Member of the Month: Sidsel Christensen

-Where were you born? In Kolding, Denmark, and I grew up in Sandnes, Norway

-Where do you live? I live between Copenhagen and Bergen

-What pronouns do you use? She /Her

– What makes you work with performance?

Performance offers the presence and transformation of the moment. It offers live exchange with people and environments. In the space between planning and chance – something very magical can happen.

– Do you have any rituals before performing?

I calm myself and connect with the body. I often talk when I perform, so warming up the voice is helpful. Also, fostering an open, friendly, humorous attunement.

– What was the best performance you have done so far? Why?

It is hard to rank the performances like that. I love them all, even the clumsy ones, haha! I think I perform well when I manage to embody and properly channel the subject of the performance. This is done through movement and monologue storytelling within an installation. I am proud of when I embodied the historic painters and partners Sofie Ribbing and Christiane Schreiber, and their unborn child – at the Art Museum in Stavanger in 2014.

I am also very proud of how I gave body and voice to my artistic research in the performative lecture installation “Where are We Now? Where are We Now? Where are We Now?” at Gallery Entrée in 2022. (Presented inside of the “Open Studio” exhibition of Magnhild Øen Nordahl) In this work, I embodied Marie Sikveland, a woman from Bergen who perceives white lines on her retina—a form of visual tinnitus. The audience was invited into this experience through my movements and storytelling. I embodied how the white lines profoundly affected Sikveland, both structuring and destabilising her reality. During the performance, the audience and I collectively dismantled a white rope structure that had been set up around us, and in this way used our bodies to enact the disorientation and transformation of Sikveland.

– Are you currently working on any performance?

Yes. I have just finished a PhD in artistic research at the Art Academy in Bergen. You are all welcome to the performance, oh sorry, I mean public defence the 29th - on site or on zoom. (Search KMD invite)

Now it’s great to open new directions in the work. Currently I’m developing a performative installation inspired by archaeologist Marija Gimbutas’ archeomythological research on goddess worship from Neolithic Europe. Visualise the voluptuous Venus of Willendorf sculpture, that stuff!! I somehow hope to “time-travel” mythology and ritual actions of goddess worship from our foremothers and activate it today. I think it is about finding an imaginary, a way to respond to an inner inertia, a shock reaction to the environmental/geopolitical situation now. Big words, but - I feel it is how I can respond right now, contribute, by attempting to reinvigorate insanely old practises of connection, imagination and meaning/love.

– What advice would you give to someone who is interested in working with performance?

Find a community to explore it with. Friends, people you resonate with, a LARPing community, music community, art community, a school - or Performance Art Bergen!! Experiment a lot. Fail a lot.

– Can you give us a few names of performance artists who inspire you?

Laurie Anderson, Mark Leckey, Tori Wrånes, Rita Marhaug, Monster Chetwynd, Sara Gebran, Nicola Gunn, Donna Haraways’ talks are wonderfully performative!

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

1 / 9

Member of the Month: Alexandra-Line Vargas

–Where were you born? Gøteborg in Sweden. I am half Norwegian/Swedish. 

– Where do you live? I am living in Bergen. 

– What pronouns do you use? she/her

– What makes you work with performance?

Performance makes the hidden side of my personality shine true. Its a sacred space for the body, mind and soul to just be in moment, in the flow, to be present. 

– Do you have any rituals before performing?

Before every performance I do affirmations and breathing exercises to calm my mind and 

it's also clearing my thoughts. 

– What was the best performance you have done so far? Why?

My performance at KMD at my bachelor was the most important performance for me, because in that moment I was liberating myself form the disbelief that I was not able to do to do this kind of expression. 

The performance was a ritual where I did sacred injections to 5 ceramic objects that was formed out of the elements; fire, water, earth and air. The ceramic objects was bind with purpose to heal those whom was in is present, the objects where working as a spiritual tool. 

– Are you currently working on any performance?

At the this moment I am developing a performance around how to become a more authentic version of one self. I am going to create some sound elements, and connect the nature and somatic body movements into to the project.

– What advice would you give to someone who is interested in working with performance?

If performance is something you want to work with you should listen to that voice inside. 

The performance community is very loving and including. 

– Can you give us a few names of performance artists who inspire you?

Tori Wrånes has a unique and quirky way of expressing her visual inner world. 

Nick Cave, his way of using vivid, playful and tactile sound suits into a performative realm. 

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

1 / 6

Member of the Month: Sigmund Skard

–Where were you born?Valestrand(Sveio)

– Where do you live? Valevag in Sveio, Vestland

– What pronouns do you use? he

– What makes you work with performance? It is a way to put out ideas in big size format  at an affordable price. 

– Do you have any rituals before performing? No

– What was the best performance you have done so far? Why? My best performance is: "With the stone on a leash". Because it is a site-specific work at an inspiring place and it has to do with bodily experience in life.   

