Galleri Riis

It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of Siri Aurdal. She died peacefully in Oslo, surrounded by family and friends, March 31. 🕊️

Siri Aurdal (1937-2026) received her artistic education from Statens Håndverk og Kunstindustriskole and Statens Kunstakademi in Oslo 1956-61, with a focus on figurative sculpture and printmaking. After an exhibition at Galleri Kringla in Oslo in 1968, where she for the first time showed an installation with elements of colored plexiglas, her interest went in the direction of sculpture made from industrial products designed for construction and infrastructure. Aurdal was an active and innovative artist throughout the 1960s and ´70s, and as part of the politically radical artist group GRAS, Aurdal’s module-based sculptures and choice of materials expressed a belief in the political, collective and social role of art. The exhibition Omgivelser (Environments) at Kunstnernes Hus in 1969, consisted of a monumental sculpture composed of several units assembled from fiberglass reinforced polyester tubes, and was a striking manifestation of her ability to design large scale structures with prefabricated materials.

In 2016, in collaboration with the artist Eline Mugaas, this work was reconstructed with the title Bølgelengder (Wavelengths) in the exhibition Aurdal/Mugaas at Kunstnernes Hus, and led to a renewed interest in Aurdal’s artistry. In 2017, Aurdal represented Norway in the Nordic pavilion at the Venice Biennale, and in 2018 Malmö Konsthall presented Continuum, her largest exhibition to date. For the opening of the National Museum in Oslo in 2022, the work Bølgelengder was installed in the building’s largest atrium. Siri Aurdal lived and worked in Oslo.

Photo: Eline Mugaas