“My work is made in relation to the space or context in which it will be seen, whether it is an outdoor piece, public commission or an exhibition in a gallery or institution. The space surrounding the sculptures, the architecture and the landscape is part of what defines and shapes the works.”
—Camilla Løw

Select works

… In Camilla Løw’s practice, art is considered as an element among other elements. Her sculptures are even-footed and talkative, not seeking to surpass the forms and features that make up their surroundings but to bring them into conversation. A dialogue like this is made of absence as well as presence, the void becoming a tension, a lack, or an invitation. …
—Max L Zarzycki, Art in the everyday
(continue reading here)

Exhibitions and projects

Market Art Fair
with ISCA Gallery, Stockholm (Sweden), 2023

Supported by the OCA – Office of Contemporary Art, Norway, these works further Camilla’s interest in the architectural power of colour.

Jagged Sky
A commission from Jotun AS, the Norwegian-based paints and performance coatings company (2023-23)

“I consider the works in this commission as a set of interactions with the viewer that depend on the viewer’s position and movements. Painted with Jotun’s own paint, each of these works heighten the architectural feel of Jotun’s offices by making visceral the relations between the different levels of the building; in turn, accentuating one’s position within this space.”
— Camilla Løw, 2023

Space Junk
ISCA Gallery, Oslo (Norway), 2021

Moving away from the ground, this new series of hanging sculptures and wall pieces compellingly explore and subvert hierarchical dynamics of materials and their attributed values through surface, quality, and finish.

[…]

Taking a departure from her first exhibition at the gallery which focused heavily on gravity and sculptural honesty with a series of dense, stacked concrete tubes, this new set of works reference illusions, the physical equivalent of camera tricks and post-industrial light and magic. Løw uses an extensive array of media including mirrors, ropes, hooks, perforated steel, spray paint and perspex tubes filled with lacquer paint. Bent, shaped and corrupted, these materials are transformed and transmuted, becoming aerial, atmospheric and cosmic; space junk.
—exhibition text
(continue reading here)

Broken Thrones
Skulpturstopp, Ullensaker (Norway), 2020

“It’s important that an artwork in the public space is exciting to look at, but just as important is that the art makes you look at the surroundings in a new way. I hope the sculpture will open people up to a more poetic reading of the surrounding landscape.”
—Camilla Løw
(continue reading about the project here)

High Rise
ISCA Gallery, Oslo (Norway), 2020

… Through bold, precise forms and choice materials, Løw contemplates the relationship of the body to the construction of modern society’s infrastructures in the cities and landscapes we inhabit.

[…]

Cast concrete columns, consisting of individual stacked hollow cubes and tubes, populate the gallery floor. Their presence expresses an immediacy in how they occupy space and interact with the surroundings through their materiality, surface and volume. Bright colours dazzle against the coldness of raw concrete, each part stacked and delicately balanced, infusing the work with a lightness and playfulness that betrays their inherent physical weight. It is through this upending of conventions and her distinct visual language that Løw effectively pushes forward and expands the boundaries of modernist sculptural tradition.
—exhibition text
(continue reading here)

Origami: Kristianslyst skole
Kristianslyst secondary school, Stavanger (Norway), 2020

The commission came about through a Stavanger kommune competition to redesign the hall of Kristianslyst, a secondary school specialising in drama and music. The space, functioning as a passage to all classrooms, holds a stage and is filled with technical equipment. I wanted to change the perception of the hall and proposed six hanging geometric sculptures which also function as lights inspired by origami, playing into the idea of form and function, and a geometric print wallpaper on one wall to continue the theme.
—Camilla Løw, 2020
(continue reading here)

Alfabet
Belmacz, London (UK), 2019-2020

Referring to the work of Danish poet Inger Christensen (1935 – 2009), in this exhibition Løw follows a self-imposed order in order to gain a sense of release. Just as each of Christensen’s poems are formed from symbols and associations, in Alfabet letters enable Løw. Indeed, walking through the exhibition spaces creates the possibility to submerge into optical structures and the coded vortex of language.
—exhibition text
(continue reading here)

