Yasmine and
the Seven Faces of the Heptahedron

For our fourth edition, curator Yasmine d’O. invited the public to follow another Yasmine, a fictional character on her quest for a mysterious form, a seven-sided solid body called the Heptahedron. Her search was guided by seven enigmatic characters that she encountered along the way: the Professor, the Bonimenteur, the Moped Rider, the Fortune Teller, an Acrobat, the Coalman and the Tourist.

These seven characters lent their names to seven exhibitions spread across different venues in the city of Bergen from September 8th to November 6th, 2022. Each character-exhibition brought together three distinct artistic positions, offering a multiplicity of perspectives on the issues raised by their puzzling titles. After having shared this quest with Yasmine, what remained were memories in each visitor’s mind which gave form to the many-sided Heptahedron.

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The Professor

with Lars Korff Lofthus, Gruppo Petrolio and George Grosz at the Faculty of Fine Art, Music and Design, UiB (KMD)

The Bonimenteur

with Bernhard Martin, GRAU and Neue Gestaltung at Bergen Kunsthall

The Moped Rider

with Denicolai & Provoost, Katia Kameli and Shirin Sabahi at Bryggens Museum

The Fortune Teller

with Alvaro Urbano, Jessika Khazrik and Miriam Stoney in a side street called Østre Skostredet at Østre, Northing Space and an old wooden house.

The Coalman

with Augustin Maurs, Claude Debussy and a selection of vernacular coal sculptures by miners at Gyldenpris Kunsthall

An Acrobat

with Protektorama, Schwarmwesen and Transformella (fed and cared for by JP Raether) at Kunsthall 3,14

The Tourist

with Daniel Buren, Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster and Sol Calero at Permanenten and Kafé Mat & Prat at Engen behandlingssenter (care home).

The quest of the Heptahedron was based on a play written by the French author Thomas Clerc after a performance by Saâdane Afif that took place in Marrakech in 2014. The idea sparked by this performance had since migrated from Morocco towards northern Europe. Having encountered different contexts and people along the way, the story had been enriched and transformed to evolve into an assembly in Bergen.

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CONVENOR 
Saâdane Afif

 
Saâdane Afif (b. 1970, Vendôme, France).

For our fourth edition that took place between 8.9. and 6.11.2022, Bergen Assembly appointed the artist Saâdane Afif as convenor. This was the first time an artist had convened Bergen Assembly.

Saâdane Afif has since the early 2000s gained international recognition for his practice of creating and instigating thematic projects that move across a multiplicity of formats, media and institutional frameworks. Through numerous collaborative structures with practitioners from different disciplines, his motifs develop over time through interaction and response, constantly generating and embracing new contributions to the work.

Exhibitions include This is Ornamental, Kunsthalle Wien Karlsplatz, Austria (2018); Paroles, Wiels Brussels, Belgium (2018); The Fountain Archives, Foundation Jumex, Mexico, Nouveau Musée National de Monaco, Monaco, and Centre Pompidou, Paris, France (2017 and 2019) and Anthologie de l’Humour Noir, Museum für Moderne Kunst – MMK Zollamt, Frankfurt, and Centre Pompidou, Paris (2010 and 2013).

 His work was included in documenta 12 (2007), 8th Berlin Biennale for Contemporary Art (2014), Marrakech Biennale 2014 (2014),  56th International Art Exhibition of the Venice Biennale (2015), 1st and 6th Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art (2005, 2015) and Taipei Biennial (2016).
He received the Prix International d’Art Contemporain de la Fondation Prince Pierre de Monaco (2006), Prix Marcel Duchamp (2009), Preis der Günther-Peill-Stiftung (2012) and the Prix Meurice pour l’art contemporain (2015).

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CURATOR Yasmine d’o.

Portrait by Neue Gestaltung (2021). 

Convenor Saâdane Afif appointed Yasmine d’O. as curator for the fourth edition of Bergen Assembly.

Yasmine d’O. had been invited to further develop her ongoing quest in search of The Heptahedron – a solid body with seven enigmatic faces.
 
“For a few years now, I have been searching for a mysterious form: a solid body with seven faces. The French writer Thomas Clerc revealed its potential existence to me when he interpreted the seven faces of this solid body as the characters of a luscious little play-script that he titled The Heptahedron. The characters in order of apparition are the Professor, the Bonimenteur, the Moped Rider, the Fortune Teller, an Acrobats, the Coalman, and the Tourist. As you might have noticed, these characters resemble a game—a tarot deck—and that’s handy, because my work as a curator requires a certain level of divination. For now, I am becoming better acquainted with the seven characters of “The Heptahedron”, exploring them and discovering them through their puzzling names. They will then become the motifs guiding the seven exhibitions that will shape the seven sides of Bergen Assembly.”
Yasmine d’O. is a curator based in Berlin. Questioning the identity in formation, as opposed to inherited identities, she prefers the harvests to the roots. In her work she explores alternative narratives and using a transdisciplinary approach to fiction, she is concerned with the migration of ideas, hybridisation and mutation, and mythologies of the constructed self.  Afif and d’O. began working together in 2014 and continue to collaborate often, most recently for the current exhibition The Fountain Archives and Beyond at the Fundació Antoni Tàpies in Barcelona.

