Bergen Assembly 2025

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Jakkai Siributrs langvarige tekstilprosjekt tematiserer hvordan nasjonalstater og kolonialisme har påvirket urfolksgrupper. Shan-folket regnes som Myanmars største minoritet, og mange lever i eksil i høylandsområder i Sørøst-Asia. De har flyktet fra år med diskriminering og vold, og nektes ofte arbeid og grunnleggende helsetjenester.

 

𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦’𝘴 𝘯𝘰 𝘗𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘦 består av tekstilbannere og en serie verksteder som viderefører prosjektet. Hver tekstil kan berøres, endres og tolkes på nytt av publikum og deltagerne i verkstedene. For å utfordre ideen om den individuelle kunstnerens eierskap, inviteres besøkende til å brodere inn egne svar med tråd i svart, hvit og grå tråd, i form av motiver, detaljer eller personlige meldinger. Broderiene åpner opp for refleksjon, dialog og medskaping. Gjennom møtet mellom ulike mennesker og steder oppstår nye forbindelser — mellom det nære og det fjerne, det personlige og det kollektive. Verket er et uttrykk for poetisk kunnskap, gjennom temaer som naboskap og kjærlighet som en sosial kraft, og skaper nærhet mellom mennesker med ulik bakgrunn og erfaring.

Tekstilene stilles ut samlet og danner et tak av ulike størrelser som skaper et skjermet rom der kollektive historier fra forskjellige samfunn kan tre frem og berøres. På Tekstilindustrimuseet har prosjektet utviklet seg videre gjennom verksteder som skal bidra til nye lag av minner, arbeid og stedsforankring. Verkstedene finner sted under åpningsdagene 13. og 14. september, og igjen 25. og 26. oktober kl. 13:00–15:00.

 

Jakkai Siributr utforsker møtet mellom tradisjon og samtid gjennom tekstilkunst. Han er særlig kjent for sine detaljerte, håndlagde tepper, quilter og installasjoner som gir sterke kunstneriske svar på både historiske og aktuelle spørsmål i Thailand.

Siributrs broderte installasjoner tar opp temaer som vold, religiøse symboler, migrasjon, identitet og personlige minner.

I 2021 startet han prosjektet Phayao-a-Porter, som støtter håndverkere og assistenter som mistet livsgrunnlaget sitt under pandemien. Her samarbeider han med kunsthåndverkere fra Phayao-provinsen i Nord-Thailand om å gi nytt liv til brukte plagg gjennom unike, figurative applikasjoner. Hele 30 % av salget går tilbake til lokalsamfunnet – i form av stipend, helsetiltak og nødhjelp.

I tillegg samarbeider Siributr med Shan Youth Organization i Nord-Thailand. Han bor og arbeider i Bangkok og Chiang Mai.

 

Programme schedule and short biographies
The Literature Boat Epos + Textile Industry Museum in Salhus

Saturday, 13 September

1^st Epos tour to Salhus 12:00-16:00
Workshop at Textile Industry Museum 13:00-15:00

2^nd Epos tour to Salhus 16:00-21:00
Programme at Textile Industry Museum 17:00-20:00

Sunday, 14 September

3^rd Epos tour to Salhus 12:00-16:00
Workshop at Textile Industry Museum 13:00-15:00

On Saturday 13 September at 12:00, Epos invites people to join the first fjord journey with the boat to the Textile Industry Museum in Salhus, where they encounter Jakkai Siributr’s long-running textile project There’s no place (ongoing since 2020). As part of this, former textile workers of Salhus and various community members gather in two embroidery workshops conducted by Nina Eriksson, where they add new layers of experience, stories, and labour to the work.

In the late afternoon at 16:00, Epos sails to Salhus once again, where a programme unfolds from 17:00 to 20:00, starting with an offering to the sea and performance by Elin Már Øyen Vister with Morten Norbye Halvorsen (analogue tape machine loops), Knut Jonas Sellevold (electronics), Alexander Aga Røynstrand (Hardanger fiddle), Katarina Dorothea Isaksen (voice), and Trine Samuelsen Hansen (voice). The programme continues with a talk by Izz Aljabari, readings by Layli Long Soldier and Gunhild Øyehaug, and a presentation of The New New Norwegian – a collaborative project with the literary journal Vinduet — including a reading by Priya Bains. When the boat moves back to Bergen, Elin Már Øyen Vister continues with a DJ set on board.

