A New Generation of Artists Emerges in Tromsø
On 29 May 2026, Kurant Visningsrom will open The Sound of Bells and Dogs Barking, the graduation exhibition of the BA and MA students from the Kunstakademiet i Tromsø.
Bringing together ten graduating artists across bachelor and master programmes, the exhibition offers an opportunity to encounter a new generation of artistic practices emerging from one of the most distinctive educational environments in the Arctic region. More than a conclusion to academic studies, a graduation exhibition represents a threshold: a moment when artistic research moves beyond the framework of the academy and enters the wider cultural landscape.
The exhibition takes its title from Ruoktu váimmus / Trekways of the Wind by Nils-Aslak Valkeapää, one of the most influential Sámi voices of the twentieth century. The phrase evokes attentiveness, movement and coexistence, suggesting a sensitivity toward the environments we inhabit and the many forms of life that surround us. Rather than prescribing a specific interpretation, the title invites visitors to listen more carefully—to landscapes, histories, relationships and the subtle presences that often remain at the margins of perception.
This year’s graduating artists are:
- Morgan Andreassen
- Ida-Karin Annerskog
- Bente Valentinsen Dankertsen
- Jonas Daniel Kasimir Johansen
- Elvis Román Lundskog
- Leonore Paulsen
- Ylva Sahlström
- Viola Solberg
- Kristina Svärd
- Gwen Vandycke
Working across different media, materials and conceptual approaches, the artists reflect the diversity that characterises contemporary artistic production today. While the exhibition brings together individual practices, it also provides a collective snapshot of current concerns, methodologies and artistic inquiries developing within the Academy.
Graduation exhibitions occupy a unique position within the cultural ecosystem. They are not retrospective surveys, nor fully established professional presentations. Instead, they offer a rare opportunity to encounter artistic practices at a formative stage, when experimentation, uncertainty and discovery remain active parts of the creative process. For curators, institutions, writers and audiences alike, these exhibitions often provide an early glimpse into conversations that may continue to evolve within the broader contemporary art field in the years ahead.
The exhibition is coordinated by professor Hanne Hammer Stien in collaboration with Niels Nielsen from Kurant Visningsrom. The accompanying publication has been developed together with Petri Henriksson, while the exhibition’s visual materials were created in collaboration with Kurant Visningsrom.
For Nordrom Kunst, the annual graduation exhibition of the Academy of Fine Art represents an important opportunity to observe emerging artistic practices within Northern Norway. Such exhibitions provide a space where new ideas, methodologies and critical perspectives become visible before entering wider professional and institutional contexts.
As contemporary art continues to play an essential role in interpreting social, cultural and environmental transformations, exhibitions such as The Sound of Bells and Dogs Barking remind us of the importance of artistic education as a site of experimentation, reflection and future cultural production. Within the context of Tromsø and the wider Arctic region, these voices contribute to an ongoing conversation about how art can engage with the realities of the present while imagining new possibilities for the future.
Exhibition Information
The Sound of Bells and Dogs Barking
29 May – 14 June 2026
Opening: 29 May 2026, 16:00–20:00
Opening Hours
- Thursday–Friday: 16:00–20:00
- Saturday–Sunday: 12:00–16:00
Venue
Kurant Visningsrom
Hansjordnesgata 1B
9009 Tromsø, Norway
Images courtesy of Kurant Visningsrom and the Academy of Fine Art, UiT The Arctic University of Norway.
Nordrom Kunst 