run run as fast as you can, 2022

Acrylic paint on flattened shoeboxes, sizes vary

Salongen, Stavanger, Norway

In run run as fast as you can, Katharina Bjelland examines the pressures and choices that structure contemporary life. The exhibition reflects on how we constantly optimize our achievements – for ourselves, our families, and our social lives – investing time and energy to work, improve our standard of living, and consume ever more. We strive to balance work, health, and leisure, all while managing anxieties about global issues, ongoing conflicts, injustice, climate change, and the lingering effects of COVID. The exhibition highlights the "time crunch," a metaphor for the relentless pace of modern life, and the raucous, merciless atmosphere that emerges when we seek to have and achieve everything.

Single-use packaging, a byproduct of modern life, remains a recurring motif in Bjelland’s work. In this exhibition, she has assembled a collection of shoeboxes – primarily from popular running and active-wear brands – which have been dismantled and repurposed as surfaces for hand-drawn letters. Using stencils and acrylic markers, she references the graphic and printed aesthetics of the original shoeboxes, transforming them into both material and visual scaffolding for her texts.

The written fragments portray middle-class family life in contemporary society, drawing on quotes from children’s games, work environments, and pop culture. Through playful manipulation of text, often infused with irony and humor, Bjelland invites viewers to critically reflect on materialism, consumer behavior, and the rhythms of everyday life.

Photos: Jan Inge Haga