– Are you currently working on any performance? No, because I have just delivered one. 

– What advice would you give to someone who is interested in working with performance? search for experience in life that has to do with the body and things. To concentrate and be fearless when performing, think that you are alone and that people around are thinking about themselves. Making contact and interacting with colleagues and the public are also an opportunity I have worked with. It is rewarding, but requires more organization.

– Can you give us a few names of performance artists who inspire you?
Sigurdur Gudmundsson
Kurt Johannesen
Liv Reidun Brakstad
Kjartan Slettemark
Yoko Ono
Johannes Daimling
Roi Vaara
Irma Optimist

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

1 / 10

PAB Members at Seomjingang International Experimental Arts Festival 2024

From November 1 to 5, 2024, PAB members Marit Tunestveit Dyre, Susanne Irene Fjørtoft, Frauke Materlik, and Kyuja Bae have been invited to participate in the Seomjingang International Experimental Arts Festival (SIEAF) in South Korea.

Their participation is part of The Poetic Silence Project, a three-year initiative (2024-2026) aimed at promoting artistic exchange, collaboration, collective healing, and growth between performance artists from Norway and South Korea, in partnership between PAB and SIEAF, initiated by Kyuja Bae.

During the festival, the artists will present both individual and collective performances and participate in a seminar exploring strategies to strengthen mutual artistic exchange and collaboration. Additionally, Kyuja Bae will lead a meditative dance workshop during the festival.

• 
• 
• 
• 

1 / 4

Member of the Month: Kyuja Bae

- Where were you born? South Korea
- Where do you live? Mysen
- What pronouns do you use? She

– What makes you work with performance?

I think my deep curiosity and interest in presence - now and here is what makes me work with performance.

– Do you have any rituals before performing?

Yes, I do. Meditation and greetings to sacred spirits in the performance space. 

– What was the best performance you have done so far? Why?

I think each performance is special in different ways. So it is difficult to choose only one. 

I especially appreciate and enjoy performances where I am guided by Nature like wind, rain and sun, dancing together with them where I can not control the external environment that allows me to be vulnerable, so, I just need to surrender to the presence - now and here and openly flow with universal guidance. I think to me, performances with such an open space where I can surrender and be vulnerable with my meditative and mindful state are the best. 

From this perspective, the performance "How to Carry Stones Project: Sky Dance" at the Summer Performance Camp 2022 in Finse, Norway organized by PAB where I danced together with strong wind was great and I will never forget it. And the other performance is called Birth-Way Project: Fairy bath in collaboration with Katarina Lisa at Jeju Museum of Contemporary Art for 50th Anniversary of Korea's Performance Art organized by Jeju International Experimental Arts Festival 2018. I had to dance with my bare foot in an outdoor space under the hot burning summer weather with over 40 degrees. It was unbearably hot to even just stand there with my bare foot. But during the performance, I managed to embrace the challenging situation and dance with it for about 20 minutes, forgetting about the unbearable burning floor and the hot weather. 

– Are you currently working on any performance?

Yes, I am working on a performance or a project called "How to Carry Stones Project" from 2020. 

“One moment your life is a stone in you, and the next, a star”. This project was inspired by Rainer Maria Rilke's poem called "Sunset", 

I explore trauma and its different roles in my life through this project, questioning:
How harmoniously can we carry stones inside ourselves while we carry stones in our hands simultaneously? 
Here, the stones in us we carry symbolize intense feelings/emotions that are connected with our inner work. 

In contrast, the stones in our hands symbolize our external daily tasks and works. 

How can the intense emotions caused by trauma be approached and explored artistically and philosophically in dance art practice?

– Can you give us a few names of performance artists who inspire you?
Joseph Beuys, Xie Rong, Chuyia Chia, Gustaf Broms and many more.

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

1 / 6

Member of the Month: Ine Harrang

– were you born? Asker, but brought up in Molde.

– were do you live? Molde

– What pronouns do you use? She/her

– What makes you work with performance?

I have most of my artistic career worked with project-based installations, and only started playing around with performance 3-4 years ago. Partly proving to my self that I can take risks and handle a steep learning-curve without vanity governing the process.

– Do you have any rituals before performing?

Just breathing and stretching exercises, and by that finding a balance between motion and rest.

– What was the best performance you have done so far? Why?

They are all work in progress, or work on its way. Learning from each one. The most pleasurable one to do so far, was part of the project Between Sky and Sea arranged by Longva Art Residency/PAB. A bunch of performance artists from around the world lived and worked together for two weeks, culminating in a day of both individual and group performances. The experience of being part of a prevailing generosity of spirit arising amongst a group of strangers, was rather beautiful.

– Are you currently working on any performance?

