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Ola Brenno, Bagn.
Sitting at a table playing the langeleik.
Dressed in bunad, Valdres Folk Museum (1901).




Valk til horkluten
sculpted woolen felt
2025, Karoline Bakken Lund 

Research / sculpture sketch 







2025-2026
preliminary reserach project


HORKLUT
*  is an ongoing research project initiated by Karoline Bakken Lund, in close collaboration with choreographer and artist Harald Beharie, and zither players, cultural historians, and museum directors Knut and Ole Aastad Bråten from Gudbrandsdalmusea and Valdresmusea.


This preliminary project explores a performative work — a hybrid of social sculptural practice, the soundscape of the langeleik (Norwegian zither), and the social connotations of folk dance, in visual dialogue with endangered craft traditions and blind spots in folk costume traditions and untold life stories can shape our research, through both a historical and speculative approach to dressing.

Together, we search for ways of entering and staying within the social and the transformative — potentially taking shape as both an abstract being and a shared state for performers and audience. We immerse ourselves in the trance-like qualities of the langeleik sound, their resonance and vibration — even if only for a short moment.



*Horklut, horluva, or horhätta was a hood that mothers of children born outside of marriage (who were labeled as “whores”) were at times forced to wear in parts of Sweden. It signaled their social position: neither unmarried (a maiden could go bareheaded) nor respectably married (a wife typically wore a more covering headpiece). The practice disappeared during the 19th century.








I sleep so deep I’m awake

 hand-drawn piece for Veronica Bruce’s book Mood Swings, 
in dialogue with her writing. 2025, Karoline Bakken Lund



installation view  from Salgshallen  Galleri
photo: Nicolas Jara




Illustrated pieces and visual representations 
of Veronica Bruce’ writing in her book 
MOOD SWINGS
2025 

After a decade of sculptural and performative collaborations, Veronica and Karoline Bakken Lund met in a new medium. Karoline Bakken Lund had the honour of illustrating Bruce’ beautiful book Mood Swings. 

Mood Swings is published by Knapt Forlag with support from the Arts Council Norway and NBK.  The book is printed at Blekksprutn on a risograph machine in Oslo. One of the illustrations is die-cut in collaboration with “Colorama” and “Termindruck” in Berlin. Mood Swings is a development of a series of works from the exhibition On Feeling at Good Weather in Chicago, 2022 by Veronica Bruce. 

Buy the book:

The book was recently presented at the book fair “Available Works” in New York and will be presented at the Oslo Art Book Fair 15-16. nov 2025 

The book is available at Salgshallen galleri , norma_t_ and prismatic.pages and soon at the bookstore Kunstnernes Hus in Oslo. 

On the occasion of the launch, the texts met video and the performance work Sonata — an artistic collaboration between Veronica Bruce and Karoline Bakken Lund in dialogue with Sanna Helena Berger’s soundscape. 





The concept and sculptures are created by Veronica Bruce and Karoline Bakken Lund, with dance and choreography by Veronica Bruce. Filmed in a single take at Momarken Racetrack by Maria Hilde.  

installation view  from Salgshallen  Galleri
photo: Nicolas Jara








DRIB CAN COOLER
Oslo National Academy of the Arts (NO) 

Baseball stitched sealskin
Drib can, Energy drink,
bamboo viscose, wife beater tank top
(import export sculpture series) 2016
by Karoline Bakken Lund





2025-2028
Research article
Norwegian Fashion Histories*


Initiated by Charlotte Bik Bandlien, anthropologist, researcher, critic, professor of theory and methodology at the Oslo National Academy of the Arts,  she is interviewing Karoline Bakken Lund and looking into the post-truth, collapsonomic infused and memes based design process for the costumes and film props Bakken Lund did for and with Kristoffer Borgli’ screenplay DRIB. 