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2022 Website →

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Running time:
8.9. – 6.11.2022


Opening Days:
8.–11.9.2022

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Convenor

Saâdane Afif

Curator

Yasmine d’O.

Artists

Alvaro Urbano
Augustin Maurs
Bernhard Martin
Claude Debussy
Daniel Buren
Denicolai & Provoost
Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster
George Grosz
GRAU
Gruppo Petrolio
Jessika Khazrik
Katia Kameli
Lars Korff Lofthus
Miriam Stoney
Neue Gestaltung
Protektorama, Schwarmwesen, and Transformella (fed and cared for by JP Raether)
Shirin Sabahi
Sol Calero
a selection of vernacular coal sculptures by miners

Sites

(KMD), Faculty of Fine Art, Music and Design, University of Bergen, Bergen Kunsthall, Bryggens Museum, Østre – House for Sound Art and Electronic Music, Northing Space, Østre Skostredet 8 (An Old Wooden House), Gyldenpris Kunsthall, Kunsthall 3,14, Permanenten (KODE 1), Kafé Mat & Prat, Bergen Assembly Open Office and Domkirken.

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Side Magazine →

In the run up to the opening days of Bergen Assembly 2022, the seven faces of the Heptahedron are explored through Side Magazine published by Wirklichkeit Books. Each of the seven issues are dedicated to one of the characters. The issues introducing the Professor, the Moped Rider, the Bonimenteur, the Fortune Teller, the Tourist, the Coalman and an Acrobats have all been released.

An eight special issue functioning as this edition’s exhibition catalogue have also been published. 

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Bergen Assembly 2022 Team

Ingrid Haug Erstad
Director

Kirsten Wandschneider
Head of Project

Christa Mako Teigen Communications Manager & International Press Officer

Dipha Thiruchelvam 
Events & Norwegian Press

Christine V. Olsen
Administrative Coordinator  

Tor Steffen Espedal
Project Coordinator

Vilde Salhus Røed
Project Coordinator

Sasha Azanova
Project Coordinator

Ingrid Engesæter Røen
Events Coordinator

Eirik Hunnes
Chief Bartender

Jonas von Lenthe
Associate Editor

Louisa Elderton
Chief Editor, Side Magazine / Communications Editor, Bergen Assembly

Alix Chambaud
Editorial Coordinator,
Side Magazine 

Eirini Fountedaki
Research Assistant

Camille Reich
Project Assistant

Tord Øyen
Production & Architecture Coordinator

Fergus Tibbs
Production & Technical Coordinator

Daniela Ramos Arias
Mediation & Collaborative Projects Producer

Torleif Bay
Mediation & Collaborative Projects Producer

Diouma Diakite
Mediator

Ruby Eleftheriotis
Mediation & Collaborative
Projects Assistant

Embla Sunde Myrva
Social Media and Digital Content Assistant

Exhibition Hosts & Bartenders

Mathura Amirthalingam
Cynthia Kangethe
Dianne Murphy
Polina Medvedeva
Eleni Leremia
Vivi-Ann Lillefosse
Jason Dunne
Minka Salonen
Lisa Ahlers
Mario De La Ossa Sætre
Unn Devik
Diouma Diakité
Hinda Sheikh Ibrahim Farah
Martin Midtbø Rokkones
Ruby Eleftheriotis
Daniel Gardebrandt
Marte Helene Solgaard Dahl
Sarita Helen Øygård
Caroline Stampone
Hanna Pherson
Enara Barnes Larrukert

Exhibition Production

Tine Adler Jørgensen
Håkon Asheim
Stig Anderson
Asle Bakke Brodin
Freya Coursey
Jason Dunne
Tim Ekberg
Robin Everett
Guttorm Glomsaas
Finlay J. Hall
Trine Hansen
Thea Hundsnes
Sara Josten
Njål Armin Kaland Homeyer
Kristen Keegan
Katarina Kierulfova
Benjamin Knutsen
Rune Kvam
Sara Lindberg Hansen
Kevin Maung Aye
Alex Millar
Alfred Moldvik
Anthony Charles Morton
Dale Rothenberg
Sarah Streitenberger
Johanne Øra Danielsen
Magnus Wibe
Kristoffer Wie van der Pas
Eric Alvin Wrangel
Techincians at Østre

Further Project-related Support

Maud Ceuterick
Ewa Borysiewicz
Serhii Chervonopilsky
Nastya Feschuk
Nayara Leite
Bjørn Mortensen
Nicolas Rösener
Bo Schleisner
Sindre Sørensen
Gina Tandberg
Sunniva Vik

Exchange

Gregor Drazil
Yuyue Eunice Chen

Visual Identity, Design & Coding

Neue Gestaltung, Berlin
Pit Stenkhoff, Anna Bühler, Christian Lindermann, Lisa Dannebaum, Fabian Barth

Advisors

Henriette Sölter
Niklas Kleppe
Irem Müftüoglu
Ingrid Røen

Advisory Board

Ina Blom
Maria Hlavajova
Ranjit Hoskote
Solveig Øvstebø
Anselm Franke
Anais Tondeur
Michael Marder

Executive Board

Stein Olaf Onarheim (chair)
Henriette Gallus
Pedro Gómez-Egaña
Hanne Mugaas
Sveinung Unneland

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