There is a bird in my pillow, 2023
Midtun Dowling presents: Pharmakon, by Njål Lunde
Midtun Dowling is proud to present Pharmakon, a new exhibition by Norwegian contemporary artist Njål Lunde.
Njål Lunde (b. 1973) is a multidisciplinary artist based in Haugesund, Norway. He was educated at the National Academy of Fine Arts in Oslo and has, over several decades, developed an extensive artistic practice spanning drawing, photography, printmaking, sculpture, and animation. Lunde has exhibited widely in Norway, including multiple presentations at the National Annual Exhibition (Høstutstillingen), and is represented in both public and private collections.
The exhibition Pharmakon takes its point of departure in Jacques Derrida’s concept of a fundamental duality—something that functions simultaneously as remedy and poison. Through woodcut and relief works in wood, Lunde explores how structures, both material and symbolic, contain within them the potential for their own destabilization.
In these works, digital and manual processes intersect: the algorithmic repetition of CNC milling is set against the irreversible intervention of the hand. The result is a sustained tension between control and rupture, where the material emerges as an active site of negotiation.
The motifs move between geometric fragments, industrial structures, and organic formations, appearing as residual structures—traces of spatial, political, and symbolic organization. The works operate in a space between recognition and abstraction, opening up for multiple and context-dependent interpretations.
In Pharmakon, nature and technology emerge as parallel systems in continuous transformation. Construction and deconstruction appear as mutually dependent processes.
Opening: April 11, 2026
Exhibition period: May 24, 2026
Venue: Midtun Dowling
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