Categories
News

Zhanna Gladko is Safemuse’s newest resident artist

ZHANNA GLADKO – SAFEMUSE´S NEWEST ARTIST IN RESIDENCE IN OSLO

June 29, 2022
Belarusian artist Zhanna Gladko is Safemuse’s newest resident artist.

Safemuse welcomes artist Zhanna Gladko

Safemuse welcomes its first artist in residence of 2022, Zhanna Gladko from Belarus, who arrived in Oslo in the middle of May for her six-month residence program.

– My first weeks in Oslo have been inspiring for me. It is my first time in Norway and I am interested in the cultural context and history of the country. I was struck by the contrast to the situation I experienced and observed in Minsk, where every single day is a complex psychological ‘game’. This contrasts with the atmosphere here, where the surrounding nature immerses you in a state of being “above it all”. Being away for a while from the events in Minsk and Belarus helps to restore the necessary life and professional resources, Gladko says.  

Gladko says she applied for the residency to be able to have at least a short-term time slot to have some distance from the events in Belarus, to be able to reflect and systematise the materials she has collected for several years, as well as to accumulate observations and materials as an artist-practitioner in new circumstances. Most of the projects that Gladko is involved in are thematically linked to the revolutionary events in Belarus, the protest movement and dramatic events in Ukraine. This focus, which has attracted worldwide attention to the problems of her home country, gives her an opportunity to become visible and highlight the themes and issues that Belarusian artists have raised in their works for many years already. 

– I would like to share my experience, artistic practice and knowledge of Belarusian contemporary art with the local art community in Oslo. Staying in Oslo will help me to revise my accumulated material, which I am preparing for future projects. It will make it possible to switch from being in the epicentre of events, which is now Minsk, to the necessary sober professional distance, help me plan my future activities and deepen my future artistic expression, Gladko says. 

During the residency Gladko looks forward to meeting with representatives of the professional community and to create an artistic statement as a result of her practice and work in the studio. She also plans to visit museums, galleries, and cultural centres in the city in order to learn about the specifics of culture, history, ethnography, and geography in order to interact and immerse into the local context.

– A brilliant artist

Safemuse is pleased to have its new residency program in Oslo up and running and extends its gratitude to the City of Oslo and its enthusiastic politicians backing up this idea, as well as to partner Nordic Black Theatre and others who have been involved so far and supported the initiative. Safemuse’s founder and general manager, Jan Lothe Eriksen, is very pleased to welcome Zhanna Gladko to the residence program in Oslo. 

– It is great having the brilliant visual artist from Belarus, Zhanna Gladko, as the very first guest artist in the new Oslo Safe Artistic Haven program. A real honour. She has been an active artist in her home environment, internationally recognized, and we do hope she will have a fruitful stay here, develop new contacts and also inspire us all through the programs and presentations we will organise. 

Awaiting a second artist in residence

Safemuse was supposed to have welcomed two international residence artists this spring, however Zhanna Gladko is so far the only one to have began her residency.

 – It is very frustrating that both residence candidates did not arrive at the same time this spring. That was our plan. But visa processing these days is completely unpredictable. I wish I could say that this seems to be resolved quickly, but this is unfortunately not the case. It is a tragedy that these processes are so immensely convoluted, time-consuming and Kafka-like in a modern democratic and highly efficient Norway. Safemuse will continue to work for real change and much better facilitation in the processing of short term residence permits for artists – so that Norway’s practice gets in line with the UNESCO Convention on Cultural Diversity, explains Jan Lothe Eriksen. 

An up-and-coming belarusian artist

Zhanna Gladko (1984) is a graduate of the Republican College of Arts in Minsk and the Department of Easel Graphics at the Belarusian State Academy of Arts. Since 2010, she has been involved in a variety of professional activities including numerous exhibitions. In her artistic works, Gladko seeks to construct ambivalent images, rethinking and deconstructing extensive concepts, such as the system of art and society, religion and culture, history and memory, gender policy, the analysis of the role of contemporary museums and the subject of identity crisis. Gladko deliberately and simultaneously highlights and actualises these societal issues by exploring them through her private experiences and by means of photography, installations, text, video, painting and other visual techniques. 

