About

Toril Johannessen (b.1978, Norway), living in Bergen, Norway. I work across various media, such as prints, information graphics, textiles, text, and installations. Information as material is central in many of my projects, for example, by creating my own datasets consisting of images or words that form the basis of the works. I’m interested in structures and frameworks for knowledge, from folk knowledge to scientific methodologies. The impact of historical conditions and technological developments on modes of perception is a recurring theme in my practice.

Contact

Toril Johannessen
toril.johannessen(at)protonmail.com

OSL Contemporary
www.oslcontemporary.com
info(at)oslcontemporary.com

Education

  • 2011 Mountain School of Arts, artist run educational program, Los Angeles, California
  • 2006-08 MA in Fine Art, Bergen National Academy of the Arts (now KMD), Norway
  • 2002-05 BA in Fine Art, Bergen National Academy of the Arts (now KMD), Dept of Photography, Norway
  • 2007 The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, KUNO guest, Copenhagen, Denmark
  • 2005-06 University of Bergen, Dept of information and media science, Norway
  • 2004 Kunsthochschule Weißensee, Berlin, ERASMUS guest, Germany

Solo exhibitions

  • 2023 Tilstedeværelse / Presence, OSL Contemporary, Oslo, Norway
  • 2019 Reclaiming Vision, w/M. Dijkman, HIAP & Helsinki Festival, Helsinki, Finland
  • 2019 Liquid Properties, w/M. Dijkman, OSL Contemporary, Oslo, Norway
  • 2019 Skogsaken, Entrée and Trykkeriet, Bergen, Norway
  • 2018 Liquid Properties, w/M. Dijkman, for Munchmuseet on the Move, The Munch Museum, Oslo, Norway
  • 2017 Imaginary Networks & The Invention and Conclusion of the Eye, Small Projects, Tromsø, Norway
  • 2017 The Invention and Conclusion of the Eye, OSL Contemporary, Oslo, Norway
  • 2017 Oppfinnelsen og avviklingen av øyet, Hordaland Art Centre, Bergen, Norway
  • 2017 Unlearning Optical Illusions, ARoS Aarhus Kunstmuseum, Aarhus, Denmark
  • 2016 Norsk natur, w/Tue Greenfort, National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design, Oslo, Norway
  • 2016 Unlearning Optical Illusions, KABUSO, Øystese, Norway
  • 2016 Unlearning Optical Illusions, Trondheim Kunstmuseum, Trondheim, Norway
  • 2015 AA-MHUMA-AITI-KITTEKITII, OSL Contemporary, Oslo, Norway
  • 2014 Variable Stars, Preus Museum, Horten, Norway
  • 2013 Teleportation Paradigm, UKS, Oslo, Norway
  • 2011 Nonlocality, Volker Bradtke, Düsseldorf, Germany
  • 2011 Nonlocality, Lautom Contemporary, Oslo, Norway
  • 2010 Transcendental Physics, Bergen Kunsthall No.5, Bergen, Norway
  • 2009 The Generic Stone, w/Sidsel Meineche, Hordaland Art Centre, Bergen, Norway
  • 2009 Variable Stars & In Search of Iceland Spar, Oslo Kunstforening, Oslo, Norway

