Kurt Johannessen will present some of his works and ideas that have shaped and transformed him and his art over the past 42 years. Some ideas have changed him, and some works have changed his thoughts on art and creativity.
Kurt Johannessen (b. 1960) works with performance, books, video, drawing, printmaking, and installation. Since the early 1980s, he has presented performances across Europe, Asia, and the Americas. His performances often have a poetic and minimalist expression. He has exhibited widely in Norway, including at Bergen Kunstmuseum, Kunstnernes Hus (2007), and Kunstnerforbundet (2016).
Johannessen publishes artist books through his own publishing house. The books are either text-based or visual in nature. His text works are often short, visual, poetic, and sometimes humorous stories. He has produced over 140 books. Since 2013, many of his books (Om-noko) have been the basis for a series of performative lectures. These books sit at the intersection of philosophy, visual art, poetry, and science.
Photo by Thor Brødreskift, from the performance Tre opp ned tre, Tag Team Studio, Bergen 2021