Francis Alÿs

1857 is an artist-run exhibition space occupying a former lumberyard in Grønland, downtown Oslo. It was founded in 2010 by artists Steffen Håndlykken and Stian Eide Kluge, with graphic designers Eriksen / Brown as essential collaborators.

The space consists of a 280 m2 concrete factory hall, with raw concrete walls and 11 metres to a ceiling with beautiful skylights, which has been joined to an older wooden house with a storefront facing the street.

1857 aims to introduce young international artists to a Norwegian audience, and takes advantage of the high degree of freedom that comes from being an artist-run space in terms of how exhibitions are conceptualised, formulated and presented. There is an on-going conversation that runs through all of the shows about how to challenge or disregard conventions that prevail in institutional exhibition making. This approach has lead 1857 to open-ended collaborations with artists as well as characteristic exhibition designs, press releases and cocktails served on the openings.