Sunday, 14 September invites further reflection on processes of learning across, with, nearby: at 12:00, an introduction to Elsebet Rahlff’s new work All we are saying... at the docks near Epos sets off the final voyage of the Literature Boat to Salhus and the Textile Industry Museum with a workshop in association with Jakkai Siributr’s exhibition there.

During Epos’ tour, passengers can also experience the new audio work Along the currents — an ocean of voices by Elin Már Øyen Vister and collaborators and Philip Rizk’s video installation Land Listening installed on the boat, as well Elsebet Rahlff’s new textile work All we are saying… on the aft deck.

For those not joining the boat trips, they can also join the workshop and programme directly in Salhus.

Short biographies:

Izz Aljabari (b. 1990, Bethlehem) is an interdisciplinary artist and researcher working at the intersection of contemporary art, local knowledge, and heritage. He leads the Rawhi Studio 1956 Archive, a large-scale project preserving Hebron’s visual memory, and co-founded the Mandaloun Lab for Experimental Arts. His practice explores memory, fragmentation, and spatial transformation through sculpture, installation, and archival research.

Priya Bains (b. 1995, Trondheim) is a poet, essayist, translator, and editor of the literary journal Vinduet. She made her debut with the poetry collection Med restene av mine hender at Forlaget October in 2021, for which she was nominated for Tarjei Vesaas’ Debutant Prize, awarded the Olav H. Hauge grant 2022 and received Festspilldikterens grant at Dei litterære festspela in Bergen. She has translated Aya Kanbar and Fatimah Asghar into Norwegian, and in 2023 she edited the anthology Alltid samme snø, alltid samme grense with Burcu Sahin.

Nina Eriksson (b. 1997, Stockholm) is an artist and writer based in Bergen. She works in textile sculpture, text, and performance, interrogating material and poetic aspects of queer subcultural histories to sketch alternative presents and futures. Additionally, she runs workshops in writing and making, often in collaboration or within the projects of others - most recently a listening workshop within artist Amber Ablett’s project Hvileåret: Mixtape, and the writing workshop Touch Type at Fish Factory Arts, UK.

Morten Norbye Halvorsen (b. 1980, Stavanger) is an artist and composer, whose sound works and musical performances are guided by props, websites, photographs, scripted recordings and concert appearances in an ongoing exploration of collaboration and sound.

Trine Samuelsen Hansen (b. 1992, Skiervá/Skjervøy) is a Norwegian–Sea Sámi architect and musician. She began joiking in her twenties and has found her own joik voice – an expression that springs from a personal and cultural rediscovery. She is interested in how Norwegianization has affected generations of Sea Sámi and uses both music and architecture to explore and convey identity, belonging and landscape.

Katarina Dorothea Isaksen (b. 1995, Sážžá/Senja) is an artist, writer, mediator, politician and activist residing in Birgon/Bergen. In addition to volunteering for the local Sámi community as a board member of the Birgon ja biras sámiid, she is a counsellor for SÁNAG (Sámi national competence centre). She publishes works in the fields of history, art and poetry, all of which are centred on her own indigenous perspective.

Layli Long Soldier (b. 1974, Fort Collins), a citizen of the Oglala Lakota Nation, is a poet whose work engages with history, language, and Indigenous sovereignty. She is the author of Whereas (2017) and Chromosomory (2010). Her new book of poetry, We, is forthcoming in 2026. Her poems have appeared in various renowned media publications. Long Soldier teaches in the MFA Creative Writing Program at the Institute of American Indian Arts, and resides in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Gunnhild Øyehaug (b. 1975, Ørsta) lives in Bergen, where she teaches at the Academy of Creative Writing. She made her debut with the poetry collection Slave of the Blueberry in 1998, and has written twelve books in various genres, and a screenplay. Øyehaug has a master’s degree in comparative literature, and has received several awards for her writing, amongst them the prestigious Sult Award (2009) and the Dobloug Prize (2009).  Her work has been translated into several languages. Her latest novel is Here Comes the Sun (2024), for which she received the Nynorsk prize for literature.

