Atopia comes from the Greek noun a-topon, which means without a place. The name describes the conceptual core of Atopia in addition to its special focus on film and video art.
Atopia is an experiment, a research project, a laboratory for film and video art, and a room for connections, collaborations, as well as confrontations.
Atopia was founded in June 2003 by the following four artists:
Inger Lise Hansen (1963, Norway) is a visual artist working with film and video, in Oslo and in London.
She has studied at North East London Polytechnic, St. Martin’s College of Art, London and received her Masters of Fine Art degree in Film from San Francisco Art Institute.
Her experimental animation films have been sponsored by the Arts Council England, Film London, Princess Grace Foundation, USA, and the NorwegianFilm Institute.
Her films have won several international prizes such as the Gold Prize foranimation at “Bilbao Festival of Documentary and Short Films”, and Chris Frayne Award for Best Animation at “Ann Arbor International Festival of Experimental Film”.
Besides international film festivals her works have been shown in Tate Modern, London, Institute of Contemporary Art in London, Moderna Museet, Stockholm, Centre de Georges Pompidou, Paris.
Still from "Hus", 16mm, Color, Sound, 8min, 1996
Other artists become involved with Atopia periodically. Greg Pope worked with us in 2006-7, and Linn Lervik has been working with us since 2007, and Nina schjønsby since 2008.
Through its various projects Atopia has organized exhibitions, screenings, forums and seminars as well as publications, inside and outside of Norway. We have created a grass-roots network of artists surrounding Atopia and have become a base for information and advice for artists working with film and video in Norway.
During the past 6 years Atopia has developed into a professional center for film/video art in Oslo, and it is now an umbrella for several ongoing projects focused on artists’ film and video works.
Coordinator: Farhad Kalantary
Assistant and Project Leader for “Traffic” project: Linn Lervik
Project Leader for “Retrospective Exhibition” project: Nina schjønsby
with the Sponsorship of:
Billedkunstnernes Vederlagsfond Prosjektstøtte (2005)