Group exhibitions

  • 2023 Strange Paradise, ISELP, Brussels, Belgium
  • 2023 Manifest/o, KiT Galleri, Trondheim, Norway
  • 2022 The Machine is Us - Munch Triennale, MUNCH, Oslo, Norway
  • 2022 Liquid Structures, Batumi Urban Agenda, Batumi, Georgia
  • 2022 Emotions are Oceans, RADIUS CCA, Delft, The Netherlands
  • 2022 Spor af Niels Bohr, Sophienholm Kunsthal, Lyngby, Denmark
  • 2021 Sustainable Societies for the Future, film screening in public space, Floating Museum, Chicago, Illinois
  • 2021 To Live as A Mayfly, interventions in public space by Failure, Understanding, Care & Kunst, Tromsø, Norway
  • 2021 Langt Ude i Skoven (På opdagelse i naturen), Skovhuset, Værløse, Danmark
  • 2021 Uncertain Horizon, WAM Turku City Art Museum, Turku, Finland
  • 2021 The Sea, Kalmar Konstmusem, Kalmar, Sweden
  • 2021 AQUARIA - Or the Illusion of a Boxed Sea, MAAT Museum of Art, Architecture and Technology, Lisbon, Portugal
  • 2021 Sustainable Societies for the Future, Malmö Konstmuseum, Malmö, Sweden
  • 2020 Spoiled Waters Spilled, Les Parallèles du Sud / Manifesta 13, Marseille, France
  • 2020 Beyond Measure, Trondheim Art Museum, Trondheim, Norway
  • 2020 Kas me sellist muuseumi tahtsimegi? Narva versioon, Narva Art Museum, Narva, Estonia
  • 2019 Ecologies - Lost, Found and Continued, Screen City Biennial, Stavanger, Norway
  • 2019 LIAF 2019 - Lofoten International Art Festival, Svolvær, Norway
  • 2019 Under Water, Filatoio Rosso, Caraglio, Italy
  • 2019 Group Show, Galerie (INT), Oslo International Theatre Festival, Oslo, Norway
  • 2019 E.S.P.: Visual Fields, Filip and Cineworks, Vancouver, Canada
  • 2019 Post Water, Museo Nazionale della Montagna, Torino, Italy
  • 2019 Dataesthetics, Foreman Art Gallery, Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada
  • 2019 The Future Stands Still but We Move in Infinite Space, OSL Contemporary, Oslo, Norway
  • 2018 Navigating Polarities/Marjolijn Dijkman, NOME Gallery, Berlin, Germany
  • 2018 Why Listen to Plants?, Liquid Architecture, RMIT Design Hub, Melbourne, Australia
  • 2018 Liquid Properties, Projects at Verbeke Foundation, Kemzeke, Belgium
  • 2018 NATURvitenskap, Trondheim Art Museum, Trondheim, Norway
  • 2018 Seeing Without a Seer, Radical Reversibility, Amsterdam, Netherlands
  • 2018 The Blue Hour, Dak’art, Biennale de Dakar, Dakar, Senegal
  • 2017 If Seeing is Believing, Fullersta Gård, Huddinge, Sweden
  • 2017 All of the Above, None of the Above, Mela House, Oslo, Norway
  • 2017 The Promise and Compromise of Translation, Four Boxes Gallery, Aarhus, Denmark
  • 2017 Image Drain, Tallinn Art Hall, Tallinn, Estonia
  • 2017 STAGES: Drawing the Curtain, Plug In ICA, Winnipeg, MA, Canada
  • 2017 Anthropic Landscape, Parc Saint Léger, Pougues-les-Eaux, France
  • 2017 What Remains – The Golden Records, Fotogalleriet, Oslo, Norway
  • 2016 Foreign Places, WIELS, Brussels, Belgium
  • 2016 The Economy is Spinning, Onomatopee, Eindhoven, The Netherlands
  • 2016 Random Walks, Kunsthall 44 Møen, Askeby, Denmark
  • 2016 Sakte bilder, Lillehammer Kunstmuseum, Lillehammer, Norway
  • 2016 Form Matters, Matter Forms, Apalazzo Gallery, Brescia, Italy
  • 2016 On Limits, ISP Whitney/The Kitchen, NYC, US
  • 2015 Cultural Threads: Migrations, Australian Design Centre, Australia
  • 2015 Facts, Stories and Anecdotes, Kunsthall Stavanger, Stavanger, Norway
  • 2015 Norsk Skulpturbiennale, Vigeland Museum, Oslo, Norway
  • 2015 Performing Objects, Enough Room for Space, Brussels, Belgium
  • 2015 Tomorrow Today, curated_by_vienna, Galerie Hubert Winter, Vienna, Austria
  • 2015 Balance Sheets, Edouard Malingue Gallery, Hong Kong
  • 2015 Cultural Threads: Migrations, NCAD Gallery, Dublin, Ireland
  • 2015 Systémique, CEAAC, Strasbourg, France
  • 2015 Cultural Threads: Migrations, KANEKO Centre, Omaha, Nebraska, US
  • 2014 On the moment of change (…), ARTSPACE, Auckland, New Zealand
  • 2014 Present Future, solo presentation at Artissima, Turin, Italy
  • 2014 Allegory of the Cave Painting, Extra City, Antwerp, Belgium
  • 2014 Blue Times, Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna, Austria
  • 2014 Unstuck in Time, Te Tuhi Centre for the Arts, Auckland, New Zealand
  • 2014 Curiosity: Art & the Pleasures of Knowing, (Hayward Touring), de Appel, Netherlands
  • 2014 Paradise Reclaimed, Festspillutstillingen, Festspillene i Nord-Norge, Harstad, Norway