– My art practice for the past two years has been concerned with the processes that are taking place in contemporary society. In 2020-2021, I was able to participate in a number of exhibition projects that were related to rethinking the events that took place in Belarus. My program series is the Inciting Force cycle, which initially focused on the analysis of conflictual relationships with the father. Later the series expanded considerably, both medially and thematically: the main focus became the study of mechanisms, power relations in the social field, the gender dimension, in culture, interpersonal relations, etc. The issue of conflict and the dialogue of divergent or antagonist systems is a direction I keep exploring. Collective history always makes its way to a person’s life as a part of one’s personal history. In my opinion, now we are living in times when it is a personal action that can actually make a difference, Gladko explains. 

The autobiographical angle has become important for Gladko’s practice. She considers the personal story as something that can be correlated with any system: art, religion, or politics. In her art she aims to demonstrate the principle of social relations on a global level by exploring how the sphere of private life manifests itself in certain political, economic, social, and ideological contexts. 

– We are living in challenging historical times with the Overton Window constantly shifting in society. And it is the issues of distortion, deformation, changes in space and in the information field, fracture and fragmentation, constant rewriting of memory and past events, in the course of which history turns into the phantom. As an artist, I am interested in observing, examining, and recording these processes, Gladko says. 

– Of course, my observations, as well as my creative and analytical research need the opportunity to move freely, travel and interact with other people and communities, to speak openly on various topics without fear of persecution, restriction of freedom or violence. This is extremely difficult in the complicated political situation in Belarus, where all independent cultural initiatives have been closed down and eliminated, Gladko reflects.

Zhanna Gladko explores manifestations of the personal, autobiographical and social relations in the global realm in her art.

An impressive artistic universe

As a visual artist and residence coordinator in Safemuse, Jon Lundell says that it has been a privilege to get to know Zhanna and her artistic universe: 

– The multitude and diverse visual and emotional message she brings out are both intellectually stimulating and visually refreshing. Her research and work with archives, both immaterial and material, are very interesting and raise many important and interesting questions about what societies choose to put in storage for future generations. These archives are important for how nations and people define themselves. In times of war and authoritarian regimes, art and artists are used, or not used, to forefront a certain image that necessarily is not true and sometimes even false. 

– We hope that Zhanna Gladko will be able to use her time in residence to dive deeper into her artistic research and to do so freely and at the same time create new connections and put her work into different contexts. But perhaps the most important is being able to breath at a normal pace, not the anxious way, the pace that allows you to not be afraid of surveillance, incarnation or razzias, Lundell says. 


Zhanna Gladko has created an impressive range of works, here from the project Inciting Force (2012)
FORCE FARCE FALSE (2020)
Vicious Circle (2021)

A busy first two months

A mere week after she began her artistic residency with Safemuse, Zhanna Gladko traveled to Stockholm to attend Supermarket 2022, an independent art fair in the Swedish capital Stockholm. Galleries from different countries were represented at the fair and Gladko attended it together with the Belarusian gallery Space KX. The exhibition had a special focus on the art of Belarusian female artists and the Swedish Sundsvalls Museum bought Gladko’s series of works for its collection. Gladko underlines the importance of Space KX as an alternative, independent gallery in Brest, focused on contemporary art, as well as theater and performative practices. Like all other independent initiatives in Belarus, Space KX was forced to close and its directors migrated at risk of persecution and are currently organising exhibitions in the digital space.

Back in Norway the 30th and 31st of May, she joined the Safemuse team and attended the First World Expression (WEXFO) in the Norwegian city of Lillehammer. The aim of the international forum was to provide a mutual arena for those with a firm belief in the freedom of expression as a prerequisite for global sustainable development.

