresen of his early statement about the project: "If you pull this off, I’ll eat my hat". True to his word, he may have looked up recipes for preparing a hat before the opening.However, I granted Morten "hat redemption," and he sighed in relief (-:
⇓ RELATED UNDER ⇓ -
MY ARTISTIC STORY
FROM 1983 UNTIL TODAY:
Part 1: FIRST TWO SOLO EXHIBITIONS
Part 2: THEN THE COLOURS CAME
You are here ⇒ Part 3: GESAMTKUNSTWERK and HAT REDEMPTION
Part 4: FAILED FAMILY PHOTOS WITHOUT FRAMES
Part 5: IS DIGITAL ART ORIGINAL ARTWORKS?
Part 6: TO FLIP THE PROCESS AROUND
Part 7: SPONTANEOUS-FIGURATIVE-ABSTRACT
“FREE ART – OR FREE THE ART?”
Throughout art history, the significance of art as a creative process has continuously evolved. Over the past 500 years, it has developed to a point where artistic freedom has become fundamentally important.
