Art Market

A dramatic, twisting museum opened in Norway’s largest sculpture park.

Christy Kuesel
Sep 19, 2019 4:36PM, via The Architect’s Newspaper

The Twist at Kistefos. Courtesy Kistefos and BIG - Bjarke Ingels Group. Photo © Benjamin Ward.

A twisted new museum has opened in northern Europe’s largest sculpture park. The building—named “The Twist” due to the fact that it twists 90 degrees at its center—sits over the Randselva River in Jevnaker, Norway. The more than 10,000-square-foot building doubles Kistefos Sculpture Park’s amount of indoor exhibition space, and its inaugural exhibition, “Hodgkin and Creed—Inside Out,” opened on Wednesday.

Norwegian businessman and art collector Christen Sveaas founded Kistefos Sculpture Park in 1996 on the grounds of his family’s wood pulp mill. The park is already home to site-specific works by artists including Anish Kapoor, Marc Quinn, and Jeppe Hein. A Yayoi Kusama sculpture, Shine of Life (2019), was unveiled earlier this year at the site.

In a statement, Sveaas said: “Our ambition is to make Kistefos a must-see cultural destination with a world-class temporary exhibition and sculpture park program to complement the rich industrial heritage of the site.”

The Twist at Kistefos, 2019. Photo © Hélène Binet.

“The Twist” is designed by Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG), and was selected following an international competition. BIG has previously used twisting architecture in their work, perhaps most notably along the High Line in New York City. In that project, currently under construction, two towers rotate slightly, and will be home to condominiums. The firm is also slated to open an office tower in Hudson Yards in 2022. Yet neither project seems as ambitious as “The Twist,” which simultaneously serves as a museum, a bridge, and a sculpture.

Of the Kistefos project, Bjarke Ingels said: “With the inhabited bridge, we stumbled upon our first experiment with social infrastructure—a building that serves as a bridge—or a cultural institution that serves as a piece of infrastructure.”

Further Reading: The Buzziest and Most Beautiful Museums Opening in 2019

Christy Kuesel