Image: Haugar Vestfold kunstmuseum, Oslo
Haugar kunstmuseum in Tønsberg will open ‘Kristina Bræin: Overlevelsesstrategier’ on 19 September 2026, bringing together installations from the collections of Kunstsilo, Kode and Haugar kunstmuseum. The exhibition will remain on view through 3 January 2027 and will examine how Bræin’s spatial works can be installed and preserved after the artist’s death.
Bræin (1955–2022) developed installations that extend compositional ideas associated with abstract painting into the exhibition space. At Haugar, her works will be presented in dialogue with the museum’s architecture, reflecting an approach in which details of a room—including electrical sockets, mouldings and corners—could become part of the work’s visual structure.
According to the museum, Bræin often began with an observation of the space itself. Her installations respond through carefully composed arrangements of everyday materials, with form, colour, musicality and humour playing central roles. The works can appear specifically made for the rooms in which they are shown, even when they are being reinstalled from museum collections.
That question of reinstallation is central to the exhibition. Bræin’s practice depended in part on close observation of the exhibition environment, raising practical and interpretive issues when the artist is no longer present to oversee a new presentation. ‘Overlevelsesstrategier’ will be documented in a catalogue focused on the mounting and conservation of installation art.
A significant part of Bræin’s remaining production entered Norwegian museum collections after her death. She had bequeathed the works left in her studio to her friends and colleagues Kari Steihaug and Bente Louise Aas, who identified and catalogued the material. Through donations to museums, they helped preserve a substantial part of Bræin’s artistic output.
Bræin studied musicology and art history at the University of Oslo, architecture at the Oslo School of Architecture and Design, and colour at the Oslo National Academy of the Arts. Her exhibition history included solo presentations at Kunstnerforbundet, Kunstverein Schwerin, Tanja Pol Galerie in Munich, 1646 in The Hague, Stenersenmuseet, Oslo Kunstforening, Kunstnernes Hus and UKS. She also participated in Manifesta 7 in Bolzano and represented Norway in the Nordic Pavilion at the 2003 Venice Biennale.
The opening programme at Haugar kunstmuseum on 19 September will begin at 13:00 with speeches by divisional director Arild Braa Norli and curator Steffen Håndlykken. Trygve Børsting, head of the committee for culture, sport and public health in Tønsberg municipality, will formally open the exhibition, followed by a performance of ‘Ubi Caritas’, arranged by Ola Gjeilo, by Sjøbodkoret. The exhibition will open to the public at 13:30 and is supported by Anders Jahres Humanitære Stiftelse.
