B-open inviterer aktører fra det profesjonelle kunstfeltet til fritt å besøke kunstnere som har åpent atelier under festivalen.
Årets inviterte gjester til B-open 2025
Ifrah Osman/Kunsthall Oslo (N)
Ifrah Osman is an anti-disciplinary curator and mediator with a background in Peace and Conflict Studies. Her practice is shaped by critical research, inclusive methods, and transnational perspectives. Through this approach, she develops innovative ways to make contemporary art accessible, relevant, and responsive across audiences, formats, and geographies. Osman has worked with institutions including MUNCH, KORO, Bergen Kunsthall, and Kunsthall Oslo. She has developed multilingual public programmes, curated exhibitions, and led a major embassy commission in Nairobi, Kenya. Osman’s work explores the intersection of language and art, creating projects deeply rooted in African cultures while resonating in a global context. Currently, she is Program Developer at Kunsthall Oslo and the curator for KORO’s art project at the Norwegian Embassy in Nairobi.
kunsthalloslo.no
Maria Wettergren/Galerie Maria Wettergren, Paris (FR)
Maria Wettergren is a Danish-born (now Paris-based) art dealer and gallery owner celebrated for her influential role in promoting contemporary Scandinavian art and design. She launched Galerie Maria Wettergren in Paris in 2010, originally located in Saint‑Germain‑des‑Prés, before moving to a significantly larger and light-filled space in Le Marais (121 rue Vieille‑du‑Temple) in 2020.
The gallery is known for championing contemporary Scandinavian art and design, with a strong emphasis on interdisciplinary dialogues between art, design, architecture, and craft. It has a particular interest in textile arts, often spotlighting works by women artists. Before launching her own gallery, Wettergren studied Art History and directed the Paris branch of Copenhagen’s Dansk Møbelkunst, which specialized in rare Danish furniture from the 1920s–70s. This role served as valuable preparation for her later focus on contemporary and experimental design. Her gallery hosts monographic shows, issues catalogues, and has facilitated numerous collaborations and acquisitions by prestigious institutions such as the Centre Pompidou (Paris), Smithsonian Cooper‑Hewitt (New York), National Gallery of Victoria (Melbourne), mudac (Lausanne), and Musée des Arts Décoratifs (Paris). Galerie Maria Wettergren regularly appears at major international fairs—including TEFAF New York & Maastricht, FIAC Hors les Murs, Design Miami/Basel, PAD Paris/London, and FOG Design & Art, San Francisco. In 2013, she was included in the Art + Auction magazine’s Power 100, which lists the 100 most important personalities in the art world. In 2014, she became the first gallery owner ever to receive the Finn Juhl Architecture Prize, honoring her contributions to promoting Scandinavian artists internationally. Wettergren views her gallery as a pioneering platform for “design art,” blending poetic experimentation with meticulous craftsmanship. She champions profoundly original works that transcend traditional commercial design. In her own words: “There can be a lot of poetry embedded in empirical experiments”.
mariawettergren.com
Brian Noguera-Gabrielli/Skog Art Space, Oslo (N)
Brian Noguera-Gabrielli is a Colombian-born medical doctor and multidisciplinary creative with a deep-rooted passion for art and design. Since moving to Norway in 2012, Brian has made a distinctive mark on Oslo’s cultural landscape through his curatorial work and design ventures.
From 2014 to 2022, he founded and led Skogen Design, a renowned interior store specializing in mid-century design in Oslo. At the same time, he was part of the Form publishing house, specializing in mid-century and Norwegian furniture literature. In 2022, he co-founded SKOG Art Space, an unconventional and dynamic gallery that has quickly become a recognized name in the Oslo art scene. Under his curatorial direction, SKOG has participated in notable international art fairs such as Ceramic Brussels and Enter Art Fair in Copenhagen.
Brian’s unique approach to curation has garnered increasing recognition, culminating in his role as a jury member for the Oslo National Academy of the Arts (KHIO) exhibitions in 2025. His work bridges disciplines, cultures, and aesthetics, reflecting a rare combination of medical precision and artistic sensibility.
skogart.org
Ruth Alexander Aitken/Tromsø Kunstforening, Tromsø (N)
Ruth Alexander Aitken (b. 1990) is a Tromsø-based, Scottish curator and artist working with themes around labour, economics and resource distribution, always through the lens of our relationship to the environment and with a goal of lowering the threshold to art. She started the environmental arts/curatorial project Failure, Understanding, Care (& Kunst) with James S Lee in 2018, and the film project, Kinobox, with Sarah Schipschack in 2020, and is part of running the analogue film initiative Polar Film Lab. She previously co-ran the independent art spaces, Kurant Visningsrom in Tromsø, and Generator Projects in Dundee. Currently, she works as a curator and producer at Tromsø Kunstforening (Romssa Daiddasiida/Tromsø Centre for Contemporary Arts). She has a BA(Hons) in Time Based Art and Digital Film from Duncan Of Jordanstone (2012), and an MA in Contemporary Art from Tromsø Kunstakademiet (2018).
tromsokunstforening.no
Ichraf Nasri/curator, Brussels (BE)
Ichraf Nasri is an artist-researcher and curator based in Brussels. Drawn to social norms, customs, and rituals, she explores issues related to domination, resistance, and transmission. With collaboration at the core of her practice, curating has become a natural extension of her artistic work. Through it, she questions Western and patriarchal hegemony in the production and circulation of knowledge.
A decolonial feminist and politically engaged artist, in 2019 she founded Xeno @xeno_exhibitions, a nomadic artistic platform and a practice-based research laboratory on intersectional feminist questions. She is currently a recipient of the FRArt-FNRS artistic research fellowship, where she is developing an experimental investigation into how the circulation of food and culinary practices can challenge the postcolonial social order traditions as potential strategies of resistance. She is also the curator of Tashweesh Festival at Beursschouwburg (Brussels), a feminist arts festival from the SWANA region held in October 2024, and co-curator of Boutures Festival at La Balsamine (Brussels) in June 2025.
Gjester B-open 2024
Filip Zięciak & Jeanette Gunnarsson / Coulisse Gallery, Stockholm
Rachael Harlow / Raven Row, London
Aga Paulina Młyńczak / 16 Nicholson Street, Glasgow
Jessica Williams / Nitja Senter for Samtidskunst
Coast Contemporary er en kunstnerstyrt plattform som jobber for å generere samarbeid mellom kunstnere og deltagende institusjoner. Coast Contemporarys EDITION EIGHT foregår i Oslo 16.-20.september 2024, og internasjonalt program i Bergen 20.-22.september 2024. Deltakere i det internasjonale programmet besøkte B-open 2024.
Coast Contemporary etablerte i 2023 et samarbeid med B-open og Open Studios Stavanger (OSS) om Coast Contemporary prisen som tildeles en kunstner som har deltatt med åpent atelier under B-open og OSS 2023.
Prisen består av finansiert deltakelse og representasjon under Coast Contemporary 2024.
Vinner av Coast Contemporary prisen 2024 er Sveinung Rudjord Unneland