KNUT ASDAM
Born in 1968 in Trondheim, Norway
Lives and works in Oslo
Knut Åsdam (1968) is a filmmaker, installation artist, sculptor and photographer. Åsdam studied at the Whitney Museum Independent Study Program (NYC 94-95), Jan van Eyck Akademie (Maastricht, 92-94) Goldsmiths College, University of London (London, 89-92), Wimbledon School of Art (London, 88-89), and the University of Oslo and Maui Community College, Maui, Hawaii.
Expressed in diverse forms, the main interest of Åsdam’s work remains a concern for contemporary society and its psychological and material effects, and the toll of every day life; e.g. how individuals construct and negotiates his or her identity in reaction to the rules and organizations of contemporary society.
Åsdam investigates the usage and perception of public urban spaces, including their structure of political power and authority. The themes in Åsdam’s work can be thought of relating to four essential categories: Speech, Living, Sexualities, and Struggle. These concerns often relate to the themes of dissidence and to the analysis of space in terms of desire, usage and history. The idiosyncrasy of Åsdam’s approach to the cinematic field is created by transposing the resource of spatial and place-oriented discourses from the Fine Arts context into film. Furthermore, he uses a plotless narrative and an oscillation between documentary and fictional narrative elements in the films.
Åsdam’s work has been shown widely, in venues such as the Tate Modern; Bergen Kunsthall; Tate Britain; Boijmas van Beuningen Museum, Rotterdam; Venice Biennial; Kunsthalle Bern; Istanbul Biennial; FRAC Bourgogne; MACRO, Rome; Museum of Contemporary Art, Olso; Manifesta7; Moderna Museet, Stockholm; P.S.1 MoMA, NYC; and Musee d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, among others. Feature articles on Asdam’s work have been published in Artforum, Grey Room, Le Monde Diplomatique, United Magazine and many more.
EDUCATION
1994-95
The Whitney Museum Independent Study Program. New York City, U.S.A.
1992-94
Jan van Eyck Akademie, Maastricht, The Netherlands.
Postgraduate Studies in Fine Art.
1989-92
Goldsmiths College, University of London, London, U.K.
B.A. (Hons.) Fine Art.
1988-89
Wimbledon School of Art, London, U.K.
Foundation Course in Art.
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2013
Knut Åsdam - EDGELANDS, The Slought Foundation, and at Penn University Philadelphia.
Knut Åsdam EGRESS, Moving image retrospective, Centre for Contemporary Art Cinema, Vilnius
2012
Knut Åsdam TRIPOLI, Galerija Vartai, Vilnius, Lithuania
2011
Knut Åsdam The Long Gaze the Short Gaze. The Depo, Istanbul
Knut Åsdam Abyss, Knut Åsdam Tripoli. Tate Modern, London*
2010
Knut Åsdam – Festspillutstillingen, Bergen Kunsthall*
2009
the long gaze the short gaze Galeria Joan Prats, Barcelona
2007
The Care of the Self, Museum Boijmans van Beuningen, Rotterdam
International Film Festival of Rotterdam, Artist in Focus. At Museum Boijmans van Beuningen, NAI museum of architecture and in the festival cinemas.