Tistler
Holmen skole, Oslo (Norway), 2018

… The series of seven unique sculptures have a common expression with a unifying identity, even though they are scattered around the school grounds. The sculptures act as meeting places. They can be extras in a game, and they can encourage learning about colour, geometry, rhythm and movement. The sculptures stimulate the curiosity of the playing children, they are attentively playful and withdrawn wondering at the same time. …
—Marianne Hall
(continue reading here)

Instrumental
Fullersta Gård, Huddinge (Sweden), 2018

Artistry from two different generations meets in the exhibition Instrumental. Gert Marcus, who painted the high-rise buildings in Grantorp in Flemingsberg and Camilla Løw, one of the most interesting artists in contemporary art.
—exhibition text
(continue reading here)

Morgenen var så stille
Frogner school and Culture centre, Sørum (Norway), 2017

Nine powder-coated alloy and steel beams rise, dotting the forecourt of the Frogner school and Culture centre. Placed as to capture the movement of the sun, this mix of colour-filled and chrome-polished columns reflect the innate quietness of the sidereal day but also the joy of days filled with expanding horizons.

Echo
Skjold garrison, Porsanger (Norway), 2017

Commissioned by KORO Public Art Norway, Echo is a coloured concrete form situated within Skjold garrison. Recalling the soft colours of its surrounding countryside, this sculpture provides subtly blends into the army barracks, uniting architecture and nature.

Klang
Utsättaregränden, Norra Fäladen, Lund (Sweden), 2017

… Stylistically, Løw’s work can be described as minimalism, concretism or formalism. Or as a combination of all three. All the works consist of a square and a “stem” that fits together seamlessly. The squares have been bent to create three-dimensional shapes, even the “trunk” has been bent to follow the angle of the square. The works are made of corten steel, a material that rusts to a certain limit and then retains its patina, a deep orange color. The works have no front or back, but can be seen from all sides. All welding edges are visible, the constructions are raw and honest, they hide nothing. At first glance, the three works may look identical, but they all have their own character, their unique appearance. They are individual works, just as we humans who have to relate to the works are all unique.
[…]
Precisely the relationship between man and environment is something that was important to Løw when she created her sculptural group. She worked based on a working title, “Klang”, which refers to the material’s inherent sound but also the rhythms that arise between the works and in the inherent spaces. The three geometric trees create a dialogue with the trees in the surroundings but also with the nearby architecture. The steel structures can be perceived as closed, but their placement is characterized by openness.
—Isac Nordgren Jonasson
(continue reading here)

Eye in the Sky
Kunstnerforbundet, Oslo (Norway), 2016

… [in this exhibition] Løw will show a series of new works defined by the architecture in the Kunstnerforbundet. […] By removing some of the panes in the ceiling of the main exhibition hall, she opens up the glass ceiling and shows its underlying construction, attaching her hanging sculptures to these ceiling beams In this way, the eye can follow the sculpture from the hall and out of the gallery space: a move that will help us see the space in a completely new way.
[…]
Over the past ten years, Løw has distinguished himself with abstract sculptures and spatial constellations. Her art is rich in references to the history of abstract art and trends such as minimalism, constructivism, Bauhaus and De Stilj. In this way, she adds new knowledge and experience to abstract art’s focus on ideology, production, form, colour, space, body and movement. The interaction between the sculptures and the architecture turns Løw’s exhibition into spatial art in the extension of the Constructivists’ experiments with the exhibition space in the early 20th century.
—exhibition text (translated)
(continue reading here)

Nerves and Muscles
Elastic, Malmö (Sweden), 2015

The simplest impression is not always synonymous with the easiest or less complex of choices, rather it’s the less visually complex path that often harbors deeper meaning otherwise undetected. There is a peculiar triad of creative directions present in this show: One trajectory involves towerlike beams that either are white-washed or incorporate vibrant colors.
[…]
This collection of pieces appeals to the eye with its emphasis on primary colors, geometric symmetry, and a spirited interaction between materials. The positioning of works in the space is as if the artist has prepared a stage for a performance—but for objects instead of humans. One can here depend upon the imagination to ignite intellect and emotion.
—Jacquelyn Davis, for Art Forum
(continue reading here)