In June, Gladko traveled to Germany where she attended Documenta 2022 in Kassel, participated in an exhibition in Leipzig and took part in the literary festival Air Berlin Alexanderplatz (ABA). The project Ambasada of Culture involved the directors of the Y gallery (Ў галерэя сучаснага мастацтва / Y gallery) – an iconic place in Minsk that became an important independent art center in our country, but was also closed in 2020, and both directors were forced to leave the country because of persecution. All of their archives were confiscated.

– These are the colleagues with whom I plan to do a series of interviews during my residency in Oslo and begin the work of restoring the archives, Gladko says. 


Check out Zhanna Gladko’s homepage to see more of her artistic works: https://gladko.org/

Zhanna Gladko pictured at the first World Expression Forum in Lillehammer together with the general manager of Safemuse, Jan Lothe Eriksen, and residence coordinator Jon Lundell (Photo: Akari Izumi Kvamme).
OPEN CALL – Oslo and Hvitsten Art Haven 2025!

About us Support us OPEN CALL – Oslo and Hvitsten Art Haven 2025! June 14, 2024 Artistic freedom of expression, solidarity and collaboration In 2022 Safemuse invited for the first round of safe residency placements in the Norwegian capital, Oslo, in cooperation with Nordic Black Theatre. Two six month residencies open for artists from all

OPEN CALL – Oslo and Hvitsten Art Haven 2025! June 14, 2024 Artistic freedom of expression, solidarity and collaboration In 2022 Safemuse invited for the first round of safe residency placements in the Norwegian capital, Oslo, in cooperation with Nordic Black Theatre. Two six month residencies open for artists from all

OPEN CALL – Oslo and Hvitsten Art Haven 2025! June 14, 2024 Artistic freedom of expression, solidarity and collaboration In 2022 Safemuse invited for the first round of safe residency placements in the Norwegian capital, Oslo, in cooperation with Nordic Black Theatre. Two six month residencies open for artists from all ...

Når kunsten er å gjøre motstand

About us Support us Når kunsten er å gjøre motstand​ Den iranske rapperen Toomaj Salehi er dømt til døden for å bruke kunsten sin til å formidle motstand til det autoritære regimet i hans hjemland. En kunstner er dømt til døden. En stemme skal stilnes. Presteregimet har talt. Den iranske musikeren Toomaj Salehi får ikke

Når kunsten er å gjøre motstand​ Den iranske rapperen Toomaj Salehi er dømt til døden for å bruke kunsten sin til å formidle motstand til det autoritære regimet i hans hjemland. En kunstner er dømt til døden. En stemme skal stilnes. Presteregimet har talt. Den iranske musikeren Toomaj Salehi får ikke

Når kunsten er å gjøre motstand​ Den iranske rapperen Toomaj Salehi er dømt til døden for å bruke kunsten sin til å formidle motstand til det autoritære regimet i hans hjemland. En kunstner er dømt til døden. En stemme skal stilnes. Presteregimet har talt. Den iranske musikeren Toomaj Salehi får ikke ...

Skal UDI ødelegge for kunsten?

About us Support us Skal UDI ødelegge for kunsten? Debattinnlegg skrevet av: Celina Jerman Bright-Taylor (daglig leder i Safemuse) og Heidi Marie Kriznik (programmedarbeider i Safemuse)   For at kunsten skal kunne redde oss, må det legges til rette for det. Økonomisk ja, men også ved å sikre de stemmene som risikerer alt for at

Skal UDI ødelegge for kunsten? Debattinnlegg skrevet av: Celina Jerman Bright-Taylor (daglig leder i Safemuse) og Heidi Marie Kriznik (programmedarbeider i Safemuse)   For at kunsten skal kunne redde oss, må det legges til rette for det. Økonomisk ja, men også ved å sikre de stemmene som risikerer alt for at

Skal UDI ødelegge for kunsten? Debattinnlegg skrevet av: Celina Jerman Bright-Taylor (daglig leder i Safemuse) og Heidi Marie Kriznik (programmedarbeider i Safemuse)   For at kunsten skal kunne redde oss, må det legges til rette for det. Økonomisk ja, men også ved å sikre de stemmene som risikerer alt for at ...

