Haunted house at Kunstnernes Hus

November 5, 2025

What happens when an art house becomes haunted by its own history?
In Haunted House , artists Helle Siljeholm and Ingri Fiksdal let the voices of the past emerge through choreography, light, sound and installation. Kloden Teater is proud to be a co-producer of the exhibition, which opens at Kunstnernes Hus on Friday, November 7th and runs until December 21st.

In this immersive choreographic installation, Fiksdal and Siljeholm have delved into the archives of Kunstnernes Hus, which is soon to be 100 years old. They have searched for traces of the people who have shaped the house – artists, directors, politicians and critics. They have also looked at how power, belonging and artistic choices have settled in the walls. The result is a work in which the house itself comes alive, haunted by its own history.

In the middle of the installation stands a monumental bed. Here the audience can lie down and listen to the dark matter of the house: voices from the archive, organ music, children's choirs and sounds from the building's basement, elevator and machine room. Throughout the exhibition period, three dancers will occasionally haunt the installation and bring the house to life.

"Haunted House also points to the role of the artist, politically and personally, and the value of creating a space where one belongs. In the work, the Artists' House is portrayed as heimlich and unheimlich at the same time."
– Helle Siljeholm and Ingri Fiksdal

The work examines what it means to be part of an art institution – as an artist, an employee and a citizen, and how institutions like Kunstnernes Hus can both include and exclude. Through Haunted House , past conflicts, dreams and ideas come alive again, and the audience is invited into a space where the boundaries between sleep and wakefulness, history and present, blur.

Haunted House is produced by Fiksdal Dans Stiftelse and Kunstnernes Hus, and co-produced by Kloden theater.
The work is supported by the Arts Council of Norway, the Norwegian Film School and the University of Innlandet, and is curated by Ida Kierulf and Sarah Lookofsky.

Cast
By: Ingri Fiksdal and Helle Siljeholm
Composition and sound design: Therese Næss Diesen and Liv Kristin Holmberg
Scenography: Signe Becker
Co-creative performers: Sunniva Vikør Egenes, Pernille Holden and Louis Schou-Hansen
Lighting: Martin Myrvoll
Voices in the sound installation: Gisken Armand, Nils Johnson, Birgitte Larsen, Tobias Santelmann and Oddgeir Thune
Photo: Fred Arne Wergeland