Art Club: Autumn 2023

Kari Ann Lending Kleiveland (b.1993) is a multidisciplinary artist with a background in dance, choreography and visual art. She completed her Master's degree in art at the Academy of Fine Arts in Bergen (KMD) in 2022, and her Bachelor's degree in art at the Academy of Fine Arts in Trondheim (2020). She was based at the Academy of Fine Arts in Helsinki in the autumn of 2018 and at the Academy of the Arts in Reykjavik in the spring of 2019. In June 2018, she founded Studio K, a project and exhibition space for contemporary art (www.studiokprosjektrom.com). In 2022, she became a board member of PAS (Performance Art Stavanger), aiming to promote performance art in the region. She is engaged as coordinator for the exhibition program at Fotland Mølle in Time Municipality. Kari Ann Lending Kleiveland is passionate about creating meeting points between different people and practices, and challenging the overlaps and differences between artistic disciplines. She wants to help promote exciting and varied art practices at the same time as she develops her own.

Benjamin Hickethier (he/him) was born in Westberlin and educated in Berlin, the UK and the Netherlands, and is now based in Stavanger/Norway. In his practice, he is investigating the potentials of critical visual communication, publishing, collaboration and self-initiated projects. As an independent graphic designer/artist he is working on commission from, and in collaboration with, regional and international cultural organisations, social initiatives and public institutions, as well as with cultural and social workers/producers.

Elisabet Midtbø is a vocalist, multi-instrumentalist, writer and composer. They are currently interested in and exploring genuine expression and storytelling through music, particularly as a disabled artist. Elisabet has studied Norwegian traditional folk music and is particularly interested in the music of the Rogaland Region. However, they also like to bring elements such as loose rhythms and the microtonality of the tradition into more contemporary works with a darker expressionistic twist.

Victoria Heggelund is a dancer and choreographer based in Stavanger. She has a bachelor's degree in contemporary dance from the University of Stavanger, and also designs clothes/costumes for dance/performance projects.

Margrethe Aanestad (b. 1974 in Stavanger, Norway) lives and works between New York City and Stavanger. In her practice she mainly works with drawing, painting and sculpture in mixed media, subtly referencing landscapes and the celestial sphere, while remaining wholly nonrepresentational. Aanestad studied fine arts at the Rogaland Art College, Norway and holds a BA in Art & Cultural studies from the University of Stavanger.

Aanestad’s works are included in private collections worldwide. She has completed several private and public commissions both in Norway and USA, and made the artist books Tide - Story of Logo published by Shine Portrait Studio Press, NJ and No Service 15:11 77% Prague Cloudy 41º Sunday Today 43 34 published by Endless Editions, NY. Margrethe recently collaborated with US-based fashion designer Marco Hall, creating a unique five-garment-suite on commission for Shine Portrait Studio, NJ. Aanestad co-founded the artist-run gallery Prosjektrom Normanns in Stavanger in 2011, which she co-directed until its closing in 2020.

Aanestad has exhibited internationally. Recent projects includes duo-exhibition at Dimensions Variable, Miami and three-person-show at Yi Gallery in Brooklyn, New York. Earlier solo exhibitions include Utstein Monastery/Stavanger Museum, Kunsthall Stavanger; Torrance Shipman, New York; Dimensions Variable, Miami; Open Source Gallery, New York. Aanestad has over the years participated in several group- and duo shows in New York City, NY, Miami, Oakland, Costa Rica, Copenhagen and UK, in addition to multiple art institutions in her native Norway. Residencies include Residency Unlimited, NYC and Artists Alliance Inc., NYC.

In the autumn of 2023 - inter 2024 Aanestad’s works will be on view at Scandinavia House, New York.