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Hannah Ryggen Triennale (HRT) is dedicated to the celebrated feminist textile artist Hannah Ryggen's (1894–1970) lifework through dialogue with contemporary artists’ practices.
HRT was initiated by Nordenfjeldske Kunstindustrimuseum (NKIM) in Trondheim, who holds the largest collection of Ryggen’s tapestries. Over the years, the museum has lent works to institutions worldwide. HRT is an initiative to bring the world “home” to Hannah Ryggen in Trøndelag, Norway.
The third edition of HRT will be the most extensive to date. In addition to its collaborator since 2016, Ørland/Bjugn Art Society, NKIM in 2022 collaborates with other key art institutions in Trondheim: Kunsthall Trondheim, Trondheim kunstmuseum, and Kjøpmannsgata Ung Kunst. Through exhibitions all over Trondheim as well as in Ørland, HRT highlights art history and contemporary talent in Trøndelag and beyond.
HRT 2022 is dedicated to the theme Anti-Monument. Taking cues from Ryggen’s life and work, the exhibitions propose change instead of fixity, continued memory work instead of resolution, disturbance instead of catharsis, the void instead of the solid rock.
Hannah Ryggen’s tapestries highlight deeply touching human experiences and histories beyond the mainstream. In her works, Ryggen calls out the hardships of debt and the dangers of fascism, but also celebrates love and our connectedness with the universe. The threads in her tapestries change over time and color fades from exposure to light.
Hannah Ryggen's We Are Living on a Star (1958) came out of the Government Building in Oslo after the terrorist attack of July 22, 2011 with a gash in its lower part. The artwork's message of love is the polar opposite of the terrorist's worldview. With its symbolically charged scar, the tapestry has taken the role of the perhaps strongest memorial of July 22, 2011. Forever altered, We Are Living on a Star might be described as an anti-monument.
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Hannah Ryggen, "We Are Living on a Star" (1958). Tapestry in wool and linen, 400 x 300 cm. In the collection of the Norwegian State. Photo: Thor Nielsen. © Hannah Ryggen / BONO 2022
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