Premiered at SXSW and CPH DOX, 2017
Read Borgli’ interview on DRIB in Dazed digital

*Led by researchers based at the National Museum and the Centre for Design Studies at Kristiania University College, Synne Skjulstad, Hanne Eide and Trond Klevaard, this project aims to discover histories of Norwegian fashion not yet written and to reassess those already known.






























































Karoline Bakken Lund (b. 1989) is a visual artist rooted in textile and performance – mainly as sculpture, both solo and in collaborative constellations. Based in Oslo, Norway.



occational performer 
 ISLAND EXPRESS (De Naive)
Oktoberdans, BIT, Bergen 2021


In the drift of transformation and the pull toward collapse, she shapes hybrid sculptural works that hold space for (re)narration and affection. These works can appear as autonomous objects, visual scapes for performance pieces, installations and subtle acts of political, queer dressing — guided by trans-feminist ethics of care, collectivity, and exploring coexistence through gestures of turbulence and tenderness. 

In her practice, she distorts and mends endangered immaterial textile heritages and ecologies, tracing their symbolic resonances, material-political conditions and implications, and dress-historical trajectories — slipping in and out of a wavering flux of transformation. 




Her practice has been presented at leading theaters, festivals, and art institutions including:

The National Museum (Oslo) The Munch Museum (Oslo) Dansens Hus (Oslo), Arsenic Theatre (Lausanne), Astrup Fearnley Museum of Modern Art (Oslo) Interstate Projects (NY) NADA Miami (Miami) My Wild Flag (Stockholm) Suprainfinit Gallery (Bucharest) ICA Institute of Contemporary Arts (London) Dansehallerne (Copenhagen) Palmera (Bergen) Femidomen (Nesodden) Impulstanz (Vienna) Sophiensæle (Berlin) to name a few.



External tutor of artistic research, material cutlure, textile and fiber geographies at the Oslo National Academy of the Arts, since 2017.

Founded and run the aterlier space mimosa—studio in Oslo, since 2018.

Full CV upon request 


karoline@mimosa.studio
@karolinebakkenlund








dates
2026


23-25.01
30.-31.01
05.02
14.-15.02
27.-28.02
4.-6.03
may (tba) 
27.-28.05








winter









2025
autumn


26.11



10-12.10
15.-16.11

24.11
8.-9.11
9.10


6.-8.09
26.-27. 08


14.08

SWEET SPOT


Premiere: Dansens Hus, Oslo (NO) 
Side Step Festival - Zodiak, Helsinki (FI)
RAS, Sandnes (NO)
MDT, Stockholm(SE)
BIT-Teatergarasjen , Bergen(NO)
Arsenic, Lausanne (CH)
PRING festival, Utrecht (NL)
Rosendal Teater, Trondheim  



Co-producers. Dansens Hus, Oslo (NO), Rosendal Teater (NO), RAS (NO), BIT- teatergarasjen (NO) Arsenic (CH), SPRING (NL) Zodiak (FI) MDT (SE)


Horror Vacui
Solo installation/sculpture series

Svartdalen/Maridalen (NO)

Horklut
Scluptural & artistic reserach
in collaboration with Harald Beharie, Knut Aastad Bråten & Ole Aastad Bråten






HORKLUT LECTURE Research lecture with Ole Aastad Bråten at the Oslo National Academy of the Arts.  


MOOD SWINGS
Book Fairs
Available Works, New York (US)
Oslo Book Fair , Oslo  (NO)

BATTY BWOY   premiered in 2021
Co-festival, Ljubljana (SI)  
Festival Euro- scene, Leipzig (DE) 
Skånes Konstforening/Inkonst, Malmø (SE)  

UNDERSANG premiered in 2024
La Batie, Geneve (CH)
SAAL Biennale, Tallinn (EE) 

MOOD SWINGS book launch
Salgshallen, Oslo (NO)










selected works

SWEET SPOT  hellmouth – watercolor on toned paper














⭌ The Dromomanian pull

Upsycled penny-loafer
Hand-stitched leather shaft, cow leather
Resycled pewter shoe clasp, sand casted
2025, Karoline Bakken Lund

A part of a sculpture and dressing series for “SWEET SPOT”  
in close collaboration with Harald Beharie




work in progress showing, Nasjonalmuseet, Oslo (NO) 31. January 2025



SWEET SPOT

Premiere 2026
Dansens Hus, Oslo (NO)
23. january


Sweet Spot is a stage performance for six performers, premiering 23. january 2026, Dansens Hus, Oslo. In Sweet Spot, a visceral world unfolds in an intimate and immersive space.

