Angels and Demons by Vidar Koksvik, The Mirror of the Eye by Julia K. Persson and Woven Stories by Ingrid Becker
Exhibition
/
22 May 2025
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29 Jun 2025
Published: 17.05.2025

Three exhibitions will be on view at Format Oslo until June 29th 2025.
You're invited to the opening on Thursday, 22 May at 6 pm, with a speech by Charlotte Jul, curator, writer and editor.
Artist list
Ingrid Becker, Vidar Koksvik, Julia K. Persson
Angels and Demons
Vidar Koksvik
For this exhibition, Vidar Koksvik has explored the sculptural potential of the wine glass stem. Throughout history, the stem has served as a subject for creative expression—a small sculpture meant to delight guests around the table. In his recent works, Koksvik has, to some extent, retained the recognizable form of the glass's bowl and base, while allowing the stem to become a site for experimentation. Here, cherubs of the Renaissance meet snakes and dragons, juxtaposed with down-to-earth Norwegian motifs such as mountains and traditional storehouses. It is within this tension that Koksvik creates a subtle humor and a sense of surprise.
Vidar Koksvik (b. 1969) was trained in glassblowing at Glasskolan in Orrefors, Sweden. He holds a BA in Three-Dimensional Design from The Surrey Institute of Art and Design in England and an MA in Curatorial Practice from the University of Bergen. He has extensive experience from glass workshops around the world, including a period at the now-closed Randsfjord Glassworks in Jevnaker.
Since 1998, Koksvik has been established as a glass artist in Norway—first for four years at the Egenart glass studio at Bærums Verk, and later at Klart Glass studio in Grue, Innlandet.
Koksvik’s works can be found in the collections of the National Museum, KODE, the Nordenfjeldske Museum of Decorative Arts, Norges Bank, Sørlandets Kunstmuseum, and Sunnfjord Kunstmuseum, as well as in numerous private collections. His chandeliers have been commissioned for a wide range of public buildings.
The exhibition is supported by a regional grant from BKH, the Arts Bank Center for Contemporary Art, and regional project funding from KIN.
The Mirror of the Eye
Julia K. Persson
Tense is a grammatical term for time – it marks whether something is happening now, has happened, or will happen.
For this exhibition, Julia K. Persson presents a large floor installation alongside two wall-mounted sculptures. The floor piece consists of a ceramic relief resting on ceramic beams. The relief is composed of twelve segments, which together form a repeating profile of a face, and a child. By placing the relief on beams on the floor rather than mounting it on a wall, the work’s tense becomes diffuse, suspended in a ‘before’ or an ‘after’ rather than anchored in a static now.
This shifting sense of tense has been one of the recurring ideas throughout the process. In the act of drawing her mother’s face, Persson gradually recognized her own. In moments of magical thinking, she searched for her mother’s eye in the small pocket mirror she had inherited - but only her own eye appeared, though it resembled her mother’s.
It is in these shifts - or mirrorings - that Persson finds her focus: between generations and roles, between what once was and is no longer, between what has vanished and what has embedded itself within us.
Twelve short poems by Anna With accompany the exhibition.
Julia K. Persson (b. 1992, Sweden) primarily works with sculpture and installation in clay, ceramics, and textile. Through a strict yet tactile language, she explores constructions—not only physical structures, but also mental and imagined frameworks. It is often when something goes wrong, breaks, or comes to an end that her interest grows, and the work begins. Persson holds an MFA from the Oslo National Academy of the Arts. She has exhibited at Rackstadmuseet in Arvika, Konstepidemin in Gothenburg, Höganäs Konsthall, and QB Gallery in Oslo, as well as in several group exhibitions, for example at KRAFT in Bergen, London Craft Week, Kunstnerforbundet, and ROM for kunst & arkitektur in Oslo.
The exhibition is supported by KiN (Kunstsentrene i Norge) and the Arts Council Norway.
