Katinka Maraz is the new Chair of the Board

Katinka Maraz has a background as a visual artist and many years of experience working with, among other things, artist policy, diversity and inclusion. She takes over the role from Trond Hugo Haugen, who has been chairman of Oslo Open since 2017.

June 29 2023

Portrait in black and white of Katinka Maraz. — New Chair of the Board, Katinka Maraz.

Oslo Open can look forward to a new chairman with a lot of experience. Katinka Maraz has previously been chairman of FFF and Bjørka. As a member of various committees in Kunstnernettverket (the Artists’ Network), she has worked to develop joint policies across various art fields. Maraz has been the general manager of Balansekunst, a collaboration between over 150 Norwegian cultural organizations that work for an equal and diverse cultural life, and she has been a producer at Transcultural Arts Production (TrAP). Now she wants to strengthen Oslo Open both as an organization and through art mediation.

What are you excited to tackle?
– Oslo Open is a unique institution in the art world and I am looking forward to contributing to our gaining an even better foothold in Oslo and to strengthening the organizational structures. I hope we can show how important it is that there are good work spaces for artists, and that urban development gets a lot in return for that.

– Oslo Open is well underway in lowering the threshold for encounters between art and the public in a different way than what galleries and museums can do. Seeing the work space is inspiring and gives an insight into the artistic process. I hope to strengthen access so that more groups can participate in this.

How does Oslo Open contribute to the city of Oslo?
– We believe that investing in creative spaces and processes contributes to a better urban environment and helps to communicate key issues around the possibility of producing art, as well as exercising independent art mediation in Oslo. We see ourselves as a facilitator of good meetings between art and people and hope that it will also be a political priority in the time to come.

Group photo of the board. — The board members Mathilde Carbel, Ida Lykken Ghosh, Katinka Maraz, Olaf Tønnesland Hodne and Karen Kviltu Lidal.

The rest of the board consists of artist Karen Kviltu Lidal (deputy chairman of the board), artist Olaf Tønnesland Hodne, artist and curator Mathilde Carbel, director of Atelier Nord, Ida Lykken Ghosh, and marketing director at the National Museum, Tord Karstein Rønning Krogtoft. Deputy representatives are the artists Sayed Sattar Hasan and Julie Skarland, and general manager of Notam, Christian Blom.

Oslo Open is a membership organization with the board as the highest body between the annual meetings. The board prepares strategy, appoints a general manager and has the overall responsibility for Oslo Open being carried out in a good way, in dialogue with the staff.