2006
Kabuso, Hardanger Museum, Norway
Objectif_Exhibitions, Antwerp
Galerie Cent 8, Serge Le Borgne, Paris
Galleri SE, Bergen, Norway
Astrup Fearnley Museum of Modern art, Oslo
FRAC Bourgogne, Dijon
2005
Musée des Beaux-Arts, Caen, France
Kunsthalle Bern, Switzerland
Klemens Gasser & Tanja Grunert, Inc. New York City
2004
Objectif_Exhibitions, Antwerpen
2003
Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin
Mercer Union, Toronto
2002
Academy of Architecture, Oslo (permanent work)
2001
Tommy Lund, Copenhagen
Klemens Gasser & Tanja Grunert Inc., NYC
Galeria Sonia Rosso, Pordenone, Italy
Kunsthaus Glarus, Glarus, Switzerland
Museum of Contemporary Art, Oslo
2000
Knut Åsdam, Psychasthenia 10, ArtNow, Tate Britain
Transmission, Glasgow
1999
Galleri Tommy Lund, Copenhagen
Nordic Pavillion, Venice Biennial
Norwegian Pavillion, Melbourne International Biennial, Melbourne
1998
Contemporary Art Centre, Vilnius
1994
Galleri Riis, Oslo
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2013
LIAF, Lofoten International Art Biennial, Lofoten Islands, Norway
Lorck Schives Legat exhibition, Trondheim KunstmuseumParadox: Positions in Norwegian Video Art 1980-2010, Museum of Contemporary Art, The National Museum, Oslo
2012
Yokohama Arts Centre, Yokohama, Japan
Unfinished Journeys, Museum of Contemporary Art, The National Museum, Oslo
Norsk, une scène artistique norvégienne contemporaine, Galerie Jérôme Poggi, Paris
2011 Incheon Womens Art Biennial, Incheon South Korea
2010
Nordic Pavillion, City States, Liverpool Biennial
Cities Re-imagined, Museum of Contemporary Art, Novi Sad, Serbia
Good night then...Surrealism in Norwegian Art 1930-2010, Stenersen Museum, Oslo
Denim, Washington Square East Galleries, NYU, New York*
Film & Video, Russian Club Gallery, London
2009
Summertime; or, Close-ups on Places We’ve (Never) Been, San Francisco Art Institute, CA
2008
Involved, ShanghART, Shanghai
Die Städte sind für Euch gebaut, Kunstlerhauser Worpswede
Time Code (2), Mambo, Museo d’Arte Moderna di Bologna*
Manifesta 7, Trento – Alto Adige, Italy*
TimeCode, Mambo, Museo d’Arte Moderna di Bologna*
Come au cinema, Fotogalleriet, Oslo, Norway
2007
National Gallery of Art, Washington DC.
La Rada, Locarno, Switzerland
Peer In/Peer Out, The Moore Space, Miami, Florida
Into me/out of me, MACRO (Museo d’Arte Contemporanea), Rome, Italy*
Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, Scottsdale, Arizona
2006
Into me/out of me, Kunstwerke, Berlin
Kontracom, Mozart 2006, Salzburg
Into me/out of me, MOMA/P.S.1. Contemporary Art Center, NYC
DADA’S BOYS, The Fruitmarket Gallery, Edinburgh
warum etwas zeigen, was man sehen kann?, Galerie für Zeitgenössiche Kunst Leipzig
Capital (It fails us now), Kunstihoone, Estonia
2005
Endelig Hjemme, Riksutstillinger
Capital (It fails us now), UKS, Oslo
Everybody is Talking About the Museum, The National Museum of Art, Oslo
Off Key, Kunsthalle Bern, Switzerland
Idyll, Middelheim Open Air Museum, Antwerp
Godt for …oss, Momentum, Moss, Norway
COURTisane, festival for shortfilm, video and new media, Ghent, Belgium
Ars Baltica Triennial of Photographic Art, -touring exhibition- Malmö konsthall
2004
The 2004 Busan Biennial, Busan, South Korea
White Spirit, Frac Lorraine, Metz, France
The Story of the Eye, Mead Gallery, Warwick
In the Norwegian Forest, Zacheta National Gallery of Art, Warsaw
Ars Baltica Triennial of Photographic Art, touring exhibition, Stadtgalerie Kiel
2003
International Istanbul Biennial, Istanbul
De bortbjudna, Rooseum, Malmö. Sweden
Radioartemobile, The Venice Biennial.
Sodium Dreams, The Museum at CCS, Bard, New York
Ars Baltica Triennial of Photographic Art, touring exhibition, Stadtgalerie Kiel
Mecklenburgisches Kuenstlerhaus Schloss Plueschow, Bergen Kunsthall mm..
Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered, LAZNIA Centre for Contemporary Art, Gdansk.
Inside Outliners, a probable anthology, Kunsthalle Lophem BelgiumBewitched, Bothered and Bewildered, Migros Museum, Zürich.
