Spring Exhibition 2016

13 May – 26 June

SPRING EXHIBITION 40 YEARS

Katharina Barbosa Blad / Grethe Irene Einarsen / Katinka Goldberg / Marie Helgesen / Kamilla Langeland / Madelen Isa Lindgren

Opening and awarding of the BKH (Relief Fund for Visual Artists) Prize for Photographic Art

Thursday 12 May, 7 p.m., Fotogalleriet. The exhibition will be opened by Bård Folke Fredriksen, state secretary in the Ministry of Culture.

The Spring Exhibition was established in 1976, a time when the need to advance the reputation of art photography was great. The exhibition was to take place at the end of spring and had the name Fotografisk Vårutstilling (Spring Photographic Exhibition), as a counter to Høstutstillingen (The Autumn Exhibition), where photographs were listed under "Painting" in the catalog.

The Spring Exhibition has been an important anchoring point for contemporary photography in Norway, and via its status on the cutting edge has contributed to the advancement of art photography in the Norwegian cultural debate. Today the Spring Exhibition presents Norwegian camera-based art to a broad audience. The jury selects participating artists via an open application process. The jury is chosen by the members of FFF (the Norwegian Association of Fine Art Photographers) at a general meeting. For 2016 the jury is as follows: Vibeke Tandberg (head of the jury), Mattias Josefsson and Kaia Hugin in collaboration with Stephanie von Spreter (artistic director, Fotogalleriet).

In this year that it turns 40 the Spring Exhibition is finally assured economic stability through a fixed annual grant from Kulturrådet (Arts Council Norway). After having run the exhibition on minimal resources and to a great degree a communal volunteer spirit, FFF can finally plan within secure frameworks and prioritize sufficient compensation for its own group of artists. FFF is celebrating the exhibition's 40-year anniversary by launching the Spring Exhibition's new logo and visual profile, along with a more extensive exhibition catalog.

In connection with the anniversary, we will also launch MUTATOR (@Mutatorfff), a single-issue magazine that will exist solely on instagram. Over a one-month period contributions by invited artists and writers will be published, including Anna-Sophie Berger (AT), Joshua Citarella (US), Casey Jane Ellison (US), Eva Klerck Gange (NO), Kamilla Langeland (NO), Gean Moreno (US), Jacob Riddle (US), Henrik Pask (NO) and Edward Shenk (US). The publication is created by Agatha Wara in collaboration with Bjørnar Pedersen.

Spring Exhibition 2016 will be opened by Bård Folke Fredriksen Thursday 12 May at 7:00 p.m. at Fotogalleriet. During the opening the annual Bildende Kunstneres Hjelpefond's (Relief Fund for Visual Artists') Prize for Photographic Art will be awarded to the artist participating in the Spring Exhibition whose work is regarded as most meaningful. The Prize for Photographic Art, established in 2010, carries an award of NOK 150,000 and is thus one of the largest art prizes awarded in Norway.

The Spring Exhibition 2016 is generously supported by
Kulturrådet (Arts Council Norway), Norsk Fotografisk Fond (Norwegian Photographic Fund), Fritt Ord, and Bildende Kunstneres Hjelpefond (Relief Fund for Visual Artists).