Exhibition
Nora Adwan: Things Fall Apart

Albert Einstein wrote that ‘the distinction between past, present and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion’.[i] The same might hold true for people living, exiled, as diaspora. Every event, from the visceral and dramatic experiences of pregnancy, childbirth and death, to mundane daily interactions, is interlaced with, and weighted by, past traumas and memories, present sensations and projections of the future.

We time travel.

UKS is pleased to present the first large-scale solo exhibition in Oslo by Bergen-based, Irish-Palestinian artist Nora Adwan. Things Fall Apart is a new installation that hovers between states of loss, memory and diasporic grief; an exhibition of shadows with a soundtrack of anxious interior vibrations and the dulled melodies of underwater recordings. Three translucent latex and video sculptures inhabit the exhibition space, accompanied by visceral and atmospheric imagery. The exhibition is past and future suspended in a moment of discussion, an acknowledgement of signals through time, of plural states and constant, foundational change.

[i] The oft-quoted phrase originated in a letter from Albert Einstein, in German, to family members of his friend Michele Angelo Besso who had recently died, dated 21 March 1955.

About the artist

Nora Adwan lives and works in Bergen. In her artworks she draws on different geographical contexts and personal experiences, weaving narratives that are conveyed through a combination of poetry, fiction and documentary, where translation and the shift in languages are used as central elements. Adwan brings together photography, film, installation, woodcuts and sound in one collective body of work, conveying splintered memories, stories and sensations. She often works in close collaboration with other practitioners, both in visual art, performing arts, social sciences and music. She holds an MFA from Bergen Academy of Art and Design and studied at the Home Workspace Program at Ashkal Alwan in Beirut and Kingston University, London. Her works have been shown at Astrup Fearnley Museet (Oslo), SAVVY Contemporary (Berlin), e-flux Video Platform, Lydgalleriet (Bergen), Hordaland Kunstsenter (Bergen) and elsewhere.

Image above: Still image from Things Fall Apart (2025) by Nora Adwan.