Sculpture


Skulptur I, 2022, Tone Vigeland. Photo: Vegard Kleven.
New sculpture by Norwegian artist Tone Vigeland unveiled
- We are deeply honored that Tone Vigeland accepted the challenge of creating a site-specific work for Kistefos. Vigeland is one of Norway's most renowned artists and it is a great pleasure to be able to unveil this beautiful sculpture as work number 51 in the sculpture park, says director at Kistefos, Birgitte Espeland.

Pierre Huyghe is the artist of the year 2022
As the 50th artwork to be included in the park, a new site-specific work by French artist Pierre Huyghe (b.1962, Paris) was unveiled on June 12th. Titled Variants, the vast permanent work is the artist's largest site-specific work to date and the most ambitious to ever be conceived for Kistefos.

Portrait of Ida Ekblad in front of A DEADLY SLUMBER OF ALL FORCES (2021). Photo: Jacqueline Landvik, 2021. Courtesy of the artist and Peder Lund.
August 2021: New monumental sculpture by Ida Ekblad
Ida Ekblad is one of Norway's most renowned contemporary artists and we are proud to present a new site-specific work by til artist in the sculpture park. The work, A DEADLY SLUMBER OF ALL FORCES, is located in the terrain outside The Twist at the artist's own request. The sculpture is a monumental hand-painted sculpture and the largest and most important sculptural work of the artist to date.

Photo: Vegard Kleven

Lawrence Weiner. Photo: Robin Martin

August 2020: Lawrece Weiner
Weiner visited Kistefos in the winter of 2016 and prepared four new texts, especially for Kistefos. His text-based work is installed on 2 façades of the Kistefoss II waterworks and is a direct response to Kistefos’ rich industrial history.

Photo: Vegard Kleven

Photo: Vegard Kleven
May 2021: Carol Bove is the sculptor of the year
American artist Carol Bove (b. 1971) has made a monumental, site-specific work for Kistefos that was unveiled at the museum's season-opening on 23rd May. The work PASANASAP is made from steel, the artist's favoured material of recent years, and is indicative of her signature form and style.

Yayoi Kusama, Shine of Life, 2019. Kistefos. © YAYOI KUSAMA. Courtesy Ota Fine Arts, Tokyo/Singapore/Shanghai and Victoria Miro, London/Venice. © YAYOI KUSAMA. Photo: Einar Aslaksen
May 2019: Yayoi Kusama - Shine of Life
Yayoi Kusama was the main sculptor in 2019. Her work Shine of Life was officially unveiled at the opening of the park in May 2019. Rising from the water inlet of the mill, this work’s swirling tentacles are a monumental example of Kusama’s obsession with pattern and color.

Points of View - Part 2 by Elmgreen & Dragset. The sculpture was commissioned for the opening of The Twist. Photo: Einar Aslaksen.

Scat Skat Skatt by Tony Oursler. Photo: Einar Aslaksen.

From the installation Silent Studio by Mark Manders - one of five new artworks at Kistefos in 2019. Photo: Einar Aslaksen.
2019: Six new sculptures
In 2019, the park expanded with as much as six new permanent sculptures! Get to know the park's newcomers made by Yayoi Kusama, Elmgreen & Dragset, Tony Oursler, Giuseppe Penone and Mark Manders.

Castor & Pullox is one of four Tony Cragg-artworks at Kistefos. It tells the story about the twins Castor and Pollux from Roman mythology, who were immortalized and united in the sky as two stars. Photo: Einar Aslaksen.

Path of Silence by Jeppe Hein is a favorite of many - including the children, who use it as a fountain in it in the summer. Photo: Einar Aslaksen.

Articulated Column is one of four sculptures by Tony Cragg. This one was unveiled in 2001. Photo: Frederic Boudin
Sculpture park of international standing
The scenic Kistefos Sculpture Park has an impressive collection of works by internationally renowned contemporary artists including Yayoi Kusama, Tony Cragg, Claes Oldenburg, Anish Kapoor, Olafur Eliasson, Fernando Bottero and Elmgreen & Dragset.