Woven Stories
Ingrid Becker
In this exhibition, Ingrid Becker presents works made from natural materials such as bark, willow, rattan, goatskin, and fruit stalks from the Phoenix palm. She has cultivated these materials herself in Fosen, Trøndelag, and gathered them during her travels.
Textile techniques—such as weaving, embroidery, knotting, and binding - are fundamental to Becker’s work. She continuously explores how traditional textile methods can be altered, combined, and fused into experimental woven pieces.
Over the past 20 years, Becker has explored the possibilities of the container as both a sculptural form and a bearer of meaning. Her objects have taken shape as woven containers in various forms - for example, baskets, dishes, trays, jars, bowls, cocoons, cradles, or abstract shapes. The works are crafted as precisely woven, elongated, cylindrical or square containers; as low, oval or circular dishes; or as more organically undulating and transparent, dissolved elements or linear objects. All symbolize the container and its connection to the story of human origins - as a tool used for gathering, carrying, and storytelling.
The times we live in compel us to seek alternative perspectives on our own history. Our Anthropocene age is a result of the dominant historical view that nature is unconscious matter to be controlled, manipulated, and exploited. We now realize we must think anew—on a broader scale, in a more inclusive, equitable, diverse, and ecological way. With “Woven Stories”, Becker contributes to telling these alternative narratives and proposes a worldview grounded in feminine values deeply rooted within us.
Ingrid Becker was born in 1952 in Stockholm and lives and works on a small farm in Stadsbygd, Trøndelag. Becker is educated in textile arts and pedagogy and has been active as a craftsperson and artist in Norway since 1977. She primarily works with sculptural woven forms made from natural materials such as bark, willow, roots, reeds, and other natural fibers.
Becker’s works have been exhibited in numerous group and solo exhibitions, including the Annual Exhibition of Norwegian Craftsmen in 2017 and 2023. Her works have been acquired by the National Museum in Oslo, KODE in Bergen, the Nordenfjeldske Museum of Decorative Arts, and the Municipality of Trondheim. Recent public art commissions include installations at Fosen Upper Secondary School's aviation department in Bjugn, the Department of Teacher Education at NTNU Trondheim, the ZEB Laboratory at NTNU Trondheim, and Johan Bojer Upper Secondary School in Indre Fosen Municipality.
Vidar Koksvik
For this exhibition, Vidar Koksvik has explored the sculptural potential of the wine glass stem. Throughout history, the stem has served as a subject for creative expression—a small sculpture meant to delight guests around the table. In his recent works, Koksvik has, to some extent, retained the recognizable form of the glass's bowl and base, while allowing the stem to become a site for experimentation. Here, cherubs of the Renaissance meet snakes and dragons, juxtaposed with down-to-earth Norwegian motifs such as mountains and traditional storehouses. It is within this tension that Koksvik creates a subtle humor and a sense of surprise.
Vidar Koksvik (b. 1969) was trained in glassblowing at Glasskolan in Orrefors, Sweden. He holds a BA in Three-Dimensional Design from The Surrey Institute of Art and Design in England and an MA in Curatorial Practice from the University of Bergen. He has extensive experience from glass workshops around the world, including a period at the now-closed Randsfjord Glassworks in Jevnaker.
Since 1998, Koksvik has been established as a glass artist in Norway—first for four years at the Egenart glass studio at Bærums Verk, and later at Klart Glass studio in Grue, Innlandet.
Koksvik’s works can be found in the collections of the National Museum, KODE, the Nordenfjeldske Museum of Decorative Arts, Norges Bank, Sørlandets Kunstmuseum, and Sunnfjord Kunstmuseum, as well as in numerous private collections. His chandeliers have been commissioned for a wide range of public buildings.
The exhibition is supported by a regional grant from BKH, the Arts Bank Center for Contemporary Art, and regional project funding from KIN.
The Mirror of the Eye
Julia K. Persson
Tense is a grammatical term for time – it marks whether something is happening now, has happened, or will happen.