For Sweet Spot, choreographer and performer Harald Beharie and visual artist Karoline Bakken Lund expand their continuous collaboration and research. Working together since 2017, they examine the poetic and physical possibilities of collapse, where objects, textures and bodies drift between support and obstruction, cultivating porous visual and social landscapes. In Sweet Spot they also collaborate for the first time with light designer Ingeborg Staxerud Olerud and composer and musician Ingvild Langgård. 

Sweet Spot is a tempting and seductive hellmouth filled with mischief and tender allure, a hellish pit dancing and kneading itself back and forth between intertwining epochs. Dwelling in the abyss, Sweet Spot conjures a distorted dance macabre in a hypnotic landscape gathering six ecstatic figures who sing, collapse and syncopate around each other.

Driven by a “dromomaniac” pull; an uncontrollable urge to keep moving, Sweet Spot spirals  into a ceaseless whirlwind, an abundance of unhinged rhythms, folklore, groovy processions and sudden surges devouring the spectator and everything in its path. 

Sweet Spot draws inspiration from the allegorical poem 'The Whale' where the whale lures fish with a sweet smell, only to capture them. The tale serves as a catalyst for exploration of how seductive and sweet appearances and intimacies can conceal underlying murky dangers, leading one into a hellmouth where anything can happen.




Concept & Choreography Harald Beharie 
Close collaborator/artistic research Karoline Bakken Lund
Performers Loan Ha, Carlisle Sienes, Harald Beharie, Amie Mbye Irene Theisen and Ester Thunander 
Set-design/sculpture & Costume Karoline Bakken Lund 
Light design Ingeborg Staxrud Olerud 
Musician Ester Thunander 
Composer Ingvild Langgård 
Faciliatator/ Dramaturg Deise Nunes 
Intimacy Coordinator Lexie Koren
Producer Kristina Melbø Valvik 
Distribution/touring Damien Valette 
Co-producers Dansens Hus, Oslo, Rosendal Teater (Trondheim) , RAS (Sandnes), BIT Bergen Internasjonale Teater (Bergen), Arsenic, Arsenic – Centre d’art scénique contemporain (Lausanne), SPRING festival (Utrecht), Zodiak - Centre for New Dance, Helsinki (Helsinki), MDT (Stockholm) 

Residency support Fabbrica Europa (Firenze), Kaserne(Basel) and Kilden (Kristiansand)
Supported byNorwegian Art Council and Kristiansand Municipality

Sculptural work in progress showing, Nasjonalmuseet, Oslo (NO) 31. January 2025.  


⭌  MARE
untreated pine
handcarved pine sculpture
2025, Karoline Bakken Lund


A part of a sculpture series for “SWEET SPOT”  
in close collaboration with Harald Beharie





Photo: Julie Hrncirova. Lillomarka, Oslo 2024 


Photo: Chai Saedi, Lillomarka, Oslo 2024 



For inquires about the production:

Production: Kristina Kvalvik, production.beharie@gmail.com
Distribution:Damien Valette, valette.d@gmail.com
https://haraldbeharie.com






⭌ UNDERSANG SCULPTURE SERIES
Installation view,
Urb Festival, Kiaasma
Helsinki, 2025

handsewn calf leather
waxed, linen thread
welded iron
2024, Veronica Bruce & Karoline Bakken Lund










UNDERSANG

(premiered 2024)
30 May 2024, Oslo 
The project received the Norwegian Critics prize for 2024

Undersang is an outdoor work by Harald Beharie in collaboration with visual artists Karoline Bakken Lund, Veronica Bruce and musician Christian Beharie, which takes shape as a collective walk and a performance in the forest. 

Undersang is a tapestry of opulent configurations soaked in a shimmer of extravagant gestures. Here mythologies, national romantic ideals and science fiction converge, revealing a world of ancient powers. 

