Oslo Opera House

The first production in Oslo’s eagerly anticipated new opera house will be a ballet by Norwegian choreographer Ingun Bjørnsgaard, with newly commissioned string orchestra scores from Rolf Wallin and Henrik Hellstenius. Wallin’s piece is entitled Urban Bestiary, and alternates real world sounds of the city with abstract string music, while Hellstenius’s Places of Sound includes sections for tenor and soprano, with text taken from the opera Croesus by German Baroque composer Reinhard Keizer.

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Emily Wardhill @ Standard

STANDARD (OSLO)
PRESS RELEASE

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EMILY WARDILL
“SICK SERENA AND DREGS AND WRECK AND WRECK” / “SECS”
03.04.-03.05.2008 / PREVIEW: THURSDAY 03.04.2008 / 19.00-21.00

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STANDARD (OSLO) is pleased to announce its first solo exhibition with British artist Emily Wardill, featuring her two most recent films: “Sick Serena And Dregs And Wreck And Wreck” and “Secs”. In Wardill’s films any coherent reading of reality seems suspended in favour of recognizing a meshwork of different versions of the real – tensely weaved together.

Q: “What are you thinking about?”
A: “A giant bollock that could be used as a spacehopper.”

The documentary real, the theatrically unreal or hallucinogenic surreal repeatedly intertwine in Emily Wardill’s films, leaving logic restlessly fading in and out of sync. In the case of “Sick Serena And Dregs And Wreck And Wreck” this results in a layering of modes, meanings and historical moments, where the iconography of stained glass windows from medieval British churches is taken as the point of departure. Filmed footage of this imagery – initially serving as allegories and translating the liturgy into images to the illiterate visitor – is juxtaposed with several vignettes, staged by the artist and lit in correspondence to the bold palette of the stained glass. Wardill recomposes these tableaux in ways that invoke both a sense of unease and amusement. The frequent anachronisms verge on slapstick comedy, as in the case of the bearded Amira reappearing in a tracksuit while reading the Yellow pages rather than the Bible. This estrangement is further emphasized by the faltering delivery of the actors and the fragmentation of the dialogue. Wardill is not merely addressing the exaggeration and artifice of cinematic melodrama, but also the allegory’s continued ability to reveal hidden meaning, whether morally or politically.

Produced at the same time as “Sick Serena […]” is the short film “Secs”. Throughout its length of two and a half minutes the camera stays with the same figure: a person sitting motionless in the dark, but whose silhouette is cut clear by light. From this darkness and empty portrait a story unfolds. The anonymous source takes us through a series of events that led to unemployment. The voice of this person is equally disguised, with the words of the confession being pronounced slowly and in an unnaturally low tone. Trivially being caught researching historical artefacts on the Internet through work hours, “Secs is an account of bad judgement, a sequence of errors that seem relatively innocent when compared to the crimes of passion described in Sick Serena … or the narratives associated with anonymous appearances on television”, writes the curator Michelle Cotton. “The form exceeds the ideas it contains and Wardill draws out it’s own strange theatre. What occurs is an identification of style, a memory of something else that once inhabited that same form, a trace of affect.”

Emily Wardill lives and works in London. Recent solo exhibitions include the Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA), London and Jonathan Viner / Fortescue Avenue, London. Her works have also been included in group exhibitions such as "Lightbox" at Tate Britain and "Ballet Mecanique" at Timothy Taylor Gallery, and will also this spring feature in “Reykjavik Experiment Marathon” curated by Hans Ulrich Obrist, as well as “An Ambiguous Case”, curated by Emily Pethick at MUMOK, Vienna. Wardill was earlier this month announced as first laureate of the Follow Fluxus–After Fluxus grant, which will conclude with an exhibition at the NKV Nassauischer Kunstverein Wiesbaden.

For further information please visit our webpage: www.standardoslo.no or contact Eivind Furnesvik at eivind@standardoslo.no or +47 917 07 429 / +47 22 60 13 10. STANDARD (OSLO) is open Tuesday-Friday: 12.00-17.00 / Saturday: 12.00-16.00. Sunday and Monday: Closed

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EMILY WARDILL / PRESS RELEASE / PDF /
EMILY WARDILL / CV / PDF /
EMILY WARDILL / SELECTED WORKS / LINK /

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EMILY WARDILL
SICK SERENA AND DREGS AND WRECK AND WRECK
2007

16 mm colour film with sound
Duration: 12 minutes
Edition: 5 + 2 AP
SOEW-2007-002

Film Still

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EMILY WARDILL
SICK SERENA AND DREGS AND WRECK AND WRECK
2007

16 mm colour film with sound
Duration: 12 minutes
Edition: 5 + 2 AP
SOEW-2007-002

Film Still

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EMILY WARDILL
SICK SERENA AND DREGS AND WRECK AND WRECK
2007

16 mm colour film with sound
Duration: 12 minutes
Edition: 5 + 2 AP
SOEW-2007-002

