Q
What structures and processes in art institutions do you find necessary to create a mutual, equitable partnership between institutions, curators and artists?
A
At BABEL and LKV, equitable partnerships are built on trust in artists and on structures that protect their autonomy. The exhibition program is developed by the artistic director in dialogue with the Babel Committee, composed of studio artists at LKV, who contribute voluntarily to evaluating proposals and advising on programming. This ensures that decisions reflect artistic perspectives while maintaining professional continuity. Our usual operating model is deliberately anti-curatorial. This means we work alongside artists on equal terms rather than directing or instrumentalizing their work, positioning BABEL as an alternative to more curator-driven structures. With artists represented in decision making, we can share experience and offer support from an artistic perspective. We occasionally invite independent curators for specific projects, but this complements rather than replaces our general approach. Flexible exhibition frameworks and practical facilitation are important in giving artists the physical and conceptual space to realize their ideas. By combining professional management with experienced artist input and a belief in the artists’ own visions, BABEL creates a platform where artistic freedom remains central.
Q
In what ways can art institutions restructure their curatorial work to create diverse voices?
A
At BABEL, diverse voices are supported by distributing curatorial responsibility and maintaining an open access structure. The exhibition program is primarily developed through open calls assessed by artists working with the artistic director. This model reduces dependence on closed professional networks and allows different artistic positions to enter the program on equal terms. Because the process is grounded in peer perspectives rather than a fixed curatorial agenda, it opens up for a wide range of practices and approaches.
This openness is reinforced by LKV’s commitment to shared infrastructure. Affordable access to workshops and project spaces for professional artists makes it possible for a broader group to develop and realize work at a professional level. Exhibiting and resident artists can draw on the same well equipped facilities and technical competence, which supports varied forms of production without privileging specific formats or scales. In this way, curatorial restructuring is linked to practical conditions. Diversity emerges not only from how projects are selected, but from how institutions organize access to resources and knowledge.
Q
How can institutions, curators, artists and exhibition designers contribute to a more social and environmentally sustainable art world through the exhibition production?
A
At LKV and BABEL, sustainability is addressed through shared infrastructure and long term resource management. Investment in durable workshops for wood, metal, printmaking, photography, ceramics and large scale production reduces the need for repeated transport and temporary rentals. These facilities are collectively maintained and made available at low cost to professional artists, including those exhibiting at BABEL and participating in residency programs. Concentrating equipment and technical expertise in one location supports efficient production and encourages responsible use of materials. There is also an informal culture of lending technical equipment between art institutions in Trondheim, which further extends the life and use of existing resources.
Sustainability is also organizational. Many artist-run spaces are structurally fragile, often tied to temporary rental situations and driven by individual initiatives that become vulnerable when key people step away. In contrast, BABEL operates within the LKV foundation, where continuity is anchored in a larger, rotating community of artists rather than in single personalities. BABEL has had several artistic directors who have shaped the program and exhibition space in different ways, but the institutional backbone remains LKV as a collective of artists that persists beyond individual leadership. Combined with a purpose built exhibition space developed with artistic experience and architectural expertise, this creates a robust and sustainable framework for future activity. With a solid collective backbone and dedicated facilities, BABEL is positioned to maintain a long term, uncompromising commitment to high quality contemporary art from artists’ perspectives.
About BABEL
BABEL is an artist-run exhibition space for contemporary art in Trondheim, founded by the artists at Lademoen Kunstnerverksteder (LKV) in 2006. Over nearly two decades it has become one of the longest running artist-led exhibition initiatives in the city. Since its inception BABEL has presented a broad range of national and international artists, aiming to create a platform where art emerges directly from the artists’ own visions rather than from external directives. The program follows a light curatorial approach that prioritizes trust in artistic autonomy and minimizes unnecessary interference in the artists’ work.
From 2006 to 2024 BABEL operated in a former retail space up the street from LKV. In 2025 we opened the newly constructed premises in a renovated gym building in the LKV courtyard. The new exhibition space is a 100 m² hall with generous proportions, high ceilings and strong natural light, representing a rare combination of purpose built facilities for art presentation within an artist-run structure. Some original features of the gymnasium have been preserved, maintaining a visible connection to the building’s history while adapting it to the practical requirements of ever-changing exhibitions. The move unites all of LKV’s functions in one location, including more than 40 artist studios, shared workshops and an international residency program, strengthening the connection between artistic production and public presentation.
BABEL is part of the non profit LKV foundation and is run by a small professional staff in collaboration with the Babel Committee composed of studio artists from LKV. The committee contributes on a voluntary basis to jury work and selected organizational tasks, while the daily operations are handled by the staff. Artists are involved in key decision-making areas, keeping artistic perspectives central to how the institution develops. This structure creates flexible frameworks that give exhibiting artists the physical and mental space required to develop strong exhibitions, supporting artistic processes in ways that benefit both the artists and the public experience. The exhibition program is developed through open calls assessed by artist juries working with the artistic director. These juries select projects they consider artistically compelling, without a predetermined thematic agenda or a curatorial framework. The program is simply shaped by artistic quality and diversity, rather than commercial concerns.
Financially, BABEL is primarily supported by Trondheim municipality, Trøndelag county and Arts Council Norway, in addition to long-term contributions from the artists at LKV. Since the beginning, studio artists have committed to monthly payments and voluntary labor connected to programming and installation. Over nearly twenty years these contributions have accumulated to well over one million Norwegian kroner. With the opening of BABEL’s new premises we have started a long-planned pilot collaboration with Lilleby School, where all pupils from first to fourth grade visit each exhibition as part of their school activities. The visits offer an early and informal introduction to contemporary art, aiming to increase accessibility, stimulate curiosity and conversation, and build long term connections between BABEL and the local community. The project is, to our knowledge, unique in Norway and is intended to develop into a permanent collaboration. In this way BABEL functions both as a professional platform for artists and as an open meeting place where audiences encounter contemporary art on the artists’ own terms.
