By olivnes
Yesterday, on the evening of October 17th 2019, I had the privilege of attending the Art Night x Gilbert & George. It featured a (short but sweet!) concert with Emelie Hollow, an Art Night Conversation with anthropologist Charlotte Bik Bandlien and art historian Erlend Hammer, 3 mini guided tours, DJs and bars at Astrup Fearnley museum.
I would rather not live in a world where art is only within range of a few people to experience.
Happiness or purpose is for most the goal. And while we seek it, we should try to enrich our life with experiences. To make the daily and most mundane tasks beautiful is the only path to a bearable life. Tomorrow will always be in the future, so we might as well enjoy today. As we know, not all of us are carved for abnormal lives.
Thus, we are left with the day-to-day. And as I said, I’d rather not live in a world where art is only within range of a few to experience. If given a chance, I’d rather make my life beautiful as often as possible. I’d love to fill my day-to-day with art, culture, music and books. This is why the Art Night is so important. It’s a step towards art not being so special and a visit to a museum not being what we do on a special occasion, once a year.
The truth is I’d never seen a museum this full. While the night felt too short, with the concert lasting for 20 minutes only and the program being in Norwegian, which I do not speak, it was interesting to watch everyone discussing the pieces and enjoying a damn good singer with a good glass of wine and great company. The event was priced at 50kr, half of the usual price to stimulate attendance, especially that of students. Revenues came from tickets but also from drink sales. There were young faces all around, successfully debunking the myth that we spend all our time discussing futile matters on social media. We do spent some time there – that’s how we found out about this event actually, having been heavily promoted on Facebook and Instagram.
Concluding, we got to see the museum “dressed” in a different ambiance and to be in, what felt like, intimacy with the singer as we were quite close to her. The whole experience could be described as watching the place come to life and us, along with it. Every person who attended is now that much more likely to visit an exhibition soon and to seek out similar events. If success is measured by attendees, it was achieved. But if success in measured by how many people have unconsciously dropped their own preconceived ideas of what a museum is, I’d say Astrup Fearnley is an over-achiever.
It makes you wonder about the possibilities and just how many ways there are to experience art.
I leave you with a question: How would you like to experience your art today?
Making sense of art and design industries 