Karina Nøkleby Presttun

Images Knocking on Your Door

4 May - 25 June 2023

Throughout 2023, curator Kari Skippervold presents the exhibition series Images Knocking on Your Door in Format’s project room. The series consists of six open-call-based exhibitions featuring seven artists.

Karina Nøkleby Presttun has been employing various methods to create sculptures from upcycled textiles since 2014. In her exhibition at Format, she presents a series of objects crafted from plane shavings laminated with textile. The shavings are waste material from an artist colleague. By utilizing plane shavings, Presttun aims to challenge our perception of value and question our increasingly fixed notions on time usage. What unexplored possibilities lie in a material when efficiency is discarded?
 
The individual surfaces are made by soaking the plane shavings, flattening them with an iron, and laminating them with a textile, one piece at the time. This meticulous process allows for control over color, direction, and thickness. The objects are inspired by fashion and music, seeking to evoke associations with the human body and nature, while also retaining an element of unrecognizability. Some of the pieces have zippers sewn in, allowing for versatility and adaptability to the exhibition spaces.
 
Karina Nøkleby Presttun (b. 1981 in Bergen, Norway), has been working as an artist since completing her bachelor's degree at KHIB (now KMD) in 2009. She has also studied creative writing. Her first solo exhibition was held at Soft Galleri in Oslo, and since then, she has had numerous exhibitions with collaborator Kristina Austi, including at Kraft in Bergen, Kunstbanken in Hamar, and Hå Gamle Prestegård.She has participated in several group exhibitions in Norway and Europe. Her works have been acquired by the National Museum, KODE, and the Nordenfjeldske Kunstindustrimuseum, and she received the Scheibler's talent prize in 2014. Over the past two years, she has been living in Stockholm pursuing a master's degree in crafts at Konstfack. Her master's thesis includes a sculpture built from ropes made of textile refuse and discarded copper cables, which will be exhibited at Konstfack's spring exhibition at the end of May.