The Wind Sweeps Away the Night is a dynamic exhibition that extends over several years. It is closely linked to a review of Håkon Bleken's works in the Trondheim Art Museum's collection. This third selection focuses on Håkon Bleken’s church decorations, highlighting his desire to elevate biblical stories into the present and make them relevant and engaging for the public, churchgoers, and the congregation.
- 1/1
Håkon Bleken,
Visit the exhibition: TKM Gråmølna, Håkon Bleken Centre. Trenerys gate 9.
Opening hours: Thursday - Friday: 11am - 4 pm
Håkon Bleken (1929–2025) is one of Norway’s foremost painters and a central figure in the cultural life of Trondheim. Trondheim Art Museum now manages over 390 of his works—ranging from finished pieces to sketches and drafts— It is one of the largest collections of individual artists in the museum's collection.
Trondheim Art Museum’s entire collection consists of around 6,500 unique individual artworks. As part of maintaining the collection, it is necessary to regularly review limited parts of the collection. This work involves, among other things, looking at documents and material from archives, protocols, checking the condition of the physical works, as well as assessing marking and storage methods. This work constitutes a significant part of the museum's activities but is often invisible to the outside world and therefore also largely unknown to the public.
The Wind Sweeps Away the Night is a dynamic exhibition that extends over several years. It is closely linked to a review of Håkon Bleken's works in the Trondheim Art Museum's collection. The exhibition changes throughout the period, and the selection on display follows the work of the collection manager. Part of the exhibition area has been converted into a workshop, where the works are checked, marked and documented. The workshop has transparent walls, which gives the opportunity to peek in and see what goes on behind the scenes. At times, the workshop will be open so that the public can come in and talk to the collection manager while she is working.
This way of creating an exhibition aims to give the public insight and knowledge about the work that goes into managing a collection. Doing this job in open spaces is also an opportunity for the public to see works that are rarely brought out for exhibitions.
The selections shown in the exhibition The Wind Sweeps Away the Night are grouped according to different criteria. Some selections highlight techniques and execution, while others refer to larger thematic and motif-related features of Bleken's artistic production.
The first selection, from May to October 2024, showed the charcoal works in the collection. The selection in the second exhibition of the project showed works that are connected to Bleken's great passion for literature, whilst this third selection deals with Håkon Bleken's church decorations.
