Historical postcards from Norway and the USA, collected by Liv Bugge.
In Umbilical Fire, Norwegian artist Liv Bugge explores the subtle yet profound connections linking energy, desire, and reproduction across human and non-human realms. Anchored by a newly commissioned film and installation, the artist challenges our perceptions of these integrated themes to ask: How do our energy concepts mirror our understanding of eroticism, sex, and nature?
The exhibition’s scenography surrounds the film, immersing visitors in a striking landscape of 3D-printed clay sculptures. These sculptures reveal underwater oil field environments across Norway, both literally and metaphorically exposing what lies beneath the surface. Through this combination, Bugge exposes energy companies’ attempts at “greenwashing” and “purplewashing,” including naming oil sources after feminist and folkloric figures.
Umbilical Fire is part of the 2025 edition of the Hannah Ryggen Triennale, a collaborative project across several Trondheim art institutions exploring the topic of “mater”—the Latin word for mother—which connects biological motherhood to our cultural heritage and physical world, reflecting how deeply the maternal is woven into our language through words like “matter,” “material,” and “mother earth.” Mining these subjects, Umbilical Fire features a symbolic nautical rope spun from sheep and dog wool, weaving together narratives of oil as modernity’s “mother’s milk,” Bugge’s personal history of being raised in a family including sled dogs, and the legacy of artist Hannah Ryggen, and her politically engaged tapestries.
_______
Umbilical Fire is supported by Bergesenstiftelsen, The Fritt Ord Foundation, SpareBank1 SMN Samfunnsutbytte, Sparebankstiftelsen – SMN, Arts and Culture Norway, The Audio and Visual Fund – Fond for lyd og bilde, Norwegian Visual Artists Fund – Billedkunstnernes Vederlagsfond, and Oslo National Academy of the Arts.
The Hannah Ryggen Triennale is initiated by Nordenfjeldske Kunstindustrimuseum. Collaborating institutions are Dropsfabrikken, Kjøpmannsgata Ung Kunst (K-U-K), Kunsthall Trondheim, Trondheim kunstmuseum, Trøndelag senter for samtidskunst, and Ørland/Bjugn Kunstforening.
Umbilical Fire is curated by Adam Kleinman and Katrine Elise Agpalza Pedersen.