Alexander Aga Røynstrand (b. 1990, Hadanger) is a leading figure in the world of Hardanger fiddle players in Norway. His musical expression is deeply rooted in the rich and time-honored Hardanger fiddle repertoire of his native Hardanger region. Over the years, his solo performances have allowed him to craft unique interpretations and convey his personal sentiments through his music.

Knut Jonas Sellevold (b. 1980, Stavanger) is a Bergen-based sound artist, educator, and researcher. His artistic work and research lie at the intersection of ethnomusicology and sound studies, pedagogy, technology, and ecology. Knut is also one half of the duo to you they are birds, to me they are voices in the forest with Cuban interdisciplinary artist Daiyen Jone. Together they explore improvised, imaginary landscapes in the hinterlands of music, sound, and nature. 

Jakkai Siributr (b. 1969, Bangkok) works with textiles to explore the connections between tradition and modernity. He is specifically known for his intricate, hand-made tapestries, quilts and installations, which convey powerful responses to contemporary and historical issues in Thailand. Siributr’s embroidered installations reflect on themes of violence, religious symbolism, migration, identity, and personal memory. In 2021, he launched Phayao-a-Porter, a project that supports artisans and studio assistants whose businesses and livelihoods have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. As part of this, his studio works with artisans from Phayao Province in northern Thailand to embellish second-hand garments with unique figurative appliqué designs. Thirty percent of the sales of each jacket go back to the local community in the form of scholarships, health care, and relief efforts. Siributr also currently works with the Shan Youth Organization in Northern Thailand. He lives and works in Bangkok and Chiang Mai.

Vinduet is a Norwegian literary journal known for championing and publishing new and often unconventional literature, as well as essays, criticism, and literary reflections. Founded in 1947, the journal has played a key role in shaping literary and cultural discourse in Norway ever since. Previously appearing as a quarterly journal, from 2021 Vinduet has existed as a digital-only open-access publication. Under the editorship of Priya Bains since 2024, Vinduet continues to explore new intersections between literature, politics, film, and contemporary culture, with a particular focus on experimental and underrepresented voices.

Elin Már Øyen Vister (b. 1976, Oslo) is an artist, composer, and land/water defender living in the Røst archipelago, in the south westernmost part of Lofoten/Lofuohta islands in the north of Norway/Sábme. Their research-based practice is careful, curious, and site-specific, and is inspired by Deep Listening, Indigenous and postcolonial methodologies, and intersectional ecofeminist and grassroot resistance movements around the world. Working across a wide range of artistic practices including experimental composition, field recordings, collective social processes, and sensory walks, and media such as installation, performance, poetry, and text, Øyen Vister is occupied with the complex entanglements and relations of all living beings and land/water bodies, past, present, and future. They founded Røst AiR, a residency at Skomvær Lighthouse, and Røst in 2012, which they have co-run ever since. They have been listening to, recording, and learning from the seabird mountains and the beings of Røst since 2010.

• Bergen Assembly program

Jakkai Siributr’s long-running textile project speaks to the impact of nation-states and colonialism on indigenous groups. Considered the largest minority group in Myanmar, Shan are a displaced population that is often relegated to Southeast Asia’s upland region. They have fled decades of discrimination and violence and are often denied employment and basic healthcare.

𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦’𝘴 𝘯𝘰 𝘗𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘦 is comprised of textile banners and also offers a series of workshops that continue the project. Each piece may be touched, altered, and reinterpreted by viewers and workshop participants. Resisting fixed authorship, anyone and everyone can participate in stitching the narrative using black, white, and grey threads, adding scenes, details, or personal messages. The imagery is therefore an invitation to engage. Moving across different places and people, identification and conversation are nurtured to create a relationship between intimacy and distance. The work is an embodiment of poetic knowledge, by means of neighbouring and love as a public force, as it creates closeness between distant groups of people with varying experiences.

