SIDSEL PALMSTRØM

I work conceptually with textile objects and installations. In many of my works, soft and pliable textiles are combined into a stringent form with the help of simple strategies. I seek a point of balance in the encounter between an idea, a material and a technique. It is a space where something can emerge and point beyond the material. The two works shown at Contextile were both originally made for a solo show in Norway in 2014, and they have been reconstructed especially for Contextile 2022. They can be read in different contexts, but there is no doubt that something is at stake. There are obvious references to some of the huge global challenges we face today: the ecological crisis caused by overconsumption and a polluting textile industry, and the constant flow of migrants, whether they are refugees seeking protection from war or simply desperate to cross borders in order to find work and live a decent life.

Sidsel Palmstrøm (b. 1967 in Trondheim, Norway) lives and works in Oslo. She studied at the National College of Art and Design in Oslo (degree, 1995). Since then, she has explored and expanded the framework and understanding of the wide field called textile art. Palmstrøm has held numerous solo exhibitions in Norway and participated in collective and group exhibitions in Norway, Sweden, Turkey and Poland. Her works have been purchased by the National Museum in Oslo, KODE Art Museums in Bergen, the National Museum of Applied and Decorative Arts in Trondheim, the Research Council of Norway and the City of Oslo Art Collection. Since 2016, she has been an associate professor of textile art at Oslo National Academy of the Arts, Art and Craft Department.