I hope to rediscover freedom of speech

About us Support us I hope to rediscover freedom of speech Varun Narain interviewed in BLIKK magazine Varun Narain is a queer puppeteer and live performance director from India. He combines modern and traditional puppetry and works on articulating gender fluidity and sexuality. Narain has taught Puppetry and contemporary communication at Jamia Millia University for

I hope to rediscover freedom of speech Varun Narain interviewed in BLIKK magazine Varun Narain is a queer puppeteer and live performance director from India. He combines modern and traditional puppetry and works on articulating gender fluidity and sexuality. Narain has taught Puppetry and contemporary communication at Jamia Millia University for

I hope to rediscover freedom of speech Varun Narain interviewed in BLIKK magazine Varun Narain is a queer puppeteer and live performance director from India. He combines modern and traditional puppetry and works on articulating gender fluidity and sexuality. Narain has taught Puppetry and contemporary communication at Jamia Millia University for ...

Varun Narain – A universe of puppetry, botany & queer survival

About us Support us ARTIST-IN-RESIDENCE VARUN NARAIN: A universe of puppetry, botany & queer survival Varun Narain held an an artistic intervention at the Artistic Freedom Conference 2024 in Oslo. Photo: Jannik Abel If you find yourself in Oslo between the 10th and 13th of March, you have the rare opportunity to experience ‘Dark&Delicious’ by

ARTIST-IN-RESIDENCE VARUN NARAIN: A universe of puppetry, botany & queer survival Varun Narain held an an artistic intervention at the Artistic Freedom Conference 2024 in Oslo. Photo: Jannik Abel If you find yourself in Oslo between the 10th and 13th of March, you have the rare opportunity to experience ‘Dark&Delicious’ by

ARTIST-IN-RESIDENCE VARUN NARAIN: A universe of puppetry, botany & queer survival Varun Narain held an an artistic intervention at the Artistic Freedom Conference 2024 in Oslo. Photo: Jannik Abel If you find yourself in Oslo between the 10th and 13th of March, you have the rare opportunity to experience ‘Dark&Delicious’ by ...

Fri Kunst dagskonferanse 2024 / Artistic Freedom Conference 2024

About us Support us FRI KUNST DAGSKONFERANSE 2024 / ARTISTIC FREEDOM CONFERENCE 2024 Fri Kunst konferanse, 1. mars på Riksscenen, Oslo For tredje året på rad arrangerer Safemuse en dagskonferanse på Riksscenen under Fri Kunst-uken i begynnelsen av mars. Dagen byr på samtaler som setter søkelys på den frie kunsten og kunstneres endringskraft og rolle

FRI KUNST DAGSKONFERANSE 2024 / ARTISTIC FREEDOM CONFERENCE 2024 Fri Kunst konferanse, 1. mars på Riksscenen, Oslo For tredje året på rad arrangerer Safemuse en dagskonferanse på Riksscenen under Fri Kunst-uken i begynnelsen av mars. Dagen byr på samtaler som setter søkelys på den frie kunsten og kunstneres endringskraft og rolle

FRI KUNST DAGSKONFERANSE 2024 / ARTISTIC FREEDOM CONFERENCE 2024 Fri Kunst konferanse, 1. mars på Riksscenen, Oslo For tredje året på rad arrangerer Safemuse en dagskonferanse på Riksscenen under Fri Kunst-uken i begynnelsen av mars. Dagen byr på samtaler som setter søkelys på den frie kunsten og kunstneres endringskraft og rolle ...

