ARm #2 “Cleansing and Cleaning; rituals” by Robel Temesgen and Margrethe Pettersen

We want to facilitate a cleansing session that connects our bodies to the rhythms of this site and what’s to come, through deep listening, burning/cleansing, consumption of local herbs and storytelling. A transition of body and mind to prepare for the tour inside the mountain (where the bacterias are transforming and cleaning excrements into water).

We want to offer a gift (a piece of polypore) for everyone to hold, smell and burn. It will be a bonfire where we make herbal tea for consumption of the different powers and stories of the plants, and to embody the rhythm of this ancient knowledge.

• Margrethe Pettersen and Robel Temesgen

This event will take place outdoors, in the neighbourhood of Oslo Fjordskole. We recommend warm clothing and dressing according to weather conditions.

A map with details for attendance will be sent via email in advance of the event.

Margrethe Iren Pettersen (Tromsø, 1977) is a floral decorator with a Bachelor's degree from the Academy of Fine Arts in Tromsø and a Master's degree in Art and Public Space from Oslo National Art Academy of the Arts. Pettersen's projects are often based on a place, plants or other organisms, and seek to challenge the modern distinction between culture and nature. Her work is process-oriented and the works are connected to other investigations that extend over longer periods of time. Pettersen's method is a practical approach, where gathering materials and sounds, movement in landscapes or urban spaces – often become part of the works. Her Sami roots and the oral tradition of knowledge production in the North, are themes she has brought into her work and research lately.

Born in 1987 in Ethiopia, Robel Temesgen is a Ph.D. fellow in Artistic Practice at the Oslo National Academy of the Arts. He received an MFA from Tromsø Academy of Contemporary Art, University of Tromsø, Norway, 2015 and a BFA with Great distinction in Fine Art (Painting) from Alle School of Fine Arts and Design, Addis Ababa University in 2010. He took part in several fellowships and residencies, Junge Akademie Program of the Akademie der Künste, Berlin, and IASPIS, Stockholm, and the Swedish Art Grants Committee’s International Programme for Visual and Applied Art are to mention a few. Temesgen’s work has been widely exhibited in solo and group shows on international platforms. Besides his studio work, he is a lecturer at Alle School of fine arts, teaching for over ten years. Temesgen currently lives and works between Oslo and Addis Ababa.

Program Arm #2: https://arm.flytedokk.org/activities