Spring Rain
Elastic, Malmö (Sweden), 2013

… Løw’s formal vocabulary—which is grounded in iconic visual languages of the Euro-American modernist canon, from Constructivism and De Stijl to Bauhaus and Minimalism—tends to summon social-utopian ambitions and structuralist ideas. Distancing the work from her predecessors’ universalizing tendencies as well as the desire for artistic autonomy, Løw embeds her sculptures in idiosyncratic reference systems, which are often unspoken or obscure. Spring Rain (2013), a series of angular concrete vessels inside low-hanging oak frames conjured up notions both of utilitarian design and the modular uniformity of industrial manufacture. Indeed, these sculptures looked as though they could be removed from their frames and used in Ikebana compositions—like decor without embellishment. According to Løw, the work takes its title from a song by a 1980s Australian pop-band called The Go-Betweens. Immediately preceding the chorus, it contains the refrain: “when will change come / just like spring rain?” It’s an appropriate question for an artist dealing with historical styles and formal repetition. …
—Matthew Rana, for e-flux Criticism 
(read the article here)

Neon Winter
Henie Onstad Kunstsenter, Høvikodden (Norway), 2012

Camilla Løw has made a name for herself in recent years with her unique sculptural style. She works within a time-honoured sculptural tradition and in a stringent modernist idiom at the same time that she puts her own stamp on it. Her sculptures are at times offbeat and comical, at others streamlined and more introverted. Some are lightweight and others are massive in format.
—Caroline Ugelstad
(further information here)

The Space of Shape-Time
Nasjonalmuseet – Museet for samtidskunst, Oslo (Norway), 2012

Camilla Løw’s exhibition The Space of Shape-Time draws us into a universe populated by abstract, module-based objects made of wood, concrete, and metal which display a proximity to the language of architecture. References to Minimal Art and Constructivism are visible, but Løw’s sculptures take on a different presence as they assume human scale, interacting with each other and their surroundings.

[…]

Mixing influences from modern design, popular culture, street art, and urban cityscapes, Camilla Løw uses the exhibition setting to propose new environments where form, place, and time play equal roles. She places and piles up, she layers and props the single components, playing with the idea of the fourth dimension in relativity theory, in which space and time are interpreted as one continuum. Løw treats the exhibition as a spatial and durational event, populated both by subtle anthropomorphic sculptures and the audience alike.
—exhibition text 
(continue reading here)

Alphabet Street
Statoil Headquarters, Snarøya (Norway), 2012

As the recipient of the Statoil art award, Alphabet Street was commissioned by Claes Søderquist for the Statoil Art Collection. The large outdoor work celebrates the architectural facade of Statoil’s headquarters.

Straight Letters
Dundee Contemporary Arts, Dundee (UK), 2008

Perhaps the most significant aspect of the work of Camilla Løw is the way in which she uses ‘fixed’ prefabricated materials such as wood and metal to articulate something about the heterogeneous quality of social life.
[…]
The titles of her works orient the viewer away from the industrial resonances of the materials, towards a consideration of the social implications of architecture and design.
—Sarah Lowndes, Straight Letters
(continue reading here)

Løw’s identically-sized cubes, both by their process and presence, underscore tensions between their status as reproducable, untitled readymades and customisable, configured art works.
—Isla Leaver-Yap, Report: Customising the New Monument
(continue reading here)

Select texts and publications

> Max L Zarzycki, 2023. Camilla Løw, Art in the everyday

>Monica Khemsurov, 2015. Oslo’s Camilla Løw on Her Graphic, Geometric Sculptures, Sight Unseen 

> Matthew Rana, 2013. Camilla Løw’s “Spring Rain,” e-flux Criticism

> Sarah Lowndes, 2008. Straight Letters 

Camilla Løw: utendørs outdoors

utendørs outdoors (2019) is Camilla’s first monographic publication; specifically focusing on her outdoor sculptures. The publication features a foreword by artist and art critic Sune Nordgren, with further texts by architect Alison Crawshaw, art historian and curator Lavinia Filippi and an interview with gallerist and designer Julia Muggenburg.

