ArtEx Mentors 2023 - 2024

Carl-Viggo Hølmebakk

Carl-Viggo Hølmebakk's architectural office was established in Kabelvåg in 1990, and since 1992 has been based at Bislet in Oslo. Carl-Viggo Hølmebakk is the professional and day-to-day manager of the office, which currently has a permanent staff of five architects. The office's work is widely published in Norwegian and international specialist literature and represented at a number of exhibitions at home and abroad. Carl-Viggo Hølmebakk has received many of the most important architecture awards in Norway (among others the Grosch medal, Houens Fonds Diplom, Treprisen, Betongtavlen and Statens Byggeskikkspris) and has been nominated four times for the Mies van der Rohe prize, which is considered Europe's most important architecture award. Several of Hølmebakk's works have been acquired by the National Museum and the German Architecture Museum (DAM). The office wishes to maintain an independent and high professional profile, where the individual construction task is treated as special. In addition to participating in various teams and professional groups, the office has stable working relationships with other advisers and players in the construction industry. The office has expertise in all relevant work tools in the architectural profession.

Photo: Private

Ed Atkins

Ed Atkins lives and works in Copenhagen. Recent institutional solo exhibitions include ‘Refuse’ at Tank, Shanghai (2022); ‘Get Life / Love’s Work’ at the New Museum, New York (2021); Kunsthaus Bregenz and K21 Düsseldorf (both 2019); Martin-Gropius-Bau, Berlin; MMK Frankfurt; DHC/ART, Montréal (all 2017); Castello di Rivoli and Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Turin; The Kitchen, New York; SMK, Copenhagen (all 2016); Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam (2015), The Serpentine Gallery, London (2014); Julia Stoschek Collection, Düsseldorf (2013); and MoMA PS1 (2012). Atkins was included in the 56th and 58th Venice Biennales, the 13th Lyon Biennial, and Performa 13 and 19.

An anthology of Ed’s texts, ‘A Primer for Cadavers’, was published by Fitzcarraldo in 2016, and an extensive artist’s monograph from Skira was released in 2017. An epic soliloquy, ‘Old Food’, was published by Fitzcarraldo in 2019, and a book of Atkins’ drawings for children was published by Koenig Books in 2021. ‘Sorcerer’, co-written and -directed with Steven Zultanski, was presented at Teater Revolver in Copenhagen in March, 2022. A film version of the play was presented at Galerie Isabella Bortolozzi, Berlin, in 2022 as well as at Gladstone Gallery, New York, 2023.

In 2025, Ed will present his largest solo show to date at Tate Britain.

Photo: Steven Zultanski

Erlend Skomsvoll

Erlend Skomsvoll is an award-winning artist who expresses himself in many different ways, as a composer, pianist, ensemble leader, producer, pedagogue and screenplay/lyricist. He has toured and performed extensively in Norway, Europe, Asia and the USA, and done collaborations within a number of different artistic expressions. Current now with his piano trio, album release of classical works, and currently he also working on a book about creative processes. Skomsvoll is educated in jazz and contemporary music but does not profess to a particular genre or style, he seeks to constantly explore new avenues in music and artistic expression, also as a mentor, speaker and teacher, and is driven by openness, playfulness, curiosity, kindness and courage. Erlend Skomsvoll has received a number of prizes, scholarships and awards, including the Spellemanns prize in jazz and classical, the Lindemans prize, the Ella prize, the Buddy prize (Norwegian jazz's highest award), and he has worked with and written for a number of major Norwegian and international artists and ensembles, within a number of genres. 

Photo: Peter Adamik

 

Gitte Ørskou

Gitte Ørskou (b. 1971) is a Danish art historian, curator and museum director. Since 2019, she has been the director of Moderna Museet in Stockholm, Sweden's national galleryfor modern and contemporary art. From 2009 she was the director of Kunsten - Museum of Modern Art Aalborg. Ørskou was chief curator at ARoS Aarhus Art Museum from 2001 to 2009, and she has been chairman of the board of the Statens Kunstfond in Denmark. She holds positions on several boards and has been responsible for the Danish representation at the Venice Biennale on several occasions. She is also the author of a number of articles and books on modern and contemporary art.

Photo: Åsa Lundén / Moderna Museet

Haeju Kim

Haeju Kim is a Senior Curator at Singapore Art Museum and the curator for the Singapore Pavilion, in the Venice Biennale 2024. She was most recently the Artistic Director for Busan Biennale 2022, and previously was the Deputy Director at Art Sonje Center from 2017 to  2021. Kim holds experience in curating numerous contemporary art exhibitions and performance programmes across various disciplines. Her curatorial approach emphasizes the consideration of the body, time and memory as key elements, while also engaging with topics including ecological perspectives, locality and its planetary connection through her research. 