The banners are different sizes and hang overhead to resemble a shelter under which the collective histories of disparate communities can be touched. In Salhus the project is expanded via workshops for former textile workers and local communities, adding new layers of memory, labour, and experiences. The workshops take place during the opening programme on 13 and 14 September and again on 25 and 26 October from 13:00 to 15:00.

 

Jakkai Siributr (b. 1969, Bangkok) works with textiles to explore the connections between tradition and modernity. He is specifically known for his intricate, hand-made tapestries, quilts and installations, which convey powerful responses to contemporary and historical issues in Thailand.

Siributr’s embroidered installations reflect on themes of violence, religious symbolism, migration, identity, and personal memory. In 2021, he launched Phayao-a-Porter, a project that supports artisans and studio assistants whose businesses and livelihoods have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

As part of this, his studio works with artisans from Phayao Province in northern Thailand to embellish second-hand garments with unique figurative appliqué designs. Thirty percent of the sales of each jacket go back to the local community in the form of scholarships, health care, and relief efforts. Siributr also currently works with the Shan Youth Organization in Northern Thailand. He lives and works in Bangkok and Chiang Mai.

 

Practical information:

Opening Days: 11–14 September 2025
Exhibition Period: 11 September – 9 November 2025

Free enctrance to the exhibition

Venue: Spoleloftet, The Textile Industry Museum, Salhusvegen 201

Opening Hours during the Opening Weekend:

• Thursday 11 September: 11:00–19:00

• Friday 12 September: 11:00–15:00

• Saturday 13 September: 12:00–20:00

• Sunday 14 September: 12:00–17:00

Opening Hours from 17 September – 9 November:
Wednesday–Friday: 11:00–15:00
Sunday: 12:00–17:00
Closed 26–28 September due to a separate event

On Saturday 13 and Sunday 14 September, the book boat Epos will arrange boat trips to Salhus in connection with Jakkai Siributr’s exhibition. The trips are fully booked.

English

Bergen Assembly er en fleksibel modell for kunstproduksjon som leder frem til offentlige arrangementer i Bergen hvert tredje år. Hver treårssyklus ledes av en eller flere convenere som står fritt til å utforme og organisere prosjektet slik de ønsker, og kan derfor ha helt ulik karakter fra gang til gang. 

Bergen Assembly ble etablert i etterkant av Bergen Biennial Conference, som fant sted i 2009 som svar på Bergen kommunes forslag om å etablere en internasjonal biennale for samtidskunst. Konferansen, der internasjonale kuratorer, kunstnere og akademikere diskuterte spørsmålet «To biennial or not to biennial?», resulterte i The Biennial Reader (Hatje Cantz/Bergen Kunsthall, 2010) – til dags dato den mest omfattende publikasjonen om biennalers og periodiske utstillinger og arrangementers historie og praksis i et globalt perspektiv.

Tema for årets utstillinger er på tvers, med, nær

Hva vil det si å dyrke naboskap både nær ved og på avstand? Hva skal til for at kjærlighet kan forstås som en sosial kraft som motvirker økologisk, økonomisk og politisk urett? Hvordan kan vi utfordre læringsmønstre som visker ut mangfoldet av verdener, kunnskapsformer og væremåter?

Den femte utgaven av Bergen Assembly inviterer deg til å nærme deg disse spørsmålene ved å utforske læring på tvers, med, nært. Vårt mål er å skape kollektive og personlige motsvar til den lammende usikkerheten og brutaliteten som omgir oss i dag. Felles refleksjon over nye innsikter, så vel som ideer som for lengst har gått i glemmeboken, kan gi rom for kreative former for usikkerhet.