ISBN: 978 – 3 – 903320 – 17 – 8

Camilla Løw: Neon Winter & Social Geometry

Published on the occasion of Camilla Løw’s public commissions Neon Winter, 2012 and Social Geometry, 2012, at Henie Onstad Art Center, Norway. With a text by Caroline Ugelstad and a conversation between the artist and Ingvild Krogvig.

ISBN: 978 – 82 – 8294 – 006 – 1

Camilla Løw: The Space of Shape-Time

The exhibition The Space of Shape-Time was the first major display of Camilla Løw’s work in Norway. The texts in this richly illustrated catalogue were written by the exhibition’s curator Randi Godø and by philosopher, curator and author Dieter Roelstraete.

ISBN: 978 – 82 – 8154 – 066 – 8

Camilla Løw: Straight Letters

Published for the exhibition Straight Letters, at Dundee Contemporary Arts and the Pier Arts Centre (2008). The publication includes texts by Michael Archer and Dr Sarah Lowndes.

ISBN: 978 – 0 – 9558769 – 0 – 5

Artist bio

Camilla Løw (b.1976, Oslo, Norway), graduated with a BA in Fine Art from the Glasgow School of Art. Through a visual language that recalls Constructivism and Minimalism, Camilla uses industrial materials to carefully compose her structural form. Embracing the sites and the specificities of the materials she works with, Camilla’s work allows for a redefinition of space, in turn, allowing new relations to emerge.

Select exhibitions include: Virksomheten [The business], Kunstnerforbundet, Oslo (2023);  Flower in the Wind, Belmacz, London (2023); Solo Exhibition, Camilla Løw, ISCA at Market Art Fair, Stockholm (2023); Carla Åhlander & Camilla Løw, Belmacz, London (2022);  GIRL MEETS GIRL, Vestfossen Kunstlaboratorium, Norway (2022); Space Junk, ISCA Gallery, Oslo (2021);  High Rise, ISCA Gallery, Oslo (2020); Alfabet, Belmacz, London (2019); B, Belmacz, London (2019); INSTRUMENTAL (Camilla Løw & Gert Marcus), Fullersta Gård, Huddinge (2018); Collective Collaborations, British Council Collection (touring exhibition) (2018-19); Alpenglühen – 100 years of Ettore Sottsass Jr, Belmacz, London (2017); Eye In The Sky, Kunstnerforbundet, Oslo (2016); NN-A NN-A NN -A – New Norwegian Abstraction, Astrup Fearnley Museum, Oslo (2015); Vibrant Matter, KIOSK, Ghent (2015); Nerves and Muscles, Elastic Gallery, Stockholm (2015); Chain On Chain, Belmacz, London (2014); Dumb Rocks, Belmacz, London (2013); The Space of Shape-Time, The National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design, Oslo (2012). The Vigeland Museum, Oslo and Dave Allen/Camilla Løw, Frieze Focus, Frieze Art Fair, London (2012). Culture & Leisure, New Art Centre, Roche Court, Salisbury (2010); Social Geometry, Schmidt & Handrup, Cologne (2010); M, Gallery AHO, Oslo (2009); New Ruins, Bergen Kunsthall (2008); Embraced Open Reassembled, Sutton Lane, London (2008); Straight Letters, Dundee Contemporary Arts, Dundee (2008); Straight Letters, Pier Arts Centre, Orkney (2008); Broken Windows, Elastic Gallery, Malmø (2007); Henriette Grahnert / Camilla Løw, Sutton Lane, Paris (2006); Camilla Løw, Jack Hanley Gallery, San Francisco (2005).

