Norwegian church to host LGBT art exhibition

"Queerness and religion have often been seen as a contradiction from both sides. But two years ago, we saw a tendency for artworks to express a spiritual longing and search, not just criticism or conflict", says Frederick Nathanael, who is the chairman of Pride Art, to the Christian daily Vart Land.

This development was one of the reasons there now is a 'Queer Spirit festival' in Culture Church Jacob in the Norwegian capital of Oslo. While the church parish was closed in the 1980s, the church was reopened in 2000 for cultural events and services.

Perspective

Pride Art, which slogan is “promoting queer art and culture on queer premises”, plans to fill the church space with performance art, concerts and poetry about LGBT-related themes. In the exhibition, artists "seek to give a different perspective on faith, religion and spirituality", Vart Land writes.

According to Nathanael, the exhibition has become a bridge-building project that changes the relationship between queer people and the church. "With this project, we really feel that the church has embraced us."

The queer perspective on what it means to be a church can also challenge and enrich everyone's image of what it is to be a church, Nathanael believes. "We have met people after the exhibition who cry and say that this is the strongest meeting they have had with the Church of Norway, because we bring our pain into the church room, but also hope."

Political

Isn't the event a political expression? And should that be possible in a church, wonders the reporter of Vart Land. Nathanael acknowledges that the exhibition is political. "But it must be said that the Culture Church Jacob allows for several other expressions that are not normally allowed in the church space. But the room is not consecrated, and it is a point for the church to have Sunday masses here - so on Sunday, there will be a Sunday mass as part of the festival."