For this exhibition, Julia K. Persson presents a large floor installation alongside two wall-mounted sculptures. The floor piece consists of a ceramic relief resting on ceramic beams. The relief is composed of twelve segments, which together form a repeating profile of a face, and a child. By placing the relief on beams on the floor rather than mounting it on a wall, the work’s tense becomes diffuse, suspended in a ‘before’ or an ‘after’ rather than anchored in a static now.
This shifting sense of tense has been one of the recurring ideas throughout the process. In the act of drawing her mother’s face, Persson gradually recognized her own. In moments of magical thinking, she searched for her mother’s eye in the small pocket mirror she had inherited - but only her own eye appeared, though it resembled her mother’s.
It is in these shifts - or mirrorings - that Persson finds her focus: between generations and roles, between what once was and is no longer, between what has vanished and what has embedded itself within us.
Twelve short poems by Anna With accompany the exhibition.
Julia K. Persson (b. 1992, Sweden) primarily works with sculpture and installation in clay, ceramics, and textile. Through a strict yet tactile language, she explores constructions—not only physical structures, but also mental and imagined frameworks. It is often when something goes wrong, breaks, or comes to an end that her interest grows, and the work begins. Persson holds an MFA from the Oslo National Academy of the Arts. She has exhibited at Rackstadmuseet in Arvika, Konstepidemin in Gothenburg, Höganäs Konsthall, and QB Gallery in Oslo, as well as in several group exhibitions, for example at KRAFT in Bergen, London Craft Week, Kunstnerforbundet, and ROM for kunst & arkitektur in Oslo.
The exhibition is supported by KiN (Kunstsentrene i Norge) and the Arts Council Norway.
Woven Stories
Ingrid Becker
In this exhibition, Ingrid Becker presents works made from natural materials such as bark, willow, rattan, goatskin, and fruit stalks from the Phoenix palm. She has cultivated these materials herself in Fosen, Trøndelag, and gathered them during her travels.
Textile techniques—such as weaving, embroidery, knotting, and binding - are fundamental to Becker’s work. She continuously explores how traditional textile methods can be altered, combined, and fused into experimental woven pieces.
Over the past 20 years, Becker has explored the possibilities of the container as both a sculptural form and a bearer of meaning. Her objects have taken shape as woven containers in various forms - for example, baskets, dishes, trays, jars, bowls, cocoons, cradles, or abstract shapes. The works are crafted as precisely woven, elongated, cylindrical or square containers; as low, oval or circular dishes; or as more organically undulating and transparent, dissolved elements or linear objects. All symbolize the container and its connection to the story of human origins - as a tool used for gathering, carrying, and storytelling.
The times we live in compel us to seek alternative perspectives on our own history. Our Anthropocene age is a result of the dominant historical view that nature is unconscious matter to be controlled, manipulated, and exploited. We now realize we must think anew—on a broader scale, in a more inclusive, equitable, diverse, and ecological way. With “Woven Stories”, Becker contributes to telling these alternative narratives and proposes a worldview grounded in feminine values deeply rooted within us.
Ingrid Becker was born in 1952 in Stockholm and lives and works on a small farm in Stadsbygd, Trøndelag. Becker is educated in textile arts and pedagogy and has been active as a craftsperson and artist in Norway since 1977. She primarily works with sculptural woven forms made from natural materials such as bark, willow, roots, reeds, and other natural fibers.
Becker’s works have been exhibited in numerous group and solo exhibitions, including the Annual Exhibition of Norwegian Craftsmen in 2017 and 2023. Her works have been acquired by the National Museum in Oslo, KODE in Bergen, the Nordenfjeldske Museum of Decorative Arts, and the Municipality of Trondheim. Recent public art commissions include installations at Fosen Upper Secondary School's aviation department in Bjugn, the Department of Teacher Education at NTNU Trondheim, the ZEB Laboratory at NTNU Trondheim, and Johan Bojer Upper Secondary School in Indre Fosen Municipality.
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