Photo: Um Hyo-Young

Kristin Hjort-Inao

Kristin Hjort Inao is educated from the the National School of Performing Arts in Oslo with a BA in classical ballet and pedagogy. She was a dancer in Carte Blanche - Norway's national company for contemporary dance in the period from 1996-98, where she danced in works choreographed by Nordic choreographers such as Jo Strømgren, Ina Christel Johannessen, Ingun Bjørnsgaard and Ørjan Andersson. In the period 1998-2007, Kristin was a dancer in the Batsheva Dance Company under the artistic direction of Ohad Naharin where she toured extensively internationally and danced prominent roles in works choreographed by Ohad Naharin, Mats Ek, Jiri Kylián, William Forsythe and Sharon Eyal. Kristin was appointed associate professor ofcontemporary dance at the National Academy of Arts in 2008, and has solid teaching experience both nationally and internationally. As a choreographer, Kristin has createdworks for, among others, Carte Blanche – Norway's national company for contemporary dance, and for theater productions at the National Theatre, Trøndelag Theater and Rogaland Theatre. Since 2019 Kristin Hjort Inao has been the Rehearsal Director for  Nagelhus Schia Productions, where she is also responsible for various artistic projects, audition planning and competence development.

Photo: Kristoffer Sandven

Marianna Shirinyan

Armenian-born Marianna Shirinyan is one of the most creative and in sought after pianists in Europe today. Her vibrant and virtuous musicianship puts her in demand, both as soloist and as a chamber musician.  She has received Danish Broadcasting Corporation´s prestigious P2 award for her contribution to Danish music life and the critics prize of the association of Danish critics. She is a frequent guest at a string of international music festivals, among them the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, Bodensee Festival, the Schwetzinger Festspiele, MDR Summer Festival, Festspillene in Bergen. Marianna has garnered a reputation as a leading pianist of her generation through solo appearences with orchestras such as the Bavarian radio Symphony Orchestra, Danish National Symphony Orchestra, Oslo, Helsinki and Copenhagen Philharmonic Orchestras, Potsdammer Kammerakademie, Göteborg Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique de Nice, among others. She has enjoyed collaborations with conductors such as Lawrence Foster, Zoltan Kocsis, Antonello Manacorda, Jun Märkl, Daniel Raiskin, Lan Shui, Thomas Søndergård, Krysztof Urbanski and Joshua Weilerstein.

Photo: Nikolaj Lund

Margreth Olin

Margreth Olin (1970) is a Norwegian director and producer with a large cinema audience. She has made 13 films, which have received critical acclaim, participated in a numberof festivals abroad and won several Norwegian and international awards. Margreth has managed to catalyze important dialogues about the themes her films highlight. She has personally received 26 honorary awards for her commitment and focus on human rights. Her filmography includes Soft Hands (Yamagata 1999), My Body (Tribeca 2002), EFA-nominated Ungdommens Råskap (2004), Engelen (TIFF 2010), De Andre (IDFA 2012), Cathedrals of Culture, Oslo Opera House (Berlinale 2013 ). Olin was one of six directors in the Wim Wenders series Cathedrals of Culture, together with Wim Wenders and Robert Redford amongst others. Her film Mannen fra Snåsa (2016) is the second most watched documentary in Norwegian cinema. Her previous film Selvportrett (DOC NYC 2020), which she co-directed with Espen Wallin & Katja Høgset, won seven awards internationally. Olin was one of the recipients of the Chicken & Egg Award 2022. She wasawarded the Anders Jahres Kulturpris in September 2022 together with Joachim Trier, Deeyah Khan and Nils Gaup. This is Norway's biggest honor for outstanding culturalefforts. Olin's new full-length documentary Fedrelandet premiered in 2023 and was chosen by the Norwegian Oscar committee to be Norway's Oscar candidate in the category ofbest international film.

Photo: Agnete Brun

Tanja Orning

Tanja Orning is an experimental contemporary cellist and composer with projects such as Cellotronics (solo), ensembles such as Asamisimasa (Spellemann 2012 and 2015), Christian Wallumrød Ensemble, and duossuch as Helga&Tanja, Kyberia and Dr:OX. A common thread in Orning's practice is close collaboration with composers to create newworks. She has commissioned and premiered over 150 works by composers in Norway and abroad. Orning has a strong interest in interdisciplinary projects and has collaboratedwith writers and poets, choreographers, dancers and dramaturgs, and is currently relevant with the piece "Beveget cellist" played at Ultimafestivalen 2023. She is an associateprofessor at the Norwegian Academy of Music and was employed as Professor of Classical Music Improvisation at UiA from 2020-2023.

Photo: Carsten Aniksdal