Miriam Hansen
Dreaming, drowsing, haunting
The Window Hall and the Cabinet
19.10.23 – 19.11.23
The exhibition Dreaming, drowsing, haunting is a continuation of Miriam Hansen's work with sleep in relation to various plant species. Starting from living plants, plant history and current discourses around mood-changing plants such as medicine and cultural heritage, Hansen’s work often takes the form of holistic installations and environments.
Sleep and the “dream-like state” have historically been a recurring term used to describe states associated with ritual and everyday use of mood-altering plants. Through several works, Hansen has used sleep as a model of explanation to shed light on the increasing commercialization of internal states, with a particular focus on restitution and the resting body.
In this exhibition project, Hansen has worked with the plant species Syrian rue (Peganum Harmala). Syrian rue is one of the oldest useful plants known from ancient times and has been used in medicine and rituals in many different cultures along the Mediterranean Sea and eastwards towards Kazakhstan. The works are based on an interest in the plant's enigmatic appearance throughout cultural history, set against recent current affairs where the plant is exposed to patenting, privatization and financial speculation.
Hansen problematizes “the therapeutic treatment room” as a place of change and improvement. Divided into two rooms, the exhibition approaches the plant through its active substances as artistic material. In the Window Hall, sculptures in wax will burn infused plant material throughout the exhibition period.
The installation in the darkened Cabinet uses the active substance harmine extracted from the plant, a chemical compound that glows under UV light. In the installation, the audience can observe the works from mattresses lying on the floor. The works have been produced in collaboration with Andreas Olavssønn Rongen.
Miriam Hansen (b. 1988) is a visual artist with a master's degree from the Oslo National Academy of the Arts. She is based in Oslo. She has had solo exhibitions such as Whispers, echoes, whimpers at Podium, Oslo (2023), It's (just) us at Babel, Trondheim (2022), ...And Slumber Might Return at Hulias, Oslo (2021) and Comfort and Reassurance at Podium ( 2016). She has participated in group exhibitions such as Open Systems at UKS, Oslo (2023), The blind gardener at the Sculpture Triennial, Oslo (2021), SUN AND SPRING IN JANUARY. The next generation in Norwegian contemporary art at the Astrup Fearnley Museum, Oslo (2019) and Poppositions Off-fair in Brüssel (2018).
Andreas Olavssønn Rongen (b. 1989) is a visual artist with a master's degree from the Oslo National Academy of Fine Arts and is based in Oslo. He has, among other things, exhibited at the Norwegian Sculpture Association, Podium, Kunstnernes Hus, Louise Dany, RAM, Destiny's Atelier and Space 4235.
The exhibition has received funding from Arts Council Norway and the Norwegian Visual Artists Fund.