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8 unique artworks you can easily experience at UiO

The University of Oslo's art collection includes almost 2000 works. While some are hidden behind locked doors, others are easily accessible for a small art break. Here are eight recommended artworks you can readily explore.

1. Per Krohg: "The Atom in Space"

Part of Atomis in space showing the solar system
 Photo: Julie Bl?chlinger/UiO

Norwegian painter Per Krohg's iconic artwork covers the entire vestibule of UiO's Physics building. It is made up of murals and glass paintings. Entering the room, you are surrounded by colorful stories about the universe, humanity and the sciences. 

Appropriately, the vestibule also boasts a nice replica of Jean-Bernard-Leon Focault's famous pendulum experiment. The pendulum is not part of Krohg's artwork, though. 

 

2. Olav Christopher Jenssen: “Lack of Memory II”

Photo: Julie Bl?chlinger/UiO

What may appear to be a hand-sanded brick wall in Helga Engs hus, is in fact a piece in the Lack of Memory series – contemporary artist Olav Christopher Jenssen's big breakthrough. Upon closer inspection you''ll discover many fascinating details, hand-carved into a complex geometric landscape. 

The level of abstraction is high, and it is up to you to create your own associations and interpretations of the work.

 

3. Kjell Torriset: "836 Eyes"

Photo: Julie Bl?chlinger/UiO

Have you ever felt like you're being watched at the University Library? Kjell Torriset's 836 eyes follow the library patrons from their individual black-painted panels, mounted across three floors on the sloping west wall of Georg Sverdrups hus. 

Go explore the plethora of gazes and reflect on the artist's fascination with the role of the eye in our cultural history of imagery and the experience of visual art.

 

4. Naum Gabo: "Constructed Head No. 2"

Head sculpture made up my geometric figures
Photo: Julie Bl?chlinger/UiO

Russian-American Naum Gabo was a leading figure in constructivist art. In 1916 he began creating head sculptures built from plates of various sizes. Gabo’s heads are now housed in major art collections around the world, and it is quite exciting that one of them is located at the UiO campus.

The sculpture was originally placed outdoors, but could not withstand the Norwegian climate and was moved into Sophus Lie's auditorium.

 

5. Aase Texmon Rygh: "Torso"

Close up of a white confrete torso
Photo: UiO Kunstsamlingen

In the vestibule of Niels Treschows hus stands a white figure in plastic concrete, balancing elegantly between the abstract and the figurative. ?s