Meet our newest staff members

About us Support us Meet our newest staff members Heidi Marie Kriznik (left) and Tiril Ellingsen Thue are the newest additions to Safemuse’s administration. Photo: Espen Tollefsen / Akari Izumi Kvamme We are happy to present Safemuse’s newest staff members: Tiril Ellingsen Thue and Heidi Marie Kriznik. Tiril has been involved with Safemuse since last

Meet our newest staff members Heidi Marie Kriznik (left) and Tiril Ellingsen Thue are the newest additions to Safemuse’s administration. Photo: Espen Tollefsen / Akari Izumi Kvamme We are happy to present Safemuse’s newest staff members: Tiril Ellingsen Thue and Heidi Marie Kriznik. Tiril has been involved with Safemuse since last

Meet our newest staff members Heidi Marie Kriznik (left) and Tiril Ellingsen Thue are the newest additions to Safemuse’s administration. Photo: Espen Tollefsen / Akari Izumi Kvamme We are happy to present Safemuse’s newest staff members: Tiril Ellingsen Thue and Heidi Marie Kriznik. Tiril has been involved with Safemuse since last ...

Safemuse has been evaluated: VISA PROCESSING THE GREATEST CHALLENGE

About us Support us Safemuse has been evaluated: VISA PROCESSING THE GREATEST CHALLENGE Report cover photo: Ghawgha Taban, guest artist in the City of Harstad (Photo: Knut Utler) The evaluation praises the way Safemuse work with censored, threatened and persecuted artists from all over the world, but we are criticized for not marketing ourselves as

Safemuse has been evaluated: VISA PROCESSING THE GREATEST CHALLENGE Report cover photo: Ghawgha Taban, guest artist in the City of Harstad (Photo: Knut Utler) The evaluation praises the way Safemuse work with censored, threatened and persecuted artists from all over the world, but we are criticized for not marketing ourselves as

Safemuse has been evaluated: VISA PROCESSING THE GREATEST CHALLENGE Report cover photo: Ghawgha Taban, guest artist in the City of Harstad (Photo: Knut Utler) The evaluation praises the way Safemuse work with censored, threatened and persecuted artists from all over the world, but we are criticized for not marketing ourselves as ...

OPEN CALL – Oslo and Hvitsten Art Haven 2024!

About us Support us OPEN CALL – Oslo and Hvitsten Art Haven 2024! June 1, 2023 Artwork by Zhanna Gladko Artistic freedom of expression, solidarity and collaboration In 2022 Safemuse invited for the first round of safe residency placements in the Norwegian capital, Oslo, in cooperation with Nordic Black Theatre. Two six month residencies open

OPEN CALL – Oslo and Hvitsten Art Haven 2024! June 1, 2023 Artwork by Zhanna Gladko Artistic freedom of expression, solidarity and collaboration In 2022 Safemuse invited for the first round of safe residency placements in the Norwegian capital, Oslo, in cooperation with Nordic Black Theatre. Two six month residencies open

OPEN CALL – Oslo and Hvitsten Art Haven 2024! June 1, 2023 Artwork by Zhanna Gladko Artistic freedom of expression, solidarity and collaboration In 2022 Safemuse invited for the first round of safe residency placements in the Norwegian capital, Oslo, in cooperation with Nordic Black Theatre. Two six month residencies open ...

Wrocław Institute of Culture/ Hvitsten Salong/ Safemuse residency project

About us Support us Wrocław Institute of Culture/ Hvitsten Salong/ Safemuse residency project May 31, 2023 Art walk at Hvitsten Salong. (Photo: Hvitsten Salong) MEET THE ARTISTS OF “WHOSE VOICES ARE HEARD” We are pleased to announce that we are inviting 12 minority artist living in Poland and Norway and one artist from outside the

Wrocław Institute of Culture/ Hvitsten Salong/ Safemuse residency project May 31, 2023 Art walk at Hvitsten Salong. (Photo: Hvitsten Salong) MEET THE ARTISTS OF “WHOSE VOICES ARE HEARD” We are pleased to announce that we are inviting 12 minority artist living in Poland and Norway and one artist from outside the

Wrocław Institute of Culture/ Hvitsten Salong/ Safemuse residency project May 31, 2023 Art walk at Hvitsten Salong. (Photo: Hvitsten Salong) MEET THE ARTISTS OF “WHOSE VOICES ARE HEARD” We are pleased to announce that we are inviting 12 minority artist living in Poland and Norway and one artist from outside the ...