SOLAR MAXIMUM DIORAMA -  Oslo Kunstforening 14.11.24 — 26.01.25

 Sparebankstiftelsen DNB stipendutstilling 2024. Foto: Tor S. Ulstein / Oslo Kunstforening

 

 

The installation Solar Maximum Diorama is a monumental textile work, the first in a series that Brekke will develop throughout 2025. The work consists of five main motifs spanning 45 square meters. The banners are richly detailed and painted or embroidered with repetitive figures depicting animals, vegetation, and geometric forms. The textiles are part of Brekke’s own archive collected over the years; some she created herself, others were purchased second-hand or inherited from relatives. She sees these textile works as an extension of the feminist and activist history of textile art, as well as of folk art, with its rich ornamentation and color schemes where Telemark holds a unique position in the Norwegian context.

 

Solar Maximum refers to a concept that can be associated with both a scientific and a spiritual perspective. Scientifically, it is tied to the peak of solar activity during the sun’s 11-year solar cycle. From a spiritual perspective, high solar activity is also understood as increased cosmic energy that can affect human consciousness and social change. According to researchers, the sun will be in its most active phase from late 2024 to early 2026, coinciding with Brekke’s ongoing project. Diorama refers to a three-dimensional, scenographic representation, typically of museum objects, often created for educational purposes.

 

Brekke states: ”The work serves as a future diorama set in the immediate present. It addresses large, open questions concerning our time on the planet. We know that the choices we make today will have enormous consequences for all life on Earth, the biosphere, and the atmosphere in the years to come.”

 

The project is inspired by future scenarios drawn from Shared Socioeconomic Pathways (SSP) 1-5, the sixth assessment report from the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, in which international researchers and experts describe how social, economic, and environmental conditions might develop in the future – from a sustainable future to one marked by increasing division and resource scarcity. To bridge the motifs in the diorama and the climate report, Brekke collaborates with Kristin Guldbrandsen Frøysa, Energy director at the University of Bergen. In a podcast accompanying the installation, Frøysa comments on the diorama’s motifs, thus entering a dialogue with Brekke’s visual works. Together, they seek to broaden the perspective surrounding the crucial transformation processes of our time.

 

Alongside Brekke’s continued development of the project, her collaborator Daniel Zoltan Nyiri from Rjukan Solarpunk Academy – the artist collective that emphasizes the significance of art and artists as pioneers in the climate struggle – will host a series of conversations. These include interviews with relevant professionals and will be published as fanzines and podcasts on Rjukan Solarpunk Academy’s website.