Kjersti Solbakken to Helm Bergen Kunsthall

Norway’sBergen Kunsthallhas announced Kjersti Solbakken as its new director, effective October 1. Solbakken most recently curated the 2024 edition of the Lofoten International Art Festival, which is organized by the North Norwegian Art Centre. She replaces Axel Wieder, who left the contemporary art institution after nearlysix yearsin the role to take a job asdirectorof the Berlin Biennale for Contemporary Art.

“Bergen Kunsthall is a central meeting place with a distinctive 186-year history presenting an ambitious, experimental, and cross-genre program that reaches a wide and engaged audience,” said Solbakken in a statement. “The institution plays a unique role in various art contexts nationally and internationally, as well as within Bergen’s population and cultural field. This is the outcome of many years of focused work that I am excited to carry on with both current and future partners, an active board, and a knowledgeable staff.”

Solbakken from 2017 to 2022 served as director of Oslo’s Kunstnerforbundet, one of Scandinavia’s oldest artist-run exhibition spaces, which hosts some twenty exhibitions annually. While there, she oversaw the establishment of Atelier Kunstnerforbundet, an initiative aimed at engaging the public. Previously, she had been director of Galleri Format and Fotogalleriet, both in Oslo. As an independent curator, she has organized exhibitions for institutions including Hordaland Kunstsenter, Bergen; the Norwegian touring exhibition Vestlandsutstillingen; and Astrup Fearnley Museet in Oslo.

“Bergen Kunsthall was looking for a skilled leader who could show how to get the best out of a professionally strong staff,” said board chair Jette F. Christensen in a statement. “We were looking for a director with a broad international network and an understanding of the institution and its role in Bergen and the world. After a thorough process that involved reviewing seventy-five applications and conducting multiple rounds of interviews with national and international candidates, we are thrilled to announce that Kjersti Solbakken has accepted the position as our new director and is relocating to Bergen.”