Public commissions include: Borgen, Asker, Norway (forthcoming); Jagged Sky, Jotun AS, Sandefjord, Norway (2022); Broken Thrones, Skulpturstopp, Sparebankstiftelsen, Ullensaker kommune, Norway (2020); Origami, Kristianslyst ungdomskole, Stavanger, Norway (2020); The London System, Jeddah, Saudi-Arabia (2020); Tistler, Holmen Skole, Oslo, Norway (2018); Klang, Lund, Kunsthall Lund, Sweden (2018); Echo, Skjold Leir, Troms, Norway (2017); Morgenen var så stille, Frogner skole, Sørumsand, Norway (2017); Oscillations, Sentralen, Sparebankstiftelsen, Oslo, Norway (2016); Double Dynamic, KhiO, Oslo School of Fine Arts, Oslo, Norway (2012); Neon Winter, Social Geometry, Henie Onstad Kunstsenter, Høvikodden (2012); Alphabet Street, Statoil Headquarters, Oslo, Norway (2012); Instrument, Skien Familiesenter, Oslo, Norway (2012); Noon and Midnight, New Art Centre, Roche Court, Salisbury, UK (2009); The Modern Dance, Haugaland Tingrett, Haugesund, Norway (2008).

Camilla’s work features in numerous public collections, including: the Asker municipality art collection, Norway; Skulpturstopp sculpture park, Norway; Pier Arts Centre, UK; The National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design, Norway; The British Arts Council Collection, UK; The Government Art Collection, UK; Region Skåne, Sweden; The Ruppert Collection of post-1945 Concrete Art Museum in Kultuspeicher, Wurzberg, Germany; The Statoil Art Collection, Norway; The Storebrand Art Collection, Norway; Nasjonalmuseet for kunst, arkitektur og design Henie Onstad; The Arts Council Collection, UK; The Jotun Art Collection, Norway; MIT Visual Art Collection, USA.

Grants, nominations and prizes include:
Statens arbeidsstipend for etablerte kunstnere 10 år (2022); Nominated for Ullensaker Architecture prize (2022); Statens arbeids stipend 2 år (2020); 2017 Billedkunstnernes vederlagsfond 3 år (2020); Statens arbeids stipend 5 år (2010); Ingrid Lindback Langaards stipend (2010); Shortlisted for Carnegie Art Award (2010); Statens arbeids stipend for yngre kunstnere 3 år (2007); Ingrid Lindback Langaards stipend (2007); Statoil Art Award (2007); Scottish Arts Council (2004); Scottish Arts Council (2003); Glasgow School of Art Graduate Award (2001).

Further inclusions in texts and publications
Alpengluchen 100 years of Ettore Sottsass Jr, 2018; Contemporary Art in Scandinavia, Black Dog Publishing, London, 2016; Nordic Contemporary Art, Thames and Hudson, 2014; Ny norsk kunst etter 1990, Øystein Ustvedt, 2011; Grey Cells. Camilla Løw and Order, Dieter Roelstraete, Mousse Magazine, 2009. Vitamin 3-D, New Perspectives in Sculpture and Installation, Phaidon, 2009; All That is Solid Melts Into Air, MuHKA, Antwerp, 2009; Language of Vision, Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art, Middlesbrough, 2007; StatoilHydro – Art Grant, Kunstnerforbundet, Oslo, 2007; DUMP: Postmodern Sculpture in the Dissolved Field”, The National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design, Oslo, 2007; How to Improve the World – British Art 1946-2006, Hayward Gallery, 2006; Contemporary Nordic Sculpture 1980 – 2005, Wanås Foundation, 2005; Britannia Works, The British Council, Athen, 2005; East International, Norwich School of Art and Design, 2005; The Echo Show, Tramway, Glasgow, 2005; Greyscale/CMYK, NIFCA, 2005.

Camilla lives and works in Oslo, where she is Professor; Art and Craft at the Oslo National Academy of the Arts.