The exhibition Dybdeflater shows recent work by leading contemporary artists who have chosen photography as their medium of expression. Common for the works exhibited is an understanding of the complex nature of flatness and abstractions within an image field. The photographs all grapple the push-pull of the representation of reality and the duality of possibilities within the inherent limitations provided by the photographic medium. When we dive underwater and turn to look up, the surface has turned in to a mirror in a total reflection – caused by the change of mass from water to air informed by our perspective. Such is our perspective through photography, which images we take for granted as capable representation of our sensory experience and memory. In the world of the digital info-sphere where communication through images is about to supersede the written language, it is perhaps more important than ever to be reminded of the limitations and abstract qualities that make up the nature of photography as language.

Thora Dolven Balke (NO)

Thora Dolven Balke (b. 1982, Norway) lives and works between Oslo and Rio de Janeiro, where she completed the Capacete programme in 2016 in addition to her degrees from the Academy of Fine Art Oslo and the Bergen Academy of Art and Design. Recent exhibitions include FLOW, Cavalo, Rio de Janeiro (2019); All that respires, conspires at UKS, Oslo and Ultima Festival (2017) Mind moves with matter, body blends into space, Kunsthall Trondheim (2019); Off the Page, Bergen Kunsthall (2017) and The Young Lions, Preus Fotomuseum, Oslo (2017). Among other curatorial projects, Dolven Balke curated the biennale Lofoten International Art Festival – LIAF – with Linn Pedersen in 2011 and co-funded and programmed the artist-run space REKORD in Oslo from 2006 to 2010.

Bjarne Bare (NO)

Bjarne Bare (b. 1985, Poland) lives and works in Oslo and Los Angeles. He received his B.F.A. from the Academy of Fine Art Oslo and M.F.A. from UCLA, Los Angeles. Bjarne is the co-founder of MELK, an artist run space in Oslo promoting new Scandinavian Photography since 2009. His works have been shown in museums such as the Henie Onstad Kunstsenter, Lillehammer Kunstmuseum, Preus Museum and Sørlandets Kunstmuseum as well as Fondazione Bevilacqua La Masa, Palazzetto Tito, Venice; UCLA Broad Art Center, Los Angeles; Three Shadows Xiamen Photography Art Centre, Xiamen; Kunstnernes Hus, Oslo; Gallery Zuiderkerk. Amsterdam; OSL contemporary, Oslo, Norway; among others.

Linn Pedersen (NO)

Linn Pedersen (b. 1982, Norway) lives and works in Sortland. Pedersen holds an MFA from Central Saint Martins College of Arts and Design in London and a BA from UIB, Faculty of Fine Art, Bergen. Pedersen has recently exhibited at Fotografie Forum Frankfurt (2019), CCC OD, Tours (2017) and CENART, Mexico City (2017). Solo exhibitions include Captain’s Cabin, MELK, Oslo (2018), Pupill, Kunstnerforbundet, Oslo (2017) and Plain Air, Entrée, Bergen (2015).

Paul Mpagi Sepuya (USA)

Paul Mpagi Sepuya (b. 1982, USA) lives and works in Los Angeles. He received his MFA from UCLA, Los Angeles in 2016 and BFA in Photography & Imaging from the New York University Tisch School of the Arts, New York, in 2014. Recent exhibitions include The Conditions, Team Gallery, New York (2019), Paul Mpagi Sepuya, the Contemporary Art Museum, St. Louis (2019), Implicit Tensions: Mapplethorpe Now at The Guggenheim Museum, New York (2019– 2020) and The Whitney Biennial, The Whitney Museum, New York (2019).

Hannah Whitaker (USA)

Hannah Whitaker (b. 1980, USA) lives and works in Brooklyn. She received her BA from Yale University and holds an MFA from ICP/Bard College (2006). Recent solo exhibitions include Live Agent, M+B, Los Angeles (2017), Hide Your Daughters, Marinaro Gallery, New York (2017), Verbs, Galerie Cristophe Gaillard, Paris (2016) and Live Agent, M+B Gallery, Los Angeles (2017).

Louis Heilbronn (USA) 

Louis Heilbronn (b. 1988, USA) is a French-American photographer who lives and works in Los Angeles. He received a B.A from Bard College in 2010 and an MFA from the University of California Los Angeles in 2018. Recent solo exhibitions include Orchard Continued at Galerie Polaris, Paris (2019), and Views on Views at La Junqueira, Lisbon (2019). His work has also been included group shows at the Bass Museum of Art in Miami (2016), Human Resources, Los Angeles (2018), the 16th International Architecture Biennale in Venice, Italy, (2018), and the Alice Austen House in Staten Island (2019).

Bilde øverst: Paul Mpagi Sepuya Drop Scene (_1030442). Courtesy of the artist and Susanne Vielmetter Los Angeles Projects.

Bilde nederst: Bjarne Bare Dog Days. Courtesy of the artist and OSL Contemporary