Preface / Deterrence and Reassurance
by Silja Leifsdottir

These two words belong to the vocabulary of security policy, but they also carry a broader significance – a balancing act that continuously unfolds
in society. The word deterrence may seem paradoxical at first; it could be interpreted as a state of security, with the prefix designifying negation, as in «decline» or «defend.» In reality, however, deterrence means to deny or to reject. In the context of Norwegian security policy, its core purpose is to signal strength to achieve stability and prevent unwanted actions. Reassurance represents the polar opposite – a softer strategy based on safety measures, serving as a reminder that there are certain limits to one’s actions.

For several decades following the end of the Cold War, the scales tilted decisively toward reassurance. This was an era marked by a strong belief in cooperation, détente, and a world where fear would give way to diplomacy and cultural exchange. At the time of Toril Johannessen’s Festival Exhibition and in the period that followed, however, this balance shifted drastically. It remains unsettled, destabilized, challenged – we seem to be facing a shift that unfolds more swiftly than any of us could have predicted. As I write this, Trump has been in office for 40 days, and the last couple of weeks have made it clear that deterrence and reassurance are not limited to interstate strategies but also refer to mechanisms for handling uncertainty. Confronted with escalating war, diplomatic breaches, and information
flows shifting from the eerie to the absurd, elements that once reassured
us – alliances, institutions, and norms – are showing cracks. We should be concerned, but not afraid, they say. That, too, is a delicate balance.

The main work in the Festival Exhibition – which the exhibition
lends its name from – consisted of a floor covered with rug rags made of shredded military fabrics. Before entering, visitors were asked to take off their shoes, which emphasized an embodied experience of the materials. Toril Johannessen describes it as “the soft part of the defense,” underlining how these hard, uniformed phenomena are transformed into something tactile and inviting. Military hardware becomes homely and sensous, establishing an unexpected connection between defense and everyday life. This juxtaposition suggests that safety (Armed Forces) provides space for aggression – a paradox reflected in the exhibition title. The work illustrates how the logic of security policy infiltrates everyday life, that what provides us with safety also carries a potential threat of violence.

To many visitors, the exhibition offered a complex, layered experience, juxtaposing a feeling of being safe with an underlying sense of unease. Being asked to take off one’s shoes before entering evoked a feeling of being “disarmed” in an almost sacred atmosphere, while the origin of the material and its context provided space for reflections on power, protection, and vulnerability.

On the walls of Bergen Kunsthall, several series of graphic works explored the themes from the main work. In “Colloquial place names linked to military activity” (2022 – 2024), Johannessen has mapped local place names associated with military activities in different parts of the country.
 A series of abstract prints titled “Reliability Diagrams” (2024) is based on diagrams from military maps that indicate the accuracy of different
parts of the maps. These technical patterns – used in planning actual air attacks – remind us that lethal systems lurk underneath the aesthetic surface.

Much of  Toril Johannessen’s art is characterized by an analytical approach to systems, languages, and power structures, using information as a central artistic material. Several of the works in the Festival Exhibition develop themes and methods from earlier projects, among them “Words and Years” (2010 – 2016), where Johannessen explored changes in usage of words in academic journals and magazines. The video “Language Is a Failed Technology” (2018) examines the limits of language itself rather than single words. It features two spinning tops having an absurd discussion about language’s capacity – or lack thereof – to represent reality. In a similar way several works in the exhibition addresses the power of language by showing how military structures are interwoven in language and the everyday.
 In “Representation (for people and those who represent them)” (2022), a permanent artwork installed in Bergen’s city hall, Johannessen examined the potential of computer-generated portraits as a collective representation of its citizens and how knowledge systems shape our understanding of reality – a theme central to the Festival Exhibition, where cartography and military strategy were visualized to reveal their underlying logic.

In the exhibition “Deterrence and Reassurance”, Johannessen transformed the exhibition space into an arena where military presence, borders, and geopolitics overlap with the everyday. Visitors wandered barefoot on discarded military equipment, read maps that blended security zones and local knowledge, and witnessed how languages and landscapes carry traces of historical and contemporary power plays. Johannessen’s important, ongoing, and still-expanding project documents and visualizes the military’s presence in the natural landscape and in the social and cultural imaginary – a presence that long seemed to belong to the past but, in reality, never disappeared.

The texts in this publication explore how history, power, and politics are shaped by memories, art, and cartography, and how they are used both to preserve and challenge established narratives.

In her essay, Hanne Hammer Stien explores how the exhibition sheds light on historical and security-political issues. Through an analysis of Toril Johannessen’s art works, she discusses the tightly knit bonds between the military and civil society and how historical events – from World War II until the current security-political situation – continue to shape our understanding of the world.

Philippe Rekacewicz approaches cartography and its relationship to power, examining how maps not only represent geographic terrain but also function as political tools. He traces the emergence of radical cartography, a practice using maps to reveal power structures, decolonize narratives, and lend a voice to marginalized groups. Through historical examples, he demonstrates how the tradition of mapmaking has been used for purposes of control and repression, but also as a tool for resistance and activism.

Ingeborg Hjorth’s essay focuses on the work ”The Seedlings. Extracts from an unrealized memorial site project” (2024), discussing how the attempt to establish a memorial site for Soviet prisoners of war failed because of geopolitical tension and considerations for the local indigenous population. Hjorth’s text shows how the politics of memory not only concerns preserving history but also using the past actively in contemporary conflicts and political priorities.

Toril Johannessen contributes with personal notes and photographs spanning from childhood to the period following the exhibition. These insertions interrupt the linear structure of the publication, create a parallel, personal timeline in which the artist’s practice gradually emerges – beginning with teenage years marked by environmental engagement, and moving towards later observations and reflections on military presence, security politics, and memory work. These entries interweave the personal and the political, forming an archive of Johannessen’s perspective on her contemporary moment – before, during, and after it became part of her artistic practice.

This publication is released in connection with Toril Johannessen’s 2024 Festival Exhibition at Bergen Kunsthall. It is designed in collaboration with Petri Henriksson of Blank Blank Studio.

Newly produced works make up a significant part of the exhibition. This would not have been possible without the support of individuals
and institutions. We would like to thank all our sponsors and partners for their generous contributions to the exhibition: Arts and Culture Norway, The Fritt Ord Foundation, Grieg Foundation, Norske Kunstforeninger,
The Bergesen Foundation, H. Westfal-Larsen og Hustru Anna Westfal-Larsens Almennyttige fond, Bergen Municipality, the Norwegian Cultural Fund, regional project support from the Art Centers in Norway (KiN), and Billedkunstnernes Vederlagsfond.

Lastly, we would like to extend our deep gratitude to the team at Bergen Kunsthall, and of course to Toril Johannessen for creating this timely, insightful, and generous exhibition, which continues to gain significance over time.