April 27: IBSEN EXHIBITION 2006

A VISUAL JOURNEY THROUGH INNER LANDSCAPE
- four norwegian artists meet Henrik Ibsen:
Håkon Bleken, Tone Dietrichson, Gro Jarto and Morten Krogvold

View a webgallery of the exhibiton

April 27 - Sep 3, 2006

As the only Norwegian Gallery in New York it is obviously important for Trygve Lie Gallery to be a part of The Ibsen Year 2006. Henrik Ibsen's writing and poetry have been the inspiration for many artists both while he was alive and after his death. In this exhibition curator Hildegunn Birkeland attempts to visualize this inspiration - hence the title “A visual journey through inner landscape - four Norwegian artists meet Henrik Ibsen”. The exhibition includes new artworks from Gro Jarto, Morten Krogvold, Tone Dietrichson and Håkon Bleken. These four contemporary artists have always had an interest in Ibsen’s writing and in their own way present new interpretations of his characters and his work. Trygve Lie Gallery, in collaboration with Sølvberget, Stavanger Cultural Centre are proud to present the Ibsen Exhibition 2006 - opening Thursday April 27 and invite you to join us on the visual journey in the inner landscape.

Ibsen Year 2006
preface to the catalogue by Bentein Baardson, director of Ibsen Year 2006

In 2006 it is 100 years since Henrik Ibsen died. His plays are read daily in more than 100 languages and each week they are staged at between 130 and 140 theatres on five continents. This is equivalent to one Ibsen opening night every second day throughout the theatre season. Recent research concludes that Ibsen's plays have been produced more than 15,000 times since his debut in 1850. Next to Shakespeare, Ibsen is the world's most frequently staged playwright of all times. Since it was established in 2002, the Ibsen Year website has maintained a list of all types of Ibsen-related events worldwide. The website is available in three languages and is visited by 30,000 unique users every month. In November 2005 it peaked with 763,590 hits in 30 days! This is a clear indication of Ibsen's position on the world arena. Ibsen's plays address the fundamental human rights and values. As a reformer of society he attacks the conventions that at any time, regardless of where on earth we may be, threaten personal development and emancipation. His themes are universal: freedom of speech, the subjugated position of women, both socially and politically, the institution of marriage, abuse of children, business ethics, the power and hypocrisy of the press, double-standards, abuse of power in religion, education and legislation. This makes Ibsen a dangerous author – and he is therefore the world's most censured and banned dramatist, not simply in former times, but today as well.

Ibsen's dramatic writing circles around one central question: Is it possible to be human, in the sense of a self, of an ‘I’? Any person who seriously asks this question will sooner or later experience virtually insoluble conflict. These are the existential circumstances of life that Ibsen’s characters experience. The poet himself offers no clear-cut answers, but he raises questions filled with and by human meaning.

The creator of modern European drama reaches his audience – regardless of era, language group or cultural ffiliation, his poetic universe speaks to the innermost in all of us. Ibsen's mouthpiece is the theatre; he is a dramatic writer working concretely, identifying our basic human conflicts. Ibsen does not “personalise” what is philosophical in our lives with his menagerie of stage characters; it is the consequences of our choices and the road leading to these decisions that are his main concern. Under the bright lights of the theatre he strips us of imposed or affected manners. He focuses on our individual processes – our roads to personal freedom. Ibsen has given the world an arsenal of theatrical archetypes, characters that live in our common human consciousness. Nora, Hedda, Peer Gynt, Brand, Hedvig, Osvald, Borkmann – these are characters that we recognise in ourselves and in others, regardless of where on earth we may be. Ibsen's insight into our human aspirations includes conundrums, secrets and paradoxes that clearly will never find simple solutions. In his own words “I prefer to ask, my calling is not to answer.” (Jeg spørger helst, mitt kald er ei at svare). James Joyce, who studied Norwegian to be able to read Ibsen’s work in the original language, said that Ibsen wrests from life its secrets: “I know of none other who has been equally important to modern people's way of thinking – as Henrik Ibsen.” One of the most important tasks to Ibsen Year 2006 is to focus on the ripple-effects his writing has had and continues to have on artists, politicians, philosophers and advocates of human rights after his death in 1906. The Ibsen Year will be celebrated with 4,000 events in 72 countries. It is therefore particularly gratifying that Sølvberget has decided to mark the year with this exhibition.

It joins a 100-year tradition in Norway, where artists throughout the ages have been inspired by the plays and characters of our world-famous writer. Already during his own times, Ibsen was “commented” on by artists such as Munch and Grieg – and, as we know, the resulting works have subsequently stood as independent and central works in the history of Norwegian art. This is why Ibsen Year 2006 considers this project an important part of the work to preserve and revitalise the Ibsen inheritance, an inexhaustible source of inspiration for endless new generations.