Placing Afro-Nordic diasporic narratives in the forest, Undersang weaves conceptions of blackness, nature and dissonance as a strategy of empowerment. Sparking questions about what it means to belong. 

Undersang is queer ecology in the making, using extravagance  and romanticism as a site for refusal, for reclaiming time. Looking beyond the idea of ownership, it seeks a fertile ground for healing, for lament and for celebration.














Choreography Harald Beharie 
Sculptures Karoline Bakken Lund and Veronica Bruce 
Costumes Karoline Bakken Lund and Harald Beharie
Composer, sound Christian Beharie 
Performers Loan Ha, Mariama Slåttøy, Carlisle Sienes, Jens Trinidad, Nosizwe Baqwa, Amie Mbye and Harald Beharie 
Faciliatator/ DramaturgDeise Nunes 
Outside eye Hooman Sharifi
Producer
Mariana Suikkanen Gomes 
Distribution Damien Valette 
Co-producers Black Box Teater(Oslo)Dansens Hus (Oslo) 
BIT (Bergen) Rosendal Teater (Trondheim) RAS (Sandnes) TOU (Stavanger)
 






 





Photo: Karoline Bakken Lund, installation view Malmö.





For inquires about the production:

Production: Kristina Kvalvik, production.beharie@gmail.com
Distribution:Damien Valette, valette.d@gmail.com
https://haraldbeharie.com









BATTY BWOY


Batty Bwoy is a solo performance by Harald Beharie  in collaboration with visual artists Karoline Bakken Lund, Veronica Bruce, sound designer  Jassem Hindi and progrock band Ring van Möbius.
.
Batty Bwoy is a solo which doesn’t start with a question, or a critique, but from a place of play and desire, entangled in violence and charming cruelty. Through a reappropriation of the Jamaican term “Batty Bwoy” (literally, butt boy), slang for a queer person, the work twists and turns the myths of the Black queer body unfolding vulnerable possibilities in an interplay of consciousness and naivety.

Scrutinizing the absurdity of a queer monstrosity, Batty Bwoy articulates the porosity of bodies and languages, their mouths swallowing and regurgitating the corporal fictions projected onto their skins.  

In an odyssey of droning prog-rock, Batty Bwoy attacks and embraces sedimented narratives around the fear of the queer body as a perverse and deviant figure. The expression "Batty Bwoy" is used to evoke an ambivalent being that exists in the threshold of the precarious body, liberated power, joy, and batty energy!

The work has found inspiration in mythologies, disgusting stereotypes, feelings, and fantasies of the queer body and identities, homophobic dancehall lyrics, 70s Giallo films from Italy, resilient “gully queens,” and queer voices in Norway and Jamaica that have visited and taken part of the process.

IMPORT / EXPORT
Norwegian textile finds and portraits
The National Academy of the Arts,  Oslo, May, 2016 
photo: Anne Valeur


Installation view, performance

IMPORT / EXPORT  
sculpture and performance series, 2016 
Draped, mercerized cotton thread woven in two-shaft shawl,
originally woven for Nord-Trøndelag folk costume. Krivi Weaving Mill.

The National Academy of the Arts, Oslo, 2016 
photo: Anne Valeur










⭌ The Chatelaine Oficina
(Working title for an archive hybrid of soft matter)

a  killer mobile device
archive as fiction



Negotiating between her sculptural practice, cosplaying, acts of dressing and the role of an educator, Bakken Lund gathers and archives textile and soft material cultural finds as haunting viscosities and reclaimed romances, for potential activation. Dealing with symbols and identity markers as fiction. 

The Chatelaine Oficina functions as a methodological toolbelt: historically the “chatelaine” is  a decorative clasp with suspended chains carrying tools and implements of femme domestic tasks, reimagined in her practice as a tool to investigate endangered craft techniques through their symbolic resonance, material-political conditions and implications, and dress-historical trajectories and fluidity as potential for fictional creatures.  

*A chatelaine is a decorative belt hook or clasp worn at the waist with a series of chains suspended from it. Each chain is mounted with useful household appendages such as scissors, thimbles, watches, keys, smelling salts, and household seals.




©Karoline Bakken Lund