Film Still

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EMILY WARDILL
SECS
2007

16 mm colour film with sound
Duration: 2 minutes 40 seconds
Edition: 5 + 2 AP
SOEW-2007-001

Film Still

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EMILY WARDILL
SECS
2007

16 mm colour film with sound
Duration: 2 minutes 40 seconds
Edition: 5 + 2 AP
SOEW-2007-001

Film Still

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The 53 places to go in 2008: 26. Oslo

In addition to being one of the world’s most expensive cities , Oslo is burnishing its reputation as a design and architecture center. Next April, the futuristic National Opera House will open at the head of the Oslofjord, sheathed in white marble. It will be joined by two new design hotels: Chain with approx 50 hotels in Norway">Thon Hotel Gyldenlove and Grims Grenka Hotel.

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The New Holmenkollen Beacon

The New Holmenkollen Beacon
Extending tradition

145 years ago the first Norwegian took off from a hill, catapulting himself to the sky, creating a sport that would spread all over the world and captivate millions.
Today Oslo remains the undisputed capital of ski jumping, having had annual competitions at Holmenkollen since 1892, served the Olympics in 1952 and several world championships.
As the city will host the 2011 world championships it requires a rebuilding be­yond what the existing structure can manage.
The Holmenkollen site has been the cradle of evolution in ski jumping and the facility was revisited and improved over 20 times.

The New Holmenkollen Beacon is a project that won the international competition to redesign the ski jump of Oslo for the 2011 world championships. It is a new 50,000 seat amphitheatre and Olympic-standard ski jump overlooking Oslo, which will invigorate the capital with a new icon.

Holmenkollen has the power to change the fate of Oslo. When we look at the Olympian models of Barcelona, Sydney and Munich, great architecture was at the forefront to redefining how the city was perceived. The Holmenkollen ski jump could liberate Oslo from regional constraint and give it the same city status as Sydney, Paris or Barcelona. It would invigorate the capital with a national icon in the line of evolution initiated by the new opera and reinforce the city’s wave of regeneration, giving it a recognised international status and the real flair of a World Championship city!

The cost of the project has been bouncing up and down and nobody seems to know where the real costs lie today. This project is a smaller part of a bigger set of facilities, and has never been critically outside its financial frame. The competition reports states for the Nye Holmenkollen Fyr that “The building construction specialists view the construction as both cost effective and sensible in relation to the possibilities for prefabrication and fast progress in the construction period.”
In order to achieve such a landmark on time and budget all instances should work together. There are decisions taken without the participation of all the required experts at meetings behind closed doors. Instead of debating the economic feasibility of the project we, friends of Holmenkollen, would like to ask the world to give its opinion as of whether the project should become reality. We believe this project requires the public opinion beyond national boundaries.

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Grims Grenka - Norway's most fashionable hotel

Grims Grenka - Norway's most fashionable hotel opens in September 2007. A design hotel without the attitude

Design Hotel
Grims Grenka will be a unique design hotel focusing on genuine,
professional and excellent service. The first rooms and suites are ready for you to experience. From the 1st of August we open up our Rooftop lounge where you may indulge in luxurious surroundings.

- Our goal is to become Norway's best hotel, and the hotel will in many ways appear to be revolutionary in regards to interior design and service. Internationally, Grims Grenka will be classified as a five star hotel, says Atle Hovde Concept Developer and General Manager at Grims Grenka.

- Our ambition is to make Grims Grenka so exhilarating that guests don't want to leave.

Exotically Norwegian
Grims Grenka will consist of 42 large deluxe rooms and 24 suites, many of them larger than 70 square metres (750 square feet). The rooms will be in three different styles; green for summer, blue and white for winter and gold for the mysterious, decadent and sensual way of living. Further you will find various sections for pleasure and enjoyment.

- We will open Oslo's most spectacular rooftop lounge. There will be an atmosphere of decadence where your Cosmo or Chablis may be enjoyed on a warm summer day while absorbing views of Oslo's urban jungle.

During the course of 2007 an Asian Fusion Restaurant will open – inspired
by Hakkasan in London, Tao and Buddakan in New York – a nightclub
that will transform Oslo's nightlife, a private cinema available for business or pleasure, and an urban spa. The hotel will also offer board rooms and conference facilities by international standards, a fitness centre, and a Tea and Cocktail Bar based on organic raw materials.

The unique style of Grims Grenka will be the one of Eastern mysticism and sensuality, influenced by our exotic Norwegian nature, colours and sounds, continues Atle Hovde.

The hotel is beautifully situated by Akershus Castle in the historical and most urban part of Oslo, only three blocks from Karl Johans gate, five minutes from the central station and three minutes from Aker Brygge. The hotel is designed by Kristin Jarmund Architects and will be part of the First Hotels chain.

- Grims Grenka will cultivate luxury, intimacy and sensuality!

First Hotel Grims Grenka
Kongensgate 50153
Oslo
Norway
Tel: +47 23 10 72 00
reservations@grimsgrenka.no

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