Altered Spaces, Cheekwood Museum, Nashville, Tenessee
Todos somos pecadores, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Monterrey
Filter City Cluster Praxis, Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin
2002
International Festival Of Short Film Of Bilbao, Spain
Malmø Konsthall, Sweden
Todos somos pecadores, Museo Rufino Tamayo, Mexico City
Pontevedra Biennial, Spain
Visible Invisible, AG Mettall Haus, Berlin
Catastrophe, International Short Film Festival Oberhausen, Germany
Frequenzen [Hz]/Frequencies [Hz], Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt
VideoROM 4.0, VideoROM 3.0, VideoROM 2.0, MACRO, Ex-Mattatoio, Rome Galleria
d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea di Bergamo & at Galleria Gian Carla Zanutti, Milano, Italy
Husesyn, Uppsala Konstmuseum, Sweden
Maravee, la luce della notte, Udine, Italy
Rethinking: space, time & architecture, exhibition project, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin
2001
Paesi Nordici/Nordic countries, interferenze, Palazzo delle Papesse, Centro Arte Contemporanea, Siena, Italy
Monitor, Gagosian Gallery, Chelsea, NYC
Scenes, Henry Urbach Gallery, NYC
VideoROM 1.0, VideoROM, Centre Multidiciplinaire Pour la Culture Actuelle,
Swtizerland & Valencia Biennial, Spain
Sous-Titrée X, Galerie Art & Essai, l’Université de Rennes, France
Schpaa (2), Bergen Kunsthall, Bergen, Norway
Treff, Bergen Kunstmuseum, Bergen, Norway
For Eyes and Ears, 3rd International Performance Festival, Odense
2000
Waterfront, Helsingør, Denmark
Schpaa, Den Frie Utstilling, Copenhagen
Norden, Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna
Models of Resistance, Overgaden -the state center for contemporary art, Copenhagen
Organising Freedom, Museum of Modern Art, Stockholm
1999
Hundstage, Gesellschaft für Aktuelle Kunst, Bremen
Samfunnsengasjement, Politikk og Hverdag 1970/90, Museum of Contemporary Art, Oslo
Ideal, Ms Waldstätter der Schiffahrtsgesellschaft des Vierwaldstättersees, Luzerner
Austellungsraums, Switzerland
Nuit Blanche—Nordic Video Tour. Soros Center, Bratislava; Soros Center Zagreb;
Moderna Galeria (Soros) Ljubljana; Soros Center, Kiev, Ukraina; Museum Ludwig, Budapest; Motevideo, Amsterdam; Moderna Museet, Stockholm; Salong 3, London; Kunsthalle Basel
1998
Nordic Nomads, White Columns, New York
Momentum, Pakkhus, Nordic Art Biennial, Moss, Norway
UKS Biennalen, The uks Biennial, Henie Onstad Kunstsenter/The Henie Onstad Museum, Oslo
Nuit Blanche, Musee d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, Paris*
Elevator, Steffany Martz, New York.
1997
DIY Mapping & Instruction, Bricks and Kicks, Wien.
DIY Webradio on http://www.thing.net.
Rum för Aktuell Konst presenterar samtida konst fra OSLO, Göteborg Konstmuseum
Reality Check, Apex Art, New York City1996 27.680.000 (contemporary art in massmedia), Stockholm and nationally in Sweden on Swedish Radio
Compartments, Escape Attempts, GLOBE, Copenhagen.
Video Faz, Museo Regional, Guadalajara, Jalisco and at Art & Idea, Mexico City
Departure Lounge, The Institute for Contemporary Art, P.S.1 Museum, Clocktower Gallery, NYC
UKS Biennalen 1996, 'The uks Biennal 1996', Stenersenmuseet, Bergen Kunstforening &
Trondheim Kunstforening, Oslo, Bergen and Trondheim
1995
One Night Stand, Nordic Video and Performance Art, Kunstnernes Hus, Oslo
DIXI, Oslo
Whitney Museum I.S.P. Exhibition, NYC
1994
Prosjekt i Gamlebyen, Oslo
1993
And Justice For All, Maastricht
1992 “The Self Affirmation of the British University” and “of Spirit”, Goldsmiths’ Fine Art, London
