24/09/2026
Public Programme: From Collection to Connection, 8–11 October 2026, Nitja Centre for Contemporary Art
What are the conditions under which things are kept, circulated, or withheld? How are artists working within or against existing collections shaped by colonial, economic, and institutional hierarchies? How can we understand collections as sites structured by histories of power, extraction, and translation? And what does it mean to shift our attention from collection to connection—from objects held within collections to the relations that may be maintained, disrupted, or transformed across the Global North and South?
Over four days, a group of invited artists and thinkers will explore such questions through conversations, performances, and hands-on encounters with archival material. Rather than treating collections as stable entities, we will approach them as fluid and contested formations. We will consider how a range of objects, including African headrests and manuscripts, Sámi drums, and a Palestinian thobe, are transformed as they move through artistic practices, gaining and losing meaning along the way.
The programme is free and open to all, and you are welcome to attend all or part of each day. Please register for each day you plan to attend: https://nitja-centre-for-contemporary-art.hoopla.no/event/from-collection-to-connection
Thursday 8 October — Travelling Objects
Salad Hilowle, Robel Temesgen, Ellef Prestsæter, My African Aesthetic with Rafiki. Shared meal, open to all.
Friday 9 October — Travelling Bodies
Luanda Carneiro Jacoel, Jeannette Ehlers, Louisa Layne. Shared meal, open to all.
Saturday 10 October — Constructing Objects
Breakfast, all welcome. Joar Nango, Robel Temesgen, Ellef Prestsæter. Light refreshments and conversation.
Sunday 11 October — Tatreez & Te
The Palestinian Thobe, a handling session. Workshop with Samiha Nejmi, Leila Restan and Kristin Sunde. Tea and light refreshments. Held in Norwegian.
From Collection to Connection forms part of a long-term collaboration between Nitja Centre for Contemporary Art and the Guttormsgaard Archive and is developed together with Robel Temesgen.
Guttormsgaards arkiv
kathrine wilson
Robel Temesgen