The Setesdal Residency - AIR26

AIR 26 – The Setesdal Residency

In spring 2026, GRAC initiated The Setesdal Residency, a new artist residency focusing on the unique cultural and natural landscape of the Setesdal valley. The programme was developed as a meeting point between cultural heritage and contemporary art, inviting artists to spend time in the valley, learn from local craftspeople and practitioners, and develop their own practices in relation to the place.

Four artists were invited to participate: Charlotte von Engelberg, Israa Mahameed, Jonas Huldi and Nan Embäck, working across painting, sound, sculpture, video, performance, music and installation. The residency ran from mid-April until the end of June, with the artists spending the first part of the programme travelling through and staying in different parts of Setesdal, before reconvening in Hovden for the final presentation.

A central part of the residency was meeting with local artists, craftspeople and cultural practitioners. The group visited several locations belonging to Setesdalsmuseet, learning about local history, traditional costumes, architecture and craft traditions. In Bykle, the artists spent time with Folke Nesland, one of the few remaining makers of the traditional jaw harp, learning about the instrument's history and trying to make music themselves. They also visited farms and workshops, including Bjørgum Gard in Rysstad, where they met local musicians and artists, and spent time with practitioners connected to traditional arts and crafts in the region.

The residency created space for the artists to engage with the valley at a slower pace, while also continuing their individual practices. This exchange between local knowledge, landscape and contemporary artistic approaches became an important part of the programme.

The final stage of the residency took place in Hovden during Landskappleiken, the national festival for Norwegian traditional folk music and dance. The artists reunited to present HEARTH'S EYE, an exhibition and performance program taking place across Hovden on June 26–27. The title referred both to Hovden's history of iron extraction and to the hearth as a centre of communal life.

The programme brought together exhibitions, sound works, performances, music and informal gatherings. Israa Mahameed presented Rooted, a series of paintings installed as sleeves around trees along the river towards Hartevatn. Developed during her residency, the works brought together Setesdal and Palestinian embroidery traditions, connecting two landscapes through shared visual language. Mahameed also continued her ongoing project Indelible, continuous series, inviting fellow residents to participate in the handwritten recording of the names of Palestinian victims of the genocide.

At Gamle Gaard, our base in Hovden, Nan Embäck presented paintings and ceramics outdoors in the birch forest. Her paintings had developed through her first encounters with the Setesdal landscape during the spring. Charlotte von Engelberg, working under her artist name nightingale, presented a series of small, highly detailed paintings of animals alongside a sound and performance practice rooted in music, ecology and interspecies relationships. Jonas Huldi presented Field Organs, a sculptural and sonic installation combining scrap metal, industrial sounds, wood organ recordings and synthesised flute-like sounds, as well as performing electronic music under his musical alias Leta.

The evening at Gamle Gaard brought the artists' different practices together through exhibitions, food, sound performances, live music and DJ sets, creating a social gathering around the work rather than a conventional exhibition opening. The programme included performances by Silje Høgevold, nightingale, DJ Sissyfus / Center of the Universe and Leta.

The rest of the weekend we went together with the artists' to experience the Landskappleiken festival. This final encounter with the festival allowed the residents to experience one of the most significant gatherings of Norwegian traditional folk culture, bringing the residency's focus on cultural heritage into direct contact with a living contemporary community.

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The Setesdal Residency was developed in collaboration with Setesdalsmuseet, Agder fylkeskommune, Brattløa, Bykle Hotell, Folke Nesland, Bjørgum Gard, Hasla, Sylvartun, Gamle Gaard, Hovden Musikklubb and Harteløa, with support from Valle kommune and Bykle kommune among others.

Rather than treating cultural heritage as something static or historical, AIR 26 approached the valley as a living field of knowledge, relationships and practices. Through encounters with local communities, time spent in the landscape, and the artists' own interpretations and responses, the residency created a space where traditional knowledge and contemporary artistic practices could meet, influence each other and generate new forms of exchange.