In the context of Skeivt Kulturår and a residency programme being hosted by ROM throughout 2022, we invite you to join us for a presentation and discussion on the “queering” of public space through art and architecture with four practices and projects.

– Bendik Syversætre Johannesen
– Christa Barlinn Korvald
– Maamito (Miguel Hernández Quintanilla and Torfinn Truchs Erga)
– SPEED (Eirik Mikal Stokke and Espen Robstad Heggertveit)

In recent years the notion of "queer" theories and proposed models of working to challenge and address social and cultural norms have become increasingly prevalent in discourses around both art and architecture. But what needs and what “new shapes” is it that a “queering” of public space can meet and produce? How can queer practices navigate both building more open futures, as well as communicating and preserving unofficial and often unrecognised histories? Does “queering” public space contribute to less normative public space and more inclusive city planning, or does it risk contributing to processes such as displacement and gentrification? Is the relationship between queer people and cities a healthy or an unhealthy co-dependent one? And perhaps most importantly, how does architecture relate to sex?

The participating artists and architects will present projects which demonstrate what a “queering” of public space could look like, before a group discussion moderated by curator and mediator Håkon Traaseth Lillegraven.

Bendik Syversætre Johannessen is a narrative and visual storyteller. He works in the performative landscape, often expressed through video and photography. His practice explores different relationships between the body's unexplored functions and exposed action. This is conveyed through various characters that are taken from everyday and formal situations. The works can be read in a context with trials and challenges within normative perceptions and gender identities, with a strong desire that the viewer carry the impressions with them in their own history. Syversætre lives and works in Oslo, and is currently finishing a Bachlor in fine arts at the art academy, KHIO. He is also represented in the opening exhibition of the National Museum, Jeg kaller det kunst, in 2022.

Christa Barlinn Korvald is an artist, illustrator, graphic designer, and filmmaker based in Oslo, Norway. She is a frequent collaborator and politically vocal about issues such as the representation of lesbian women in art in public space. Together with Maria Refsland she has founded ‘Weekendmagasinet’, an online magazine which highlights queer issues relating to urban and rural social spaces and politics.

MAAMITO is a creative collective designing between Norway, Spain and USA in the fields of landscape architecture, architecture and urbanism. From Oslo, Miguel H. Quintanilla and Torfinn Truchs Erga investigate commons for a diverse and represented society. Working with different media such as physical models or digital cartography, they research potential appropriations and transformations of physical space. They reclaim interactive, multi-layered and queer re-interpretations that can be translated into design processes and developing imaginaries. Miguel was born in Spain, he has studied and worked between landscape, architecture and archaeology in Spain, Paris, Iraq and Norway. He currently holds an assistant professor position at the Oslo School of Architecture and Design.Torfinn is an architect with his degree from AHO (Oslo) and ETSAB (Barcelona). Through the collective MAAMITO and his position at Mellbye Arkitektur Interiør, he works mainly in transformation projects.

Section Plan Elevation Extrusion Diagram Architects - SPEED - is a queer architectural practice based in Oslo, founded in 2020 by Espen Robstad Heggertveit and Eirik Stokke, after receiving the DOGA Newcomer award. Stokke has a master’s degree in architecture from AHO and TU Delft, and is currently finishing a BA in art history at UiO. He currently holds a position as assistant professor in landscape architecture at AHO. Heggertveit has a master’s degree in architecture from AHO and Tokyo City University. He is currently responsible for the architecture program at Designinstituttet. The duo balances private architectural commissions with teaching and artistic research. In search of new approaches, their methods range from archival research to urban walks and architectural models. Their work has been exhibited several times, including at the Barcelona Biennial of Landscape Architecture, where they were jointly awarded silver medal.

Håkon Traaseth Lillegraven is a curator, mediator and producer based in Oslo, Norway. With a degree in curation from Central Saint Martins (London, UK), where he wrote his dissertation on public memory and commemoration through art and architecture, he currently works as Head of Mediation and Communication at Fotogalleriet in Oslo. He is also co-founder and co-curator of the nomadic queer art platform Ergi. In 2019, he worked closely with multiple art projects in public space as Curatorial Assistant for the Oslo Biennial, amongst them ‘The Viewers’ by Carole Douillard. Summer 2022 he is curating two public art projects by artists Mette Edvardsen and Ulf Nilseng in connection with an exhibition at the Vigeland Museum together with Bjørn Hatterud. In 2021 he participated in the course ‘Curatorial Practice + Public Space’ organised by KORO - Public Art Norway and most recently worked closely with curator Bassel Hatoum, architect Antoine Fadel and programme coordinator Miki Gebrelul on the crossdisciplinary project ‘Claiming Space’ at Fotogalleriet January-March 2022.