Explore the history of former workhouse Prindsen, Oslo, through two very different perspectives. This session offers moving and thought provoking insights into workhouse history, and how contemporary artists respond to this history with compassion and respect.
Part of the At The Margins exhibition programme. There will be a break with tea and coffee provided.
Session 1: ‘The Norwegian workhouse Prindsen: history from an inmate’s perspective’ with Caroline Juterud, Historian, Oslo City Archives
The history of the workhouse Prindsen located in Oslo, Norway, is complex and powerful. In this talk historian Caroline Juterud will explore the space between the formal and legal part of Prindsens history and the practical daily life of the inmates of this institution. Juterud is a historian at the Oslo City Archives, where she works as a photo and video archivist. Her Master’s degree thesis was based on research into the poor relief system in Oslo in the mid-19th century and she has published widely on the history of the Prindsen workhouse. She has conducted extensive work cataloguing the institution’s archive.
Session 2: ‘Prindsen - Approaching a workhouse history through weaving’ with Dr Franz Petter Schmidt, Prof. Oslo National Academy of the Arts
In this talk textile artist Franz Petter Schmidt will explore the varying degrees of connection with the history of the workhouse which has been ongoing negotiation and unfolding since he first began working with the history of the weaving workshop at Prindsen nearly ten years ago. His entry point is a search for resonance between the workshop and aspects of his own story, as a weaver and tailor, but also in relation to mental health and queer perspectives. Schmidt is a textile artist, a men’s tailor and a weaver. For 20 years, he has worked with the archives and the historic production facilities at Sjølingstad Woollen Mill in Lindesnes and Prindsen workhouse in Oslo as his main sources.
Free but booking recommended. Book online or call 01453 763394.
Image: Prinds Christian Augusts Minde exterior © Fin Serck-Hanssen
