For more info on LOCUS visit LOCUS WEBPAGE (www.locusart.org)

LOCUS Bio
LOCUS is a nomadic and fluctuating entity, an artist collective and independent exhibition platform, which present art nationally and internationally. Thale Blix Fastvold and Tanja Thorjussen established Oslo-based LOCUS in 2006. They organize events and exhibitions in cities such as New York, Oslo, Trondheim, Miami, Medellín, St Petersburg, Moscow and Stavanger at institutions such as MoMA PS1, Museum of Nonconformist Art in Russia, Kunstnernes Hus Oslo, Museum of St Petersburg Avant-garde and La Biennale di Venezia. LOCUS has a small publishing house with titles including Kurator?, ARTic, Arctic Hysteria and various artist books.

LOCUS artist statement
Art as sanctuary and catalyst in a time of environmental change

In our ongoing artistic research on the spiritual in art we see a strong connection between how we respond to environmental issues like climate change, species extinction and global warming, and our renewed spiritual interest and connection to earth and nature. How can art create empathy, and inspire change? How can we foster a loving dialog between nature and humans? How can art help us envision alternative futures based on deeper and broader ways of communication, how can we humans get better at listening to nature and other species? We see our gilded tree performance series as an attempted dialog, where we try to connect with the trees and aim to honor the trees we interact with through the historically traditional human medium of gilding something sacred.  We see a shift from the anthropos/human-centered worldview and to a broader, more circular and balanced way of living and understanding of the world.  This includes honoring and nurturing all aspects of nature from dryland to wetland. We have recently made public art projects for bees with our Bee Sanctuary Garden Harriet Backers Hage in Oslo 2018 and 2019 (Funded by Bydel St.Hanshaugen), and Dagny Juels Hage 2019 at Kontraskjæret (commissioned by Oslo kommune, Bilfritt Byliv) this project is part of the official Oslo Miljøhovedstad program, and we are now working on future sanctuaries underwater with Coral Sanctuary Gardens in both tropical (Bali) and arctic (Norway) waters. These art projects are a part of our ongoing research into art works in public space which both serve nature/animals and humans in a symbiotic form.

– LOCUS / Thale Blix Fastvold & Tanja Thorjussen

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books published by LOCUS

2017-2019 Artist books by: Sara Rönnbäck & Daniel Slåttnes, Margrethe Iren Pettersen, Merete Joelsen Aune, Katarina Skår Lisa, Anna Daniell, Stafano Cagol, Tanja Thorjussen, Thale Fastvold.

2016
“Arctic Hysteria – Collected stories and research through contemporary art”, Artist Book / Catalog “Arctic Hysteria” launched at NYABF MOMA PS1
2015
“ARTic – Utfordringer i et utvidet kulturfelt” By Marianne Darlén Solhaugstrand and Stig Arild Mangschau. Booklaunch at Kunstnernes Hus.
2009
“KURATOR?” Anthology with 21 texts and interviews by curators in the Norwegian contemporary art scene. Booklaunch at UKS.