Detail from Tumbling Tacks by Oldenburg and van Bruggen. Photo: Einar Aslaksen.
Overview of the sculptures
The sculpture park contains 46 sculptures. The works range from the monumental to the unobtrusive, the profound to the playful.
Guest, Sandra Machado:
Amazing!!! I love this place ❤ ❤ ❤
Map over the sculpture park
Navigate in the map to find the sculptures
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01 Ståle Kyllingstad, Installation
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02 Nils Aas, Consul Anders Sveaas, 1840-1917
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03 Nico Widerberg, Time
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04 Beate Juell, Stallion
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05 Kristian Blystad, Playing horse
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06 Bjarne Melgaard, Octopus
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07 Kjell Nupen, Stille, Stille/Mediteraneo
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08 Kjell Nupen, Mediteraneo
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09 Edgar Ballo, Blå tulipan
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10 Anne-Karin Furunes, Christen Sveaas
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11 Olafur Eliasson, Viewing machine
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12 Siri Bjerke, Mounts of the Samurai The Third Day
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13 Fernando Botero, Female Torso
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14 Tony Cragg, Articulated Column
The energy and shape of the sculpture easily give associations to the surrounding natural landscape, especially the water and the waterfall's fierce power/energy.
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15 Fabrizio Plessi, Movimenti della Memoria
This installation is placed inside the Wood Pulp Mill
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16 Elmgreen og Dragset, Forgotten Babies # 2
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17 Marianne Heske, Homage to Leo the Lion
The sculpture is placed inside the Wood Pulp Mill
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18 Shintaro Miyake, Welcome to our Planet
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19 Kristin Günther, Hesten
The sculpture is placed inside the Wood Pulp Mill
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20 Tony Cragg, I'm Alive
This sculpture, with the fitting title I’m Alive, at first glance looks like a powerful creature meandering forward.
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21 Tony Cragg, Bent of mind
Bent of Mind looks as though it is constantly growing and changing. The two profiles, which make up the sculpture’s main motive, constantly change character as you move around the sculpture to see them from different angles.
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22 Petroc Sesti, Energy-Matter-Space-Time
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23 Magne Furuholmen, Hypnos Descending
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24 Elmgreen og Dragset, Warm Regards
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25 Anish Kapoor, S-Curve
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26 Oldenburg og van Bruggen, Tumbling Tacks
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27 Thomas Bayrle, Sternmotor Hochamt
You´ll find Sternmotor Hochamt inside the Furnace House, just outside The Wood Pulp Mill
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28 Marc Quinn, All of Nature Flows Through Us
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29 John Gerrard, Pulp Press (Kistefos)
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30 Fredrik Raddum, Teddy - Beast of the Hedonic Treadmill
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31 Fredrik Raddum, Catastrophic road Signs, Sun
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32 Per Inge Bjørlo, Slektstrea, Genbanken
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33 Phillip King, Free to Frolic
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34 Jeppe Hein, Modified Social Benches Kistefos
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35 Jeppe Hein, The Path to Silence
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36 A Kassen, River Man
River Man by the artistic collective A Kassen took form as liquid bronze was poured directly into the waters of the Randselva river.
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37 Ilya Kabakov, The Ball
The installation, with its location in the midst of nature, can be seen as a commentary on man's relationship with nature.
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38 Tony Cragg, Castor & Pollux
With Castor & Pollux, Cragg takes a new and radical step in the development of the Rational Beings series. Raw muscle power and animal energy are just some of the things you experience in the encounter with this monumental work.
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39 Lynda Benglis, Face Off
Benglis visited Kistefos and became inspired by the landscape and atmosphere of the site, Scandinavian mythology, and folklore. The sculpture can be seen as partly frozen waterfall, partly giant.
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40 Yayoi Kusama, Shine of Life
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41 Mark Manders, Silent Studio
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42 Giuseppe Penone, Identity
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43 Elmgreen & Dragset, Point of View, Part 1
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44 Elmgreen & Dragset, Point of View, Part 2
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45 Tony Oursler, Scat Skat Skatt
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46 Lawrence Weiner, Stedsspesifikk skulptur
This sculpture is placed in two different locations in the park.
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47 Magne Furuholmen, The Birthright
Text and letters have always been central as a pictorial element in Furuholmen's work. What happens if you deconstruct sentences, break them down into single words or put them together in new combinations?
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48 Carol Bove, PASANASAP
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49 Ida Ekblad, A DEADLY SLUMBER OF ALL FORCES
Ekblads sculpture is a fascinating hybrid of her artistic practices. The work is a sculptural collage made of fragments from her own paintings.
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50 Pierre Huyghe, Variants
The work comprises artificial intelligence, 3D-scanned objects, living creatures and organisms, and offers something completely unique in the sculpture park.
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51 The Twist Gallery
The Twist is a gallery, a bridge, and a sculpture, all in one. The 1000 square meter building twists into a sculptural form and spans 60 meters across the Randselva river. The building was designed by the Danish star architects BIG - Bjarke Ingels Group and is named as a "must-see" cultural destination by the New York Times, Bloomberg and The Telegraph, among others.
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52 The wood pulp mill
The production at Kistefos stopped in 1955, but the buildings and machines have been preserved. Several of the machines have been set in motion once again, creating a "living factory" for Kistefos' visitors.