Kunstnerforbundet wishes to mark World AIDS Day in commemoration of the historical events that have run parallel and intertwined with the many lives that have been part of the institution and the art scene in Norway. The acknowledgement of World AIDS Day at Kunstnerforbundet is curated in collaboration with Atelier Kunstnerforbundet. To mark World AIDS Day on 1 December 2025, Fin Serck-Hanssen exhibits for one day in the windows of Kunstnerforbundet the photograph ‘Untitled’ (1991) from his ‘Underwater’ series (1986-1997), along with an original poster from the mid-90s with the same photograph – from his engagement with Gay and Lesbian Health Norway (Helseutvalget) poster campaign series for preventive work and to promote safer sex.

As part of the 2025 World AIDS Day marking at Kunstnerforbundet, Fin Serck-Hanssen engaged in a conversation with Arne Harald Hanssen who worked at Gay and Lesbian Health Norway between the end of the 1980s and the beginning of the 2000s and was responsible for the 90s poster campaign; Jostein Waterloo from the safe-sex activist group Drillaguri against stigma and Norway’s only drill corps for gay men (est. 1991); Corentin JPM Leven, previous artist-in-residence at Atelier Kunstnerforbundet who marked World AIDS Day 2023 at Kunstnerforbundet exhibiting in the Skylight room his new work ‘THIS POSTCARD HAS BEEN PRINTED USING HIV POSITIVE BLOOD.’; and Bendik Bendik, Atelier Kunstnerforbundet Artist 2024–2026 who marked World AIDS Day 2024 exhibiting the new site-specific work ‘JEG VIL MINNE DEG PÅ’ at the entrance of Kunstnerforbundet.

An edited transcription of the conversation is available at the bottom of this webpage, following Fin Serck-Hanssen’s archive material from the 90s HIV/AIDS epidemic.

Fin Serck-Hanssen’s black and white ‘Untitled’ photograph from 1991 was later published as part of Gay and Lesbian Health Norway poster campaign series promoting safe sex. A large analog print and an original poster from the campaign with the same photograph are exhibited in Kunstnerforbundet’s windows to mark World AIDS Day 2025, accompanied by a contextualising information poster designed by Edoardo Ferrari. Gay and Lesbian Health Norway was established in 1983 to do preventive work and to promote safer sex, as in January of the same year the first AIDS patient was admitted to Rikshospitalet (Oslo University Hospital). Their poster campaign series is also part of Queer Archive and contextualised in the article The Posters Saying Safe Sex (06.03.2021).

About HIV/AIDS in 2025

The Norwegian Institute of Public Health (Folkehelseinstituttet – FHI) monitors the HIV/AIDS situation in Norway. FHI’s latest update on HIV/AIDS, published in April 2025 as part of the ‘Year Report 2024: Blood and sexually transmitted infections’ [Årsrapport 2024: Blod- og seksuelt overførbare infeksjoner], estimates that by December 2024 approximately 5.400 people live with HIV in Norway. The majority of seropositive people make use of daily medication that allows them to have no symptoms and prevents the transmission of the virus.

Globally, UNAIDS’s Global HIV and AIDS 2025 epidemiological estimates (part of the United Nations system and the UN Sustainable Development Goals) present a yearly rate of 1.3 million new cases and that 40.8 million people across the world were living with HIV in 2024 – of which 1.4 million are children between 0-14 years old, 53% are women, and 23% have no access to antiretroviral therapy.

On the occasion of World AIDS Day 2025, UNAIDS writes: “In 2025, a historic funding crisis is threatening to unravel decades of progress. HIV prevention services are severely disrupted. Community-led services, vital to reaching marginalized populations, are being deprioritized while the rise in punitive laws criminalizing same-sex relationships, gender identity, and drug use is amplifying the crisis, making HIV services inaccessible.”

Fin Serck-Hanssen (b. 1958) started his career in the early 1980s, photo documenting the punk and underground music scene both in Norway and the UK. Since the 1990s Serck-Hanssen has portrayed the Norwegian queer community during and after the HIV/AIDS epidemic. He also focused on projects of social justice, offering a platform of visibility to the living conditions of North Sea divers or inmates in national detention centres. His work has been exhibited internationally and is part of private and public collections including Victoria & Albert Museum (London, UK) and the National Museum (Oslo/Oslove, Norway/Sápmi). Serck-Hanssen’s project ‘Queer Icons’ marked the 50th anniversary of the decriminalization of homosexuality in Norway at Fotogalleriet – described on the website as “an exhibition, a book, and a public programme about people who have contributed to transforming Norway into the liberated society we know today.” In 2025 at Kunstnerforbundet, Serck-Hanssen presented the exhibition project ‘Fiberverk: Nevrofibromatose’ [Fiber works / Fiber Aches: Neurofibromatosis].

The acknowledgement of World AIDS Day at Kunstnerforbundet is curated by Martina Petrelli and Lars Sture. Thanks to HivNorge. Atelier Kunstnerforbundet is supported by Talent Norge, DNB Sparebankstiftelsen, and Fritt Ord.