Stein HENNINGSEN, Norvège

Stein Henningsen is an established artist in the field of performance art and have presented his work at different biennials, festivals and events in France, Italy, Sweden, Germany, America, Canada, China and of course Norway, since 2001.

His work comments on contemporary political, social, financial or climate issues, in a manner that often can provoke and disturb the viewer. Henningsen grew up in the harsh island of Svalbard, close to the North Pole, where one needs to bring a gun to go shopping because of the polar bears -  A direct connection to nature, but also to life and death, that has surely influenced him in his artistic work. His first major work was produced in 2004, when he toured all over Europe presenting the performance and installation, Crosses of Liberty, a small cemetery with life-size crosses reproduced from the American cemetery in Normandy. It was a direct contrast with how George W Bush used the fallen heroes of WWII to justify the war in Iraq. Henningsen has since continued to make works that deals with contemporary political issues.

As the artists states, “contemporary society and the world we are living in is created on the values and choices of our mothers and fathers and earlier generations. We are all today creating the future of our children and of generations to come! Our choices run our lives...  Still we are probably more affected by the decisions we do not make.”