OSL contemporary (NO)

OSL contemporary was established in 2011 by Emilie Magnus. Located in a former fire station in Oslo’s West End, the gallery has since developed an extensive program, currently representing twenty-three emerging and established artists encompassing a diverse range of disciplines.

Haxthausens gate 3
0263 Oslo
Norway
(+47) 23 27 06 76

info@oslcontemporary.com
oslcontemporary.com

Contact gallery

Curated for
CHART

For CHART 2025, OSL Contemporary will feature a duo presentation by artists Ane Graff and Ahmed Umar, primarily showcasing sculptural works. Sculpture is a significant part of the practices of both artists, where through the medium they will explore how materiality and storytelling shape—and are shaped by—personal and collective histories. Ane Graff investigates the interplay between the human body and its material environment, drawing from feminist new materialism, science, and eco-philosophy. Ahmed Umar is a multidisciplinary artist whose practice centres on storytelling, materiality, cultural hybridity and identity.

Ahmed Umar (SD)

Through his work, Umar has also been an important front figure for queer persons with Muslim backgrounds in Norway and Sudan. His artistic practice highlights questions regarding identity, religion, and cultural values through different modes of artistic expression. He uses personal experiences as tools to convey narratives not only about suppression and alienation, but also about liberation and owning one’s own history.

Ahmed Umar (b.1988, SD) is a cross-disciplinary artist living and working in Oslo. He received his MFA degree in medium and material-based art from the Oslo National Academy of the Arts in 2016. In 2023, Umar presented solo exhibitions at Kunstnernes Hus and Bergen Kunsthall in Norway. He was also nominated for the Lorck Schive Kunstpris at Trondheim Kunstmuseum. In 2024, Umar participated in the Venice Biennale and was the recipient of the Baloise Art Prize in the Statements sector at Art Basel. He presented his video work ‘Truth Bears No Scandal’ at the Toronto Biennial of Art. In 2025, he presented his solo exhibition at Museo Universitario del Chopo, Mexico, and is currently part of a group exhibition at Borås Art Museum. In the fall of this year, he will be part of a duo presentation with Ane Graff at CHART art fair in Copenhagen. In November 2025, Umar is scheduled for a solo exhibition at Kunstmusem Stuggart, Germany. Umar is part of several collections including The National Museum of Norway, KODE, Kistefos, and Museum MMK Für Moderne Kunst Frankfurt.

Truth Bears No Scandal

Video Film Still
2024

Courtesy of the artist and OSL contemporary

Glowing Phalanges

Mixed media
2024

Courtesy of the artist and OSL contemporary

Talitin

Video Still
2024

Courtesy of the artist and OSL contemporary. Video shot by Jakob H Svensen

Portrait od Ahmed Umar

Courtesy of the artist and OSL contemporary. Photo by Agnete Brun

Ane Graff (NO)

Ane Graff is informed by feminist new materialisms’ ongoing re-thinking of our material reality, in which a relational and process-oriented approach to matter—including the matter of living bodies—plays an integral part. Within this framework, Graff focuses on human and non-human relationships, viewing human beings as part of an expansive, material network, stretching inside and outside of our bodies. Her work traces lines of Western intellectual history and asks how ideas of human exceptionalism, Cartesian dualism and representational thinking all relate to the ecological disasters we face today, and furthermore, what seem to be their current and future implications for material bodies. Graff sees all material bodies as part of an ongoing material experiment, where new substances are being added to the mix (through industrial production and pollution), causing an entangled web of changes and promoting new bodily states. Collaborating with scientists, Graff’s sculptural works often incorporate experimental materials such as bacterial pigments, hair dye, meat glue, phytoestrogens and SSRI antidepressant medications.

Graff (b. 1974, Bodø, NO) lives and works in Oslo, Norway. She graduated from Bergen National Academy of the Arts in 2004 and currently holds a position of PhD Research Fellow at the Oslo National Academy the Arts, with her doctoral dissertation scheduled December 2022. She has been part of exhibitions such as ‘Weather Report –Forecasting Future’, Nordic Pavilion at the 58th Venice Biennale, (curated by Piia Oksanen and Leevi Haapala, KIASMA), 2019; Art Encounters Biennial, (curated by Maria Lind & Anca Rujoiu), 2019; Soon Enough: ‘Art in Action’, Tensta Konsthall, Stockholm, 2018; ‘Myths of the Marble’, Henie Onstad Kunstsenter, Oslo, and the Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia, 2017; the 11th Gwangju Biennale ‘The Eighth Climate (What Does Art Do?)’, Gwangju, 2016; and ‘Surround Audience’, The New Museum Triennial, 2015, NY. Recent exhibitions include: ‘and we learn to keep the soil wet’ (group exhibition) at CARA, New York City (2023), ‘Ane Graff: The Wound in Its Entanglements’ at Kunstinstituut Melly, Netherlands (2022). ‘Liquid Life’ at Kistefos (2021) (curated by Martha Kirszenbaum), the Rhizome/ New Museum/ Stavanger Kunsthall collaboration 7x7 (2021); ‘2021 Liverpool Biennale’ (curated by Manuela Moscoso).