03.11.2025 - 26.11.2025
Karianne Stensland
Karianne Stensland (b.1969 in Bodø) lives and works in Oslo. Stensland has a master's degree in fine arts from the Academy of Fine Arts in Trondheim (2000-2005), and theater studies at the State Theater Academy in St. Petersburg 1992-93.
Stensland works in the fields of video, text, drawing, music, performance and sculpture. She was one of the artists in the studio program of the Norwegian Artists' Association (2020-2023). Stensland worked in the Scandinavian art group High Heel Sisters (2002-2007), and was one of the initiators behind the Marienborg project space and studio community in Trondheim (2005-2010).
In recent years she has had solo exhibitions at Møre og Romsdal Kunstsenter (2022), Kunstbanken Hedmark (2020), RAM gallery (2017). In addition to the National Museum's opening exhibition and the Artists' Association's June Exhibition in 2022. In the fall of 2024, Stensland participated in the Autumn Exhibition.
Karianne was on residency with us in November 2025. During her stay she went on long walks in the heaths, drew and wrote music. Read the text for “like a thief in the night” further down the page. Karianne writes about her work at Velferden :
“The lyrics, song, drawings and fieldwork are inspired by, among other things: the hike in Haua, the abandoned mines at Sandbekk, the trade journal Ilmenitten, a sermon in Sokndal Church, the Bible, Yoko Ono; the chorus “people say I’m cool, yeah - a cool chick baby, people say I’m cool, yeah - a cool chick dude” and “every day I thank God that I’m such a cool chick dude, every day I thank God that I’m such a cool chick baby” is loosely translated and borrowed from Ono’s song Death of Samantha.
like a thief in the night
green black
or
I am afraid of the dark.
an artistic fieldwork on Velferden , Sandbekk, November 2025
"following the sound of the river up down up"
I am afraid of the dark.
I am afraid of the dark.
looking for signs
two herons two ravens two swans three deer a woodpecker a woodpecker a robin a salmon doing a somersault a salmon with white spots two dead salmon a dead nuthatch a crescent moon a moonstone kids meowing sheep bleating boys robbing girls singing
people say I'm cool
yeah - a cool chick baby
people say I'm cool
yeah - a cool chick dude
you are entering a pitch-black mine
with wide open eyes
are you afraid of the dark
You come out with dirt on your face.
dust deep into the lungs
work more than you rest
numbness in arms and legs
after blasting crushing loosening
you come out of the mine
moss green against you
the body lies heavily in the soft green
Mother of the forest, you whisper softly
Every day I thank God that I'm such a cool chick dude
The priest says Jesus Christ will come again
he will come like a thief in the night, says the priest
We must be ready then.
ready to follow him
Don't worry, says the priest.
Don't be worried about being taken away.
Who knows, maybe you'll get to stay.
Only God knows.
The thief in the night passes by and wins.
follow me
up and down the river
up and down Wuthering Heights
up and down from Sandbekk
every day
you enter the mine
I enter the studio.
we are here to work
work work on
work work on
Don't doubt whether it has anything to do with it.
just work work on
chisel out
the heavy black
bring it to light
make it shine
rid
towards the dark autumn forest
against the green moss
towards the wide-open eyes
Every day I thank God that I am such a cool chick baby.
"Every day I thank God that I'm such a cool chick dude"
Photo 1 © Hanna Biørnstad
Photo 2-4 © Karianne Stensland