'the twist' museum by bjarke ingels group prepares to open in norway

‘the twist’, a new museum in norway designed by bjarke ingels group, will open its doors to the public on september 18, 2019. the project forms part of kistefos, an industrial museum and sculpture park at jevnaker, a municipality 80 kilometers (50 miles) north of oslo. fittingly, bjarke ingels and his team have designed a sculptural intervention that will host an international program of contemporary art exhibitions beginning with ‘hodgkin and creed – inside out’ from september 18 to november 17, 2019.

image courtesy of BIG-bjarke ingels group (also main image)

selected following an international competition, and originally revealed in 2015, the new building responds to the museum and sculpture park’s natural environment and has been designed to enhance kistefos’ overall visitor experience. described by bjarke ingels as an ‘inhabitable bridge’, the 1,000 square meter building twists at its midway point as it crosses the randselva river to connect the north and south sides.

image courtesy of BIG-bjarke ingels group

access is provided from both ends of the building. from the south, visitors enter through a dramatic double-height space with clear sightlines through the entire building to the north entrance. conversely, guests arriving from the north enter into a panoramic space with views of the site’s pulp mill and the surrounding landscape. ‘with the inhabited bridge, we stumbled upon our first experiment with social infrastructure — a building that serves as a bridge — or a cultural institution that serves as a piece of infrastructure,’ says bjarke ingels.

image courtesy of BIG-bjarke ingels group

established in 1996 by norwegian businessman and art collector christen sveaas on the former site of his family wood pulp business, kistefos has a mission to conserve the area’s buildings and industrial heritage while also celebrating the best of norwegian and international contemporary art. the sculpture park already includes works by leading international artists such as anish kapoor and marc quinn, among others. the most recent site-specific artwork by yayoi kusama, ‘shine of life’ was unveiled in may 2019 and is inspired by the nature, water, and industry at kistefos.

image courtesy of BIG-bjarke ingels group

‘after many years of planning and development, we’re delighted to be opening this beautiful new space ‘the twist’ at kistefos, which will allow us to expand our work with leading contemporary artists and welcome more visitors than ever before,’ says christen sveaas. ‘our ambition is to make kistefos a must-see cultural destination with a world-class temporary exhibition and sculpture park program to complement the rich industrial heritage of the site.’

image courtesy of BIG-bjarke ingels group

the opening exhibition ‘hodgkin and creed – inside out’ (september 18 – november 17) pairs howard hodgkin (1932-2017) with martin creed (b.1968). curated by guy robertson and produced by kistefos in collaboration with the estate of howard hodgkin and martin creed, it is the first exhibition to bring these two artists together. it celebrates their shared conviction that art offers a framework for expressing our complex emotional lives. ‘the twist’ will open to the public on september 18, 2019. see designboom’s previous coverage of the project here.

image courtesy of BIG-bjarke ingels group

image courtesy of BIG-bjarke ingels group

anish kapoor, S-curve | image © frédéric boudin

marc quinn, all of nature flows through us | image © vegard kleven

jeppe hein, the path to silence | image courtesy of kistefos sculpture park

ilya kabakov, the ball | image © didrick stenersen

project info:

name: kistefos museum
location: jevnaker, norway
client: kistefos museum
design: BIG-bjarke ingels group
collaborators: AKT II, element, arkitekter, BIG ideas, max forham, davis langdon, GCAM, mir
size: 19,375 sqf / 1,800 sqm (building); 2.9 mil sqf / 270,000 sqm (sculpture park)
status: set to open september 18, 2019