TESTAMENT by Marthe Ramm Fortun

For the 10th edition of Paris Internationale, Femtensesse is thrilled to present a solo exhibition of Norwegian artist Marthe Ramm Fortun (b. 1978, Oslo).

Fortun forms emphatic and meaningful connections with her audience with distinct performance series and site specific sculptural environments. Her ambulating performance practice often calls attention to the vulnerability of individual bodies, confronting a gulf between the historically governed representation of the female body extending to the barriers that surround life and work when you belong to one or more categories of otherness.

At Paris Internationale, Fortun presents TESTAMENT, a performance series that expands on works previously shown at CRAC Alsace and Le Crédac earlier this year. In this work, she connects with the continued relevance of writer Natalie Clifford Barney, who hosted a queer literary salon in Paris from 1908 to 1972. Drawing on findings from the archives at the Sorbonne Doucet Library about Barney and her Temple of Friendship, Fortun interweaves contemporary issues such as rearmament, war, and censorship.

Fortun presents an installation in the booth, interconnected with a series of site-specific performances that extend from the fair and out to public space. These three unique performances, each lasting around 20 minutes, will begin in Femtensesse's booth on the following times:

Tuesday October 15 at 2 pm
Thursday October 17 at 6 pm 
Saturday October 19 at 2 pm

Paris Internationale
17 rue du Faubourg Poissonnière
75009 Paris

As the fair develops, performances unfold to offer new works and the archival material produced amasses to create an archival edition. 

For inquiries, please contact Jenny Kinge at jenny@femtensesse.no / +47 414 29 679

Images copyright and courtesy of the artist and Femtensesse, Oslo. Photo: Julie Hrnčířová

Marthe Ramm Fortun (b. 1978, Oslo) lives and works in Oslo, Norway, where she is adjunct professor at the Oslo National Academy of the Arts. She received her education from New York University, New York and HISK – Higher Institute of Fine Art, Ghent. Recent solo exhibitions include Skriver for ikke å skade at Femtensesse, Oslo (2022); TA VARE! at Kunstnerforbundet, Oslo (2019); Stones to the Burdenat The Munch Museum, Oslo (2016), and Skrive byen, skrive den om at UKS, Oslo (2014). Her work has been featured in numerous group exhibitions and biennials in Norway and abroad including CRAC Alsace, Altkirch; Le Crédac, Ivry-sur-Seine; The National Museum, Oslo; Henie Onstad Art Center, Høvikodden; Kistefos Museum, Jevnaker; Musée d’Art Contemporain, Montreal; Monnaie de Paris, Paris; Gladstone Gallery, Brussels; The Vigeland Museum, Oslo; Komplot, Brussels; BOZAR, Brussels and Performa, New York. Current projects include We Shall Not Write Textbooks (2019-2029), a ten-year performance cycle for the project Minerva’s Voice at the Museum of Natural History in Bergen, curated by Marit Paasche and commissioned by KORO – Public Art Norway. Her work is included in KORO’s collection and The Henie Onstad Collection.