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CALENDARS Project
Art exhibition

A path is a thought stretched out in time and space

In September 2023, the CALENDARS project co-hosted an exhibition where six contemporary artists gave visitors an alternative experience of the Arboretum and ways for sensing time.

Pink flowers in front of a pencil drawing
Artwork in the Arboretum greenhouse by Silje Figenschou Thoresen.
Photo:
Arne Skaug Olsen

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"A path is a thought stretched out in time and space" opened 9 September 2023 with a guided tour of the exhibition and a panel discussion comprising artists and CALENDARS researchers. This opening was well-attended, with visitors arriving on a chartered bus, including a group of museum curators on a course in Bergen at the time.

Then, on 11-12 September, CALENDARS organized a symposium called Re-patterning our seasonal cultures at the Arboretum, comprising talks, workshops, a film showing and artists contributions related to the CALENDARS project. Symposium participants were also given a guided tour of the exhibition. The exhibition ran over three weekends in September, attracting hundreds of visitors through the gardens.

The artworks in the exhibition related to the seasons in different ways: Through new technology like VR, as well as through inherited and revitalized craft traditions and new ways of viewing culinary traditions and indigenous seasonal architecture and technology.

The exhibition was inspired by the researchers of CALENDARS, who have studied how climate changes alter the rhythm and intensity of the seasons. Human societies and lives have always been framed by the seasons, which presents us with both predictability, challenges and possibilities.

Bergen University Garden's Arboretum houses a living collection of trees and shrubs, especially Rhododendron and roses, from temperate zones across the world. During the exhibition period from 9 to 24 September 2023, the artists offered visitors a range of experiences across the Arboretum's greenhouse, landscape and administration building:

Drawings and olfactory experiences

Vandret linje (2016) by Silje Figenschou Thoresen

A person seen from behind looking at a piece of art, greenery in the front of the image
Photo:
Arne Skaug Olsen

Thoughts on Disitillation III: The world as a fragrant forest (2023) by Simon Daniel Tegnander Wenzel

A table with various small bottles and jars surrounded by green plants
Photo:
Arne Skaug Olsen

A table with various small bottles and jars surrounded by green plants
Photo:
Arne Skaug Olsen

Sculptures

Blandet treverk festet sammen (2023) by Øyvind Novak Jenssen

A sculpture with natural materials in wooden landscape
Photo:
Arne Skaug Olsen

Oneiric Architecture (2023) by Eamon O'Kane

A black blob-like structure in the woods
Photo:
Kamilla Stølen

A white blob-like structure in the woods
Photo:
Kamilla Stølen

Virtual reality (VR)

VR artwork Two Rocks Do Not Make a Duck (2023) by Magnhild Øen Nordahl and Cameron MacLeod. The top image shows the VR equipment in use, while the image below is a still from the artwork that can be experienced through VR. 

A man with VR glasses holding a rock-like item
Photo:
Magnhild Øen Nordahl

A snowy wooden landscape in virtual reality
Photo:
Magnhild Øen Nordahl & Cameron McLeod

Drawings

Tree Test and Baum Test Drawings (2020-23) by Eamon O'Kane

Pencil drawings of trees displayed in a hallway
Photo:
Arne Skaug Olsen

Pencil drawings of trees displayed in a hallway
Photo:
Arne Skaug Olsen

The exhibition was curated by Arne Skaug Olsen, and the participating artists were Magnhild Øen Nordahl and Cameron MacLeod, Øyvind Novak Jenssen, Eamon O’Kane, Silje Figenschou Thoresen and Simon Daniel Tegnander Wenzel.

CALENDARS, Arts and Culture Norway, Vestland county municipality, the Arboretum and Friends of the Arboretum (Arboretets venner) supported the exhibition.