Eckbos Legat Grant Exhibition

The Eckbos Legat Grant Exhibition is Vigeland Museum’s autumn exhibition, presenting new works by Johannes Engelsen Espedal (b. 1988), Wendimagegn Belete (b. 1986), Sebastian Rusten (b. 1986), and Liilian Saksi (b. 1989). The exhibition features four site-specific works, with a particular emphasis on materiality, craftsmanship, and the relationship between the works and the spaces in which they are presented. During the exhibition period, the jury will select one of the projects to receive a grant of NOK 200,000.

The exhibition is a collaboration between Eckbos Legat, Mesén, and Vigeland Museum.

In Gallery 7, Liilian Saksi presents the project Sau, sprang, sorg. It consists of a series of sculptural works made from S-shaped metal structures supporting stretched threads of hand-spun wool. The threads are woven using the sprang technique, forming subtle diagonal patterns and vertical fields of colour. The sculptures are double-sided, revealing two different textile surfaces. The wool comes from individual sheep in the artist’s own flock, Alli, Majlis, Lea, Salme, and Mauno, combined with dyed wool from her parents’ farm in Sweden. Synthetic pigments have been used in the dyeing process, creating an interplay with the sheep’s natural colours. The project foregrounds relationships of care, both with the animals and with the materials, and explores coexistence and ways of living at a time when the connection between humans and nature is becoming increasingly fragile.

Also on view in the same gallery is Johannes Engelsen Espedal’s project Våtmark. Wetlands are vital to the Earth’s ecosystems, yet they are disappearing three times faster than forests. Around 35% of the world’s wetlands have disappeared over the past 50 years. Through his installation, Espedal seeks to shed light on this environmental issue from different perspectives. His practice takes found materials as its starting point: damaged objects that many might consider worthless. Espedal reactivates these objects, often creating surprising large-scale sculptures and installations.

In Gallery 11, Sebastian Rusten presents a work from his Heaps series. The floor-based work is made from spruce trees in various states and forms: timber, bark, powdered and charred wood, and pine needles processed in different ways. Unlike earlier works, this version of Heaps also incorporates larger sculptural elements. In an attempt to work in collaboration with nature throughout the processes of gathering, processing, installing, and reusing the materials, Rusten seeks a form of self-effacement.

Wendimagegn Belete presents his work in Gallery 12. Recurring themes in his artistic practice include cultural heritage and identity, trauma, storytelling, and ownership. For the Eckbos Legat Grant Exhibition, he will create a 12-metre-long hand-embroidered work, Stitched Narratives, which, in the artist’s words, “reclaims history and memory, challenges colonial archives, and highlights the labour and cultural significance of local artisans.” The work draws inspiration from traditional Ethiopian iconography, sacred paintings, and images of anti-colonial warfare, and is intended to function both as a historical document and as a contemporary contribution to discussions around restitution, cultural memory, and Indigenous storytelling traditions.

About Eckbos Legat
Eckbos Legat is a private charitable foundation. In 1923, Major and lawyer Eivind Eckbo established the first of what would eventually become eleven funds. Each year, Eckbos Legat provides financial support to individuals, organisations, research projects, and other initiatives that fall within the foundation’s various areas of support, including art and culture.

About the jury
The art jury consists of Jarle Strømodden (jury chair), Ahmed Umar, Azar Alsharif, Kristine K. Wessel, and Mona Gjessing.

Grant recipient
To be announced in March 2027.