  • 2014 Markeringsdistrikt, Harstad Kunstforening, Harstad, Norway
  • 2014 The Act of Seeing with One’s Own Eyes, Contemporary Art Gallery, Vancouver, Canada
  • 2014 Definite Motion, Generator Projects, Dundee, Scotland
  • 2014 Literacy/Illiteracy,16th Tallinn Print Triennial, Estonia
  • 2014 Crònica. Narració, historia i subjectivitat, Fabra I Coats, Barcelona, Spania
  • 2014 Kas me sellist muuseumi tahtsimegi?, Tartu Art Museum, Tartu, Estland
  • 2013 Curiosity: Art & the Pleasures of Knowing, Norwich Castle Museum & Art Gallery, UK
  • 2013 Past performance is the best indicator of future results, Tenderpixel, London, UK
  • 2013 A nonspatial continuum (…), Schleicher/Lange, Berlin, Germany
  • 2013 l’anniversaire#6, FRAC Champagne-Ardenne, Reims Scènes d’Europe, Reims, France
  • 2013 Flag NYC, Performa 13, New York, US
  • 2013 Shadows of a Doubt, Tallinn Art Hall, Tallinn, Estonia
  • 2013 Requiem for a Bank, HMKV Dortmund, Dortmund, Germany
  • 2013 Momentous Times, CCA - Centre for Contemporary Art, Derry, Northern Ireland
  • 2013 RE-Culture II, Patras, Greece
  • 2013 Room 0, Henningsen Gallery, Copenhagen, Denmark
  • 2013 Curiosity: Art & the Pleasures of Knowing, Turner Contemporary, Margate, UK
  • 2013 Mom, am I barbarian?, 13th Istanbul Biennial, Istanbul, Turkey
  • 2013 Nouvelle Vague, A History of Inspiration, Palais de Tokyo, Paris, France
  • 2013 Economics in Art, Museum of Contemporary Art Krakow, Krakow, Poland
  • 2013 Motlys, OSL Contemporary, Oslo, Norway
  • 2012 Biennale Bénin, Cotonou, Bénin
  • 2012 Cartographies of hope: Change Narratives, DOX Centre for Contemporary Art, Prague
  • 2012 Neufertvariasjonene, Projekt 0047, Oslo, Norway
  • 2012 This is (R) evolution, Stavanger Kunsthall, Stavanger, Norway
  • 2012 Machine worries, Machine Hearts, Blank Project Space, Cape Town, South Africa
  • 2012 In Fifteen Minutes Everyone will be in the Future, Plovdiv Contemporary Art Week, Bulgaria
  • 2012 Game of Life, Kristiansand Kunsthall, Kristiansand, Norway
  • 2012 Conditions of a Moment, Hordaland kunstsenter, Bergen, Norway
  • 2012 Här har man alltid med sig, Stockholm Music & Arts/Tensta Konsthall, Stockholm, Sweden
  • 2012 dOCUMENTA (13), Kassel, Germany
  • 2012 The Remainder, Hilary Crisp, London, UK
  • 2012 Juscu’ici tout va bien, OSLO10, Basel, Switzerland
  • 2012 Plus de Croissance: Un Capitalisme ideal…., La Ferme du Buisson, Noisiel, France
  • 2012 Let us keep our own noon, Galerie West, Den Haag, The Netherlands
  • 2012 An Exhibition of a Study on Knowledge, Forum Stadtpark, Graz, Austria
  • 2012 Letter, INCA, Detroit, Michigan
  • 2011 Run, Comrade, The Old World is Behind You, Kunsthall Oslo, Oslo, Norway
  • 2011 Handlingsregler, Maihaugen, Lillehammer, Norway
  • 2011 The End of Money, Witte de With, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
  • 2011 Space. About a dream, KUNSTHALLE Wien, Vienna, Austria
  • 2011 Toril Johannessen, Kjetil Kausland, Sveinung Rudjord Unneland, Lautom, Oslo
  • 2011 The Museum of Longing and Failure (MOLAF), Bergen, Norway
  • 2010 Smooth Structures, SMART Project Space, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
  • 2010 BGO1, Bergen Kunstmuseum, Bergen, Norway
  • 2010 I was Uranium, Sils Project Space, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
  • 2010 Chris Cornish, Kristin Nordhøy and Toril Johannessen, Lautom, Oslo, Norway
  • 2010 The Line, CSA Space, Vancouver, Canada
  • 2010 PolArt2010, Tromsø Kunstforening, Tromsø, Norway
  • 2009 World Wide Wonders, Galerie Kunst-Zicht, Ghent, Belgia
  • 2009 Susan Collis, Ane Mette Hol og Toril Johannessen, Lautom Contemporary, Oslo
  • 2009 Session 6 - Lecture, AmNudenDa, London, England
  • 2009 Langt inni skauen erre bare mer skau, Viul, Hønefoss, Norge
  • 2009 From Now On – New Nordic Photography, Hasselblad Center, Gothenburg, Sweden
  • 2008 Magiske Systemer, Tromsø Kunstforening, Tromsø, Norway
  • 2008 Sparebankstiftelsen DnB Nor Stipendieutstilling. Oslo Art Society, Oslo, Norway
  • 2008 Tomorrow’s Parties, MA degree show, Bergen Kunsthall, Bergen, Norway
  • 2008 Nordnorsken, Bodø Kunstforening m.fl. tourin Northern Norway
  • 2007 It’s like opening a door, Visningsrommet USF Verftet, Bergen, Norway
  • 2007 Basic Speculations, Galleri By The Way, Bergen, Norway
  • 2006 Høstutstillingen, Kunstnernes Hus, Oslo, Norway

