Kristina Bræin
Men lyset skal fremdeles være tillatt
The Window Hall and the Cabinet
03.04.—18.05.2025

Men lyset skal fremdeles være tillatt (But light will still be allowed) examines some of the central themes in Kristina Bræin’s artistic practice. The exhibition in the Window Hall and the Cabinet presents a selection of works from 1995 to 2020, combined with archival material. This includes film recordings of Bræin’s long-term project, Borgen Åndelige Kor (Borgen Spiritual Choir), offering insight into her creative process and the conceptual frame­works that shaped her practice. Men lyset skal fremdeles være tillatt was organized by Bræin’s close colleagues and friends, Kari Steihaug and Bente Louise Aas, as a vivid portrait of an artistic career that ended all too soon with her passing in 2022.

Bræin’s practice can be understood as an ongoing process marked by observation and reflection – a lifelong experiment examining the inherent potential of space and materials. Her work questioned our relationship with the multi­faceted interconnections of everyday life. She often used overlooked, low-status materials like tape, cardboard, and wooden panels, placing them in an artistic context where their original functions were trans­formed into something more.

Bræin’s work encourages the viewer to notice the unnoticed – an invitation to look more closely, listen more deeply, and be fully present. She considered space to be a mental construct, where the artwork emerged through an impro­visational process and in close dialogue with the structures of the site. Her subtle inter­ventions, often not immedi­ately visible or audible, have the potential to shift the viewer’s under­standing of both the space and the materials, thus opening up for new pers­pectives and insights.

Kristina Bræin (1955–2022) studied musicology and art history at the University of Oslo (1978–1983), followed by studies at the Oslo School of Architecture and Design (1983–1984) and the Institute of Colour at the Oslo National Aca­demy of the Arts (1992–1997). Bræin exhibited widely, with solo shows at the Stenersen­museet, Kunstnernes Hus, Kunstner­forbundet, Tanja Pol Galerie in Munich, 1646 in The Hague, Künstlerhaus Bethanien in Berlin, Trafo Kunst­hall, Oslo Kunst­forening, 222T, LNM, and UKS. In 2003, she represented Norway in the Nordic Pavilion at the Venice Biennale. She also parti­cipated in numerous group and collective exhi­bitions in Norway and abroad, including at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Henie Onstad Kunst­senter, Kunst­halle Münster, Kunsthalle Bern, Manifesta, and Museo de Arte Carrillo Gil in Mexico City. Her works are held in the collections of the National Museum of Norway and Artothek in Munich, Germany.

Curator, writer, and art historian Dr. Julia Wirxel has written a text that accom­panies the exhibition. This is available on print in the gallery, and on request. She also contributed an essay to Kristina Bræin’s 2012 monograph Dilemma of politeness / Høflighetens dilemma / Dilemma der Höflichkeit.

Kunstnerforbundet extends its sincere thanks to the exhibition’s initiator, Stiftelsen Kristina Bræins kunst (Foundation for Kristina Bræin's art), represented by Kari Steihaug and Bente Louise Aas.

All sales proceeds from the exhibition will go to Kunstner­forbundet.