Was is los/ Hva skjer? (2020)

In front of you stands a sculpture that resembles a flat screen – but this is far more than just an ordinary display. Was ist los? / What’s going on?, created by Bjørn Tore Stavang in 2018, plays on a familiar phrase from the German TV series Derrick. Here, it functions both as a wordplay and as an invitation to reflect on how we perceive the world. From a distance, you might notice how the artwork mirrors the surrounding landscape – almost like a form of “surveillance” of its own environment. Stavang has used digital image processing to create an optical illusion: the screen repeats itself inwardly, forming a tunnel-like vision. At the very center, barely noticeable at first glance, is a small lighthouse – reproduced at stamp size, yet rich in symbolic meaning. What do you really see when you look at this work? And how is your gaze shaped by the way the image is presented? Perhaps Was ist los? is a question directed at you – about how we understand the world through what we see.