We Are Living on a Star takes its title from a tapestry by Hannah Ryggen that hung in the government building known as the “High-Rise” in Oslo until July 22, 2011. The explosion that took place that day left the tapestry with a gash in the lower portion. Like a wound that has healed, this tear is barely visible now after meticulous reconstruction, although a slight scar remains, a testament to what can be described as a brutal rent in the fabric of our society.

In a short span of time, the events of July 22 transformed normality as we knew it and, consequently, the predictable as well. The normal was no longer familiar, and the abnormal was no longer associated with the foreign. The artists and writers participating in We Are Living on a Star (the book and the exhibition it accompanies) contend with a range of issues relating to history, contemporaneity, normality, and expression. The result is an open and inquiring look at our own time.

This catalogue is published in conjunction with the exhibition “Vi lever på en stjerne” (We Are Living on a Star), Henie Onstad Kunstsenter (HOK), Norway, January 30–April 27, 2014.