I am preparing a solo show at Møre and Romsdal Art Center coming winter. A performance/ video work shot in a dried-out lake will be a central part of a larger installation. Now it is all about choices and finding a believable way towards presentable material.

– What advice would you give to someone who is interested in working with performance?

If one is coming from a different discipline, which is the case with many of us, trust that you can get to grips with this. And stop looking over your shoulder if you are good enough.

– Can you give us a few names of performance artists who inspire you?

Inspire is a difficult word, and equally difficult to answer. Respect is for me an easier word to use. Just a few weeks back I saw a large retrospective, documented through film and photo, by Abramowic at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam. Her courage and dedication are nothing short of admirable. Another is my ex-husband, with whom I am still a good friend, Matthew Luck Galpin. He is a rare creature with a noble heart, - and a fascinating and interesting performance artist/sculptor. I think I in general have a great deal of respect for artists in any field who have a life project and stays true to it.

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

1 / 9

---

Member of the Month: Hamid Waheed

– Were you born? Oslo, Norway

– Where do you live? Oslo, Norway

– What pronouns do you use? He/him

– What makes you work with performance?

Exhibitionism, really. It's a bit misunderstood as a term - usually deemed as something willfully immoral or taboo. I'm not gonna deny that there isn't an element of it either, but the crux of exhibitionism to me is more about the joy of creating something live. To perform is to adapt to others and to surroundings. It is to be fascinated by, thrilled and willing to negotiate the perimeters of 'doing something while someone's looking at you' and, ultimately, never being fully in control of this process. There's a risk and dare to performance that I love, which I don't find elsewhere. And ideally, performance art can create some wild circumstances and moods that a group of people are all sensing together.

– Do you have any rituals before performing?

Not anything as such. Usually, I have a cup of herbal tea and then I pace back and forth for a while if I'm alone.

– What was the best performance you have done so far? Why?

When I was a student at Filmkunstskolen in Kabelvåg I had a performance as part of the official opening of the new facilities. As was mandatory for the county, there was a fancy lunch with politicians, financial backers and construction leaders. There were three of us students who were invited to take part in an entertainment section with whatever we wanted to perform. One friend of mine gave a lovely, cordial speech about commemorating the old and welcoming the new, while the other played some beautiful violin. I wasn't really thinking about how this was being received by the audience, but I realized in retrospect that I couldn't have asked for a better buildup. My performance consisted of undressing to a bondage vest, collapsing in between the tables and doing a monologue on the ontology of being a non-body, speculating in a very formal manner on killing the audience as a gesture of generosity. I heard later that a couple of people had to spit out their wine during the piece because it was such an abrupt shift. Fun stuff! I thought it turned out great, not just because the performance maxed out on its unnerving effect on the audience, but because it hopefully allowed someone at the lunch to re-orient themselves on what constitutes art in an art school setting.

– Are you currently working on any performance?

I'm in the middle of research, kind of pre-project mode. I'm not sure whether it'll pan out as a performance piece, theatre or something more discursive. I'm trying to process and work with notions of solidarity, empathy, low frequencies and the body as flesh, something animated versus an uncanny ragdoll. 

– What advice would you give to someone who is interested in working with performance?

I think every practice in performance art starts out kinda clunky, queasy or whatever. And that's a good thing. If it still felt sooo worth it, despite of being rough, then it's a good idea to keep working! I talked to someone recently who started on the topic that a lot of performance art is kinda bad. And I don't entirely disagree, but it's also the nature of it. The stuff I've seen in performance pieces is the type of things that would otherwise (both in and out of art environments) never be acceptable and looked at as 'amateurish', 'nonsense', 'sentimental', 'awkward' etc. etc. So in my opinion, I would just say go and try it because there aren't a ton of hurdles. The only scary thing about it is that you're doing it in front of an audience, really - but some of us like that.

– Can you give us a few names of performance artists who inspire you?

Pope.L, Ana Mendieta, Iain White, Chantal Akerman, Jimmy Robert, Steve Reinke, Diamanda Galas, the writings of Chris Kraus. And some locals: Sara Baban, Elina Waage Mikalsen and Hanna Asefaw  + probably more - I'm continuously inspired by and appreciative of what they do!

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

1 / 7

Member of the Month: Zoe Gay

– Where were you born? Carlton, Australia

– Where do you live? Bergen, Norway

– What pronouns do you use?
She/Her

– What makes you work with performance?

Movement and performance for me has always been about expression and storytelling. There is something so simple and human in how we express ourselves through our physical body, how we feel things, and how we connect with others. My work explores the similarity, the quirks, and the relatability of the human condition. I try to relay this feeling to audiences, and in a way try to get them to connect with the power their physical body holds in telling their own story. I try to make work that is accessible for all audiences, breaking down the barrier of 'experimental performance' only for 'experimental audiences'. 

