Thora Dolven Balke (NO)

NŌUA presents Bunnløs, Thora Dolven Balke's first solo exhibition in North Norway. The show consists of two new large works, a photosculpture collage printed on glass panels and a sound and light installation, both inspired by the experience of vertigo. In the exhibition's central scenography, speakers mounted in tall steel gates play a soundwork made in collaboration with composer Henrik Skram. Comprising an archive of recorded sound effects and an orchestral score for strings, the work is based on auditory devices in film used to indicate a fall, such as an extended “wacky fall” in cartoons, and the illusion created by a Shepard-Risset glissando or a so-called endless scale, a descent that never lands. This disorienting pull between solidity and dissolution, losing the point of gravity within a frame of recognisability and equilibrium is also seen in the photographic works, where images of shipwrecks, cityscapes and close-up everyday scenes merge into each other. Bunnløs shifts between perspectives and lets two-dimensional surfaces crumble and drop into the depths, a seemingly bottomless fall that allows you to rest in the extended moment, as in a sunset that glides unnoticed into sunrise.

In connection with the exhibition opening, we are holding a summer party/Sunday lounge in NOUA's seminar room after the opening. There will be music with DJ Brut playing, cocktails, and opportunities to buy drinks from the bar. Welcome!

Thora Dolven Balke lives and works between Oslo, Lofoten and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Her practice is based on photography and moving images, shown in sculptural and scenographic installations alongside sound and objects cast in materials such as silicone, soap or epoxy. Dolven Balke's practice is socially engaged, often curatorial and collaborative. Recent exhibitions include Modo Host, Entrée, Bergen (2025); Passing Motherhood, Hannah Ryggen Triennalen, Trondheim Kunsthall (2025); Human Scale, Melk, Oslo (2024); Modo Host, CAMA, São Paulo (2024); Moon in Your Mouth, UKS (2023) and False Spring, Lydgalleriet (2020).

The exhibition was conceived and produced with the support of Atelier Kunstnerforbundet.

The exhibition is supported by North Norwegian Art Center, KiN regional project funding, the Audio and Visual Fund, Arts and Culture Norway and BKV