Martina Petrelli
Martina Petrelli is Board Leader for The Norwegian Association of Curators (2022–); Curator for Atelier Kunstnerforbundet (2022–); Curator for Nitja Centre for Contemporary Art (2018–); and Coordinator for the Oslo Art Guide and for the Oslo Art Weekend International Critics Visits, organised in collaboration with the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (2017–).
Recent engagements include Assistant Curator at OCA – Office for Contemporary Art Norway for “The Sámi Pavilion” in the Pavilion of the Nordic Countries during the 59th International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia 2022. In Norway, previous positions include the contribution as Researcher and Consultant for The Norwegian Association of Curators “Curatorial Archive” (2020–23); Project- and Gallery Coordinator at Fotogalleriet (2016–18) at the occasion of the 40-year anniversary programme and to create the gallery’s public Archives with support by the National Archives of Norway (Riksarkivet), Videokunstarkivet (National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design), and the Museum of Contemporary Art of Barcelona Study Centre (MACBA/CED); and Assistant Curator at Tromsø Kunstforening (2014–15).
At Nitja Centre for Contemporary Art, Petrelli is currently working on curating the exhibition “To Break Up with Forms” (forthcoming, October 2023) with artists Cassie Thornton, Anna Ihle, and Germain Ngoma – reflecting on the notion of value and on the different roles we take on across society and life. Previously curated exhibitions include “Above Us Only Sky” (2021) with, amongst others, artists Adelita Husni-Bey, Tala Madani, Shilpa Gupta, Lea Cetera, Kameelah Janan Rasheed, Hanan Benammar, Steinar Haga Kristensen, Henrique Oliveira, and Arne Ekeland; “The Quick Brown Fox Jumps Over The Lazy Dog” (2019) with artists Lawrence Abu Hamdan, Sara Korshøj Christensen, Slavs and Tatars, Andrea Bakketun, Nils Norman, and Allyce Wood; Helle Siljeholm’s solo exhibition “The Richest Man in Gaza – Landscape Performances” (2018); and the long-term residency project “Young Curators – Art Sucks Less with You” (2019–2022).
Atelier Kunstnerforbundet is a collective studio project focusing on the growth of artistic practices, offering free-of-charge studios for artists on a two-year cycle. Located in Kunstnerforbundet in the centre of Oslo, the Atelier’s infrastructure investigates how to build on the institution’s 113 years of existence as an idealistic corporation, contributing to strengthen the exchange of knowledge between artists, curators, and other professionals. The Atelier’s infrastructural model exists independently within the Kunstnerforbundet’s exhibition programme and temporality, holding the potential to host non-systemic experiments free from preconceived conclusions and formats. This also allows for a distribution of forms of power in the exploration of cultural systems, and not to look at exhibitions as the ultimate format of contemporary art production. At Atelier Kunstnerforbundet, Petrelli works with curating customised programmes geared towards the development of the artists’ practices and creating collaborations facilitating access to professional expertise, networks, and resources. Her work at Atelier Kunstnerforbundet is grounded in institutional criticism, non-innocent participation, models of community-building, inclusive feminism, antiracism principles, safer space and collective norms guidelines.
Publications: “Interweaving Structures: Fabric as Material, Method, and Message” (forthcoming anthology, Autumn 2023), an international research collaboration between Faculty of Fine Art, Music and Design, University of Bergen, The Jan Matejko Academy of Fine Arts in Krakow, and The Central Museum of Textiles in Łódź; ‘On Archives’ in “Conversations on Photography” (Fotogalleriet Oslo/Kehrer Verlag, 2021).
Educational background: Petrelli holds a MA from Sandberg Instituut (Amsterdam, NL, 2011–13), a BA from Ècole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts de Lyon with a focus on Editorial Design (Lyon, FR, 2008–11), and previously studied Philosophy, Literature, and Linguistics.