– Do you have any rituals before performing?

I like to look at pre-performance as a chance to fine-tune the body, calm the nerves by focusing on the technical side of things. A structured, technical warm-up allows my brain to switch off for a moment, I can consume it with thoughts of alignment and weight placement, instead of conceptual matter, nerves and the ever impending existential dread. 

– What was the best performance you have done so far? Why?

'The Leftovers' is a work that I hold very dear to me. We are now on the fourth stage of development and performance and it has emphasized to me the importance of re-visiting work and allowing it to grow and change, just as you have grown and changed since it was first created. In a way, it is challenging the idea of when a performance is over, continually challenging it's existence. Each dancer and artist involved has grown, they have new life experiences, new interests, new views on the content manner, and it's so important to listen to that so you never feel that a work only exists in a certain period of time. 

– Are you currently working on any performance?

We are currently looking at re-staging 'The Leftovers', which is a contemporary dance work for 4 dancers made in collaboration with sculptor, Nicholas Hanisch. It is a very physical work, examining our life as a continuous cycle and the small changes within it that make us who we are. I am also about to start a first stage of development on a solo work called 'Narrated by Cillian Murphy', which is an abstract look at higher beings and a personal journey of belief. 

– What advice would you give to someone who is interested in working with performance?
Don't be consumed by the idea of originality, it's an ongoing process that requires working on something for a long period of time. Work with what interests you and what you enjoy doing. Your work can be a reflection of who you are, but don't let the practice of it define who you are. You are allowed to enjoy other things, take up new skills and take time off from performance. You are no less of an artist in the off-periods. 

– Can you give us a few names of performance artists who inspire you?
(not exactly performance artists, but artists who inspire me at the moment)

Felicity Boyd, Pina Bausch, Lee Brummer, Nick Cave, Dora Garcia, Joan Jonas, Greta Gerwig

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

1 / 6

OPEN CALL - Between Sky & Sea VII: Flying Blind

Dear artist,

This is an open call from Performance Art Bergen (PAB). We are looking for one more artist in the program of the 7 th edition of the international performance art event Between Sky & Sea for 2025. This edition will focus on the theme of Uvissas tilstand/Flying Blind. For the second time PAB collaborates with Longva AiR north of Ålesund, Norway, hosting the festival format. The period for the event is 25.08. -08.09.2025.

The aim of Between Sky & Sea VII: Flying Blind is to give professional artists a production framework, where they can challenge our notions of matter in the span of minerals and organisms, science and speculation. The outcome should be a public performance for the audience at the end of the residency.

During a period of 14 days, the artists get the necessary resources in the process of developing work(s) of art in a collegial community. Meaning you will have access to professional video and still photographers, transport resources and people with local knowledge of culture and nature. In addition, we will have invited guests contributing with relevant theory. The topic the artists will work towards is our common material framework of existence; the landscape - shaped by natural and human forces alike. In particular, we will challenge you to investigate how to constitute meaning and communication between the human body and the Earth.

PAB will provide the invited artists with travel, accommodation and food during the stay. We also will pay you a small fee. This we cannot quantify today, because we are still waiting for response from funding applications.

Beside this open call, seven more artists will take part in this production-camp focusing on live performance art in a rural environment, in addition to possibilities of performance for camera and video.

Before applying, please read the full description HERE.  

Your application should include:

• Short description of your artistic practice related to the theme, maximum size of 10 MB
• Portfolio of maximum 5 projects
• CV

File format: PDF, all combined in one document, maximum size of 10 MBFile name:

name_open_call_2025The application should be sent to: post@performanceartbergen.no

Please mark the email with: Between Sky & Sea - open call - 2025

You will be notified by the end of June 24.

www.betweenskyandsea.com

www.nordoyane.no

Member of the Month: Iben Mansfeld

Where were you born?

Göteborg

Where do you live?

Bergen

What pronouns do you use?

They/Them

What makes you work with performance?

Performatively, I recreate situations of powerlessness and despair in order to take back control, in order to free myself from it. I want to meet an audience through vulnerability, in the unpredictable and challenge the way we are expected to face complex social situations.

Do you have any rituals before performing?

1 shot of Fernet

What was the best performance you have done so far? Why?

My project «unwanted», because it contains everything that I wish to convey as a performance artist.

Are you currently working on any performance?

Yes, I am working on a new performance about rejection, which I will perform later this year.

What advice would you give to someone who is interested in working with performance?

Don't wait for the opportunity to perform, take the place you need and jump into it.

Can you give us a few names of performance artists who inspire you?

I am inspired by other performance artists who challenge the human complexity in social situations such as Marina Abramovic, Anna Odell and Yayoi Kuzama.

Photos 2-3 Midsommerfeiring: Madihe Gharibi

Photos 4-7 unwanted: Eleanor Smith

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

1 / 7