Kjersti Solbakken (b. 1984, Valnesfjord) is a freelance curator, writer and an institutional leader based in Oslo, Norway. Solbakken is assigned as curator of Lofoten International Art Festival (LIAF) 2024, organized by the North Norwegian Art Centre. Between 2017 and 2022 she was appointed director of Kunstnerforbundet, one of Scandinavia’s oldest artist-run exhibition spaces with a program consisting of more than 20 exhibitions each year. During her time at the institution, Atelier Kunstnerforbundet was established – a studio collective, a network of art enthusiasts and an experimental project in the field of public engagement in Kunstnerforbundet’s own premises in the center of Oslo.
Between 2015-2016 she was appointed as the director of Galleri Format in Oslo. From 2014-2015 she was the director of Fotogalleriet in Oslo. Some of the exhibitions she has curated as a freelance curator are Handlingens Gang, Vestlandsutstillingen 2015, NAVIDAD/NAVidad, at Telemark Kunstsenter, 2015, Mined Soil by Filipa César at Hordaland Kunstsenter, 2014 and Biography by Elmgreen & Dragset at Astrup Fearnley Museet, 2014.
In 2007 she co-founded the small press Feil forlag with Andreas Liebe Delsett where they in close collaboration with the artists has experimented with various formats and strategies of publishing. She has also been a co-organiser of Tekstallianse, a Nordic festival for imprints and small press publishers. From 2011-2013 she founded and was running the non-profit project space Holodeck together with Lina Norell and Silja Leifsdottir. Together they conducted a program of frequent exhibitions, launches and happenings over two years.
Solbakken has been appointed curator of Øyepå Oslo 2023 organized by Kulturtanken and is also part of KORO’s curatorial committee of LES – Kunst til leiebygg og eldre statlige bygg, 2023-2024. Since 2023 she has been a OCA jury member. She has worked as a text tutor at schools such as Oslo Academy of the Arts, Einar Granum School of Art and Prosjektskolen, and has carried out work as producer and press officer for festivals such as Hovefestivalen, Five Thousand Generations of Birds, and Fredrikstad Animation Festival.
Education includes an MA degree in curatorial studies at Bergen Academy of Art and Design and a BFA in Fine Arts at the Academy of Arts in Oslo, Norway. In 2022 she was granted the curator residency at International Studio & Curatorial Program (ISCP) through OCA.
