Per Berntsen (NO)
Since its inception in the 1890s, the development of hydroelectric power has represented some of the most outstanding engineering and architecture in Norway. Berntsen's images invite reflection on what these installations signify for the development and prosperity of Norway after 1945, and the crucial role they will continue to play when oil and gas extraction is phased out. Since the late 1940s, most of the larger hydroelectric power plants have been built inside mountains, with water supplied through tunnels from higher elevation reservoirs or rivers. The machine halls inside these plants - where the cap of the vertically installed generator is visible, and where maintenance on the machinery is carried out - are awe-inspiring spaces which, in Berntsen's images, take on a solemn ceremonial character. Due to their function, all the machine halls contain the same elements, but with unique design and architectural elements which reflect the time they were built, including conditional adjustments in terms of construction and function as well as touches and traces from the plants' personnel. These structures are not visible in the landscape, and the facilities are experienced by very few people. New hydroelectric plants inside mountains are still being built in Norway, and several of the existing ones are undergoing upgrades and expansions.
Per Berntsen (b. 1953) is a veteran of camera-based art in Norway and an important advocate for the medium’s rise and acceptance on the local art scene. Berntsen was educated at Trent Polytechnic / Derby College of Art, England, during the second half of the 1970’s and has exhibited actively since his debut in 1980 at Fotogalleriet in Oslo. Important projects include the 2008 publication and exhibition Generator at Galleri Riis, which featured 100 generator halls from hydroelectric power plants in southern Norway, and ‘Down Under Up North’ in 2010, a documentation and art project about the mining industry in Kirkenes. From 2013-2015, Berntsen undertook an artistic documentation of the Taiga, the landscape connecting the northern parts of Russia, Finland, Sweden and Norway. This project resulted in the publication and exhibition tour Metsä in 2018. In 2019, a new development in Berntsen’s work was introduced, with a series of landscapes from the Veståsen area in Telemark. Resulting from field work in 2018 and 2019, these large archival inkjet prints on baryta paper represented a recognizable theme in Berntsen’s oeuvre – the unpopulated landscape – but they also marked a significant new departure as they were the first color images that he had exhibited to date. Per Berntsen’s works can be found in the collections of MoMa, New York, Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris, The National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design, Oslo, Kode, Bergen, The City of Oslo Art Collections, Oslo. Per Berntsen lives and works in Atrå (Tinn Municipality), Norway.
Leirfossene
2023
Nedre Røssåga 2
2023
Moflåt
2007
