Pål Gusdal Jomås (N)
Bruket, kontrollrom nord (The mill, control room north)
/ Klosterøya

Friday May 30th, the day before the official opening of this year’s Tempo Skien, Bruket, kontrollrom nord (The mill, control room north) was presented for the first time in Skien. In many ways it was the first time the work could be seen in its complete form. For one evening the local audience was reminded of a time when Skien had been thrown into a social tsunami, a time when it had been announced that the corner stone factory Union would be shut down, but was still in operation. The six video portrait interviews were screened in Biohallen, one part of the former factory, to an audience mostly consisting of former factory employees. By projecting them back, the work was completed. This is a preferred strategy Gusdal Jomås applies to his videos, and thus he makes the portraits significant to the participants, who are transformed into their own audience.

In addition, Gusdal Jomås’ other work for Tempo Skien, Klosterøya, portrays the workers populating the old factory today, and his photographs can be seen around town for the duration of the exhibition.

About Pål Gusdal Jomås
Pål Gusdal Jomås works directly with individuals in a group, and through these individual voices we get a sense of what is important to them. Through his very personal work we are forced to reflect on globalisation’s effect on the individual.

Pål was born in 1979 in Porsgrunn, Norway, and since his graduation from the Bergen National Academy of the Arts in 2006 he has lived in Skien, Norway and Trondheim, Norway. He has previously spent much time and worked in Saint-Jean-Port-Joli, Québec, Canada, and will this coming autumn undertake a residency at Duende arts collective in Rotterdam, The Netherlands.