ARTISTS
Since 2013, Safemuse has hosted over thirty international residence artists from an array of artistic genres. In addition, the organisation has collaborated on numerous projects with various artists in need of support, both in Norway and abroad.
Safemuse residence artists
Since the permanent residency program was established in 2021, Safemuse has worked with the following artists. NB: Some names have been omitted due to security reasons:
Carlos “Gato” Quintana Catún (Guatemala)
Carlos ‘Gato’ David Catun Quintana is a breakdancer and performer. Gato arrived Norway in 2019 as an artist-in-residence with Safemuse. Since then, he has had solo performances, as well as many artistic collaborations with key people in the Norwegian breakdance, music and theatre scene.
Andrei Busel (Belarus)
Andrei is a Belarusian visual artist. He was imprisoned in Belarus and left the country immediately after his release for fear of being imprisoned again. He arrived in Oslo in the fall of 2022 as a Safemuse artist-in-residence. Andrei combines his architectural work with artistic interventions and has participated in a number of group exhibitions and street art festivals. During the residency period, he was part of a studio community in Oslo and participated, among other things, with new works in a collective exhibition at Bryn.
Varun Narain (India)
Varun is a puppeteer from Delhi was an artist-in-residence between the fall of 2023 and the spring of 2024. Varun identifies as queer, and has faced artistic restrictions from the rapidly growing Hindu nationalism in India. During his residency, Varun showed his performance Dark&Delicious during the Safe Havens conference in Athens and at the Nordic Black Theatre in Oslo.
Altyn Kapalova (Kyrgyzstan)
Altyn is an artist, writer, queer activist, curator and researcher. Among other things, she was one of the initiators behind Kyrgyztan’s first Feminnale – “Feminist Biennale of Contemporary Art” – and also founded the Museum of Feminist and Queer Art (MoFA+). Altyn was an artist-in-residence at Hvitsten Art Haven in the fall of 2023. During her residency, she worked on an elaborate textile piece that was later exhibited in Norway. She also participated in various artist and panel talks in Norway and during the Safe Havens conference in Athens.
Bertony Louis (Haiti)
Bertony Louis is an award-winning Haitian poet who was Safemuse’s artist-in-residence in Oslo during summer of 2024. Through his poetry, Bertony explores the intersection of poetry and the natural world, environmental challenges and the ocean. During his residency Bertony had two poetry recitals in Oslo: At Nordic Black Theatre and the launch of a new edition of the publication “Mellom”, which took place at La Perla and focused on Caribbean literature in translation. He has been a Fellow in residence at the University of Glasgow and is currently Harvard at Risk Fellow at the Hutchins Center at Harvard University.
Pouya Pour-Amin (Iran)
Pouya began his professional artistic journey in 2003 as a musician and composer. Since 2011, he has expanded his work to include theatre, taking on roles as a musician, actor, and director. Today, Pouya continues to evolve as a multidisciplinary artist, blending music, performance, and theatre in his creative practice with the support of Hvitsten Art Haven. Since arriving Norway as an artist-in-residence, Pouya has composed and performed at the Hvitsten Salong and Ultimafestivalen – the largest contemporary music festival in the Nordic region.
Saba Pouyeshman (Iran)
Saba has a background in screenwriting from Tehran University of Art. In addition, she has studied the history of modern art and attended acting school and has performed in several theatre productions and short films. She has also pursued visual arts and during her residency she exhibited her work “name” at the art festival Hvitsten Salong.
WHOSE VOICES ARE GETTING HEARD
The following five artists were part of the residency program Who’s voices are getting heard, financed through EEA grants. The project was a residency and exchange project in collaboration with the Wroclaw Institute of Culture. The residency focused on artists with a high artistic level and minority background, who necessarily do not get the same opportunities as majority artists. The residency in Hvitsten resulted in the exhibition of works during the local art festival, Hvitsten Salong 2023.
Kate Ngan WaAo (Macau)
David Puszyński (Polen)
Saitip Majewska (Thailand)
Viktoriia Toofan (Ukraina)
Oleksandra Balytska (Ukraina)
Collaborative artists
In addition to our artistic residency program, Safemuse also collaborates with international artists in need of support and guest artists who arrive in Norway and Scandinavia through the ICORN-network. Safemuse’s founder Jan Lother Eriksen was one of the initiators behind the Norwegian city of Harstad becoming the world’s first Safe Music Haven in 2012.
Some of these collaborations have resulted in the recording and release of solo albums:
Ghawgha Taban (Afghanistan)
Hamid Sakhizada (Afghanistan)
Abazar Hamid (Sudan)
Chris Gera (Zimbabwe)
Cris Gera – Music In Me