Spørsmålene springer ut av de ulike prosjektene som knyttes sammen i denne utgaven av Bergen Assembly, utformet av Ravi Agarwal, Adania Shibli og Bergen Arkitekthøgskole (BAS). Du kan bli med på å videreutvikle og reformulere dem ved å delta i Bergen Assemblys kommende program. Denne utgaven vil være erfaringsbasert: En levende prosess der poenget er å skape og dele kunstneriske og kunnskapsbaserte uttrykksformer, heller enn å vise frem.

på tvers, med, nær tar utgangspunkt i forestillinger om omsorg og gjensidighet. Prosjektet samler kunstnere, forfattere, arkivarer, aktivister, arkitekter og flere som undersøker hvordan vi kan lære sammen med andre. Men når kunnskap springer ut av levd erfaring og gjensidig utveksling, kan vi også bli eksponert for usikkerhet, intimitet og sårbarhet. Dette kommer til uttrykk gjennom verk man kan se og høre, og mer performative prosjekter som åpner for gjestfrihet, fellesskap og naboskap.

Agarwal, Shibli og Bergen Arkitekthøgskole fokuserer på kunnskapsformer som er under utvikling og som også kan kobles til hverandre: I all sin kompleksitet kan de minne om det Aimé Césaire kalte «poetisk kunnskap». Det vesentlige her er en form for læring som ikke går inn for å definere eller avgrense, men som utvikles langsomt i møtet mellom konkrete steder, mennesker og livsformer. på tvers, med, nær inviterer deg til å oppdage det usette i det velkjente og søke nye former for tenkning og handling, i Bergen og andre steder.


Med:
Ken Are Bongo og Joar Nango, Susan Philipsz, Koki Tanaka, Prabhakar Pachpute, og Jana Winderen på Bergen Arkitekthøgskole. Vikrant Bhise, Marcus Coates, AgriForum: Acts of Re/Collection (tilrettelagt av FICA, med bidrag av Anga Art Collective, Malavika Bhatia, Ankan Dutta, Sanchayan Ghosh, Blaise Joseph, Rashmi Kaleka, Shubham Kumar, Maksud Ali Mondal, Ashis Palei, Bhikari Pradhan, Gopa Roy, Sheshadev Sagria, Niroj Satpathy, Umesh S, og Gyanwant Yadav), Kåre Aleksander Grundvåg, Gram Art Project og Matskogen, Clara Hastrup, Ánddir Ivvár Ivvár / Iver Jåks, Sajan Mani, Gruppe 66, Karen Werner, Singing Wells, og Karan Shrestha, og co-ritus arrangement av Susan Philipsz, Maasai Mbili, Jakkai Siributr, og Tenthaus Art Collective på Bergen Kunsthall. Izz Aljabari, Priya Bains, Olav Bleie, Blocknotes med Christine Otten og Mohamedou Ould Slahi, Tora Sanden Døskeland, Leander Djønne, Shahram Khosravi, Lars Korff Lofthus, Layli Long Soldier, Maaza Mengiste, Christine Elsebet Rahlff, Agnes Ravatn, Philip Rizk, Einar Økland, Gunnhild Øyehaug, Elin Már Øyen Vister, og Hardangerfjord miljøet på Litteraturbåten Epos. Nepal Picture Library: Dalit Archive, Feminist Memory Project, PARI Archive (Grindmill Songs Project), og Skeivt Arkiv på Stranges Stiftelse. INTERPRT and Climate Rights på Bergen Offentlige Bibliotek og MLAG. Monica Ursina Jäger på Grand Hotel Terminus, Amundsen Bar. Maasai Mbili Artist Collective på Entrée. Floating University på Kristiansholm. Builders’ Hut og Trajectories på ROMMET, USF. Communist Museum of Palestine og Tenthaus Art Collective med Ayreen Anastas, Rana Anani, Rana Batrawi, Munir Fasheh, Rene Gabri, Mandaloun Collective, Mezna Qato, og andre på P1 Mobile Studio på Bergen Katedralskole ‘Katten’. Lapdiang Artimai Syiem og Monica Ursina Jäger på Nonneseter. Al Borde og Traces på Bergen Assembly Åpent kontor. Jakkai Siributr og Erlend O. Nødtvedt på Tekstilindustrimuseet. Sarah Kazmi på Fiskerimuseet. Hans Petter Blad, Pedro Carmona-Alvarez, Shwan Dler Qaradaki, Ulla Schildt, Kjersti Annesdatter Skomsvold, og andre i Vinduet.

Også på trykk i: Vinduet, Klassekampen og Cabinet Magazine.