Public commissions

  • 2023 Presence, Evenes Air Base, commissioned by KORO, Evenes, Norway
  • 2020-22 Representation (for people and those who represent them), Bergen City Hall, commissioned by City of Bergen, Norway
  • 2014 Inscription, Amalie Skrams videregående skole, library, Bergen, Norway
  • 2011 Historical Time, Faculty of humanities, University of Bergen, commissioned by KORO/Public Art Norway

Publications and catalogues

  • 2018 The Invention and Conclusion of the Eye, Filip Supplements, Filip and Plug In Editions, Vancouver, Canada
  • 2018 Liquid Properties, The Munch Museum, editor N. H. O'Donnell, Oslo
  • 2017 Unlearning Optical Illusions, AROS Aarhus Art Museum, editor J. Vengberg Sevel, Denmark
  • 2016 NORSK NATUR, exhibition catalogue, editor H. Ravn, National Museum, Norway
  • 2013 Unseeing / Dublett - Toril Johannessen, artist book and anthology, Hordaland Art Centre, Bergen, Norway

Public collections

  • 2011, 2020 KODE Bergen Art Museum, Bergen, Norway
  • 2013, 2017 The National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design, Norway
  • 2016 Oslo kommunes kunstsamling, Oslo, Norway
  • 2015 Troms Fylkeskommune, Norway
  • 2014 Nord-Norsk Kunstmuseum, Tromsø, Norway
  • 2014 Preus Museum, Horten, Norway

Miscellaneous

  • 2022 Contributer to The Only Lasting Truth is Change, BEK Symposium 2022, Bergen, Norway
  • 2020 Teaching the workshop RRRESEARCH for BA/MA students, Tromsø Academy of Fine Arts, UiT, Tromsø
  • 2020 Presentation, w/M. Dijkman at Sonic Acts Academy, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
  • 2019-2020 Member of Nominasjonsutvalget, NBK
  • 2016-2017 Mentor for Ayatgali Tuleubek, NNKS mentor programme, Norway
  • 2015-2017 Jury member, KOM projects, KORO/Public Art Norway
  • 2015 Presentation, Art Talk, Dept. of Painting and Sculpture, KNUST, Kumasi, Ghana
  • 2015 Presentation, Cultural Threads symposium, Central Saint Martins, London, UK
  • 2014 Presentation, Easy Listening series, Auckland Art Gallery, New Zealand
  • 2014 Artist in residence, WIELS, Brussels, Belgium
  • 2013 Organising the seminar A Matter of Life and Conduct: w/Anne Szefer Karlsen, for B-open, Bergen
  • 2013 Artist award 2013, City of Bergen, Bergen, Norway
  • 2012 Organising Flaggfabrikken’s international residency program
  • 2011 Organising the workshop The Invisible Hand, w/Marjolijn Dijkman, for B-open
  • 2011 Organising the seminar Visions: Upheavals and unpractical ideas, for B-open
  • 2010 Organising the seminar To produce an art scene, for B-open, Bergen
  • 2010 Artist in residence, Western Front, Vancouver, Canada
  • 2010 AIR Bergen-Berlin, artist residency in Berlin, support by the City of Bergen
  • 2009 PolArt residency in the Arctic/Barents Sea, Tromsø Kunstforening and ARCTOS
  • 2009 Organising the seminar “Objekt + Verbal”, Permanten, Bergen
  • 2009-2011 Organising B-open’s monthly study circles, w/Vilde Salhus Røed, Bergen
  • 2009-2011 Chairwoman, B-open, artist festival and open studios in Bergen/Hordaland
  • 2008 Organising the seminar “The artist as Producer” w/Åse Løvgren, HKS, Bergen, Norway
  • 2008 Presentation at XXVII Symposium of the Scientific Instrument Commision, Lisbon, Portugal
  • 2006-2008 Art editor for Replikk, academic magazine, Bergen, Norway