The art at Sentralen

Three stained glass windows by Are Mokkelbost give their light to Sentralen's two dining places on the ground floor.

Whether you are a visitor or a passer-by, you can experience three large solid stained glass windows in the large windows of Sentralen's café and restaurant.

The images are transparent so  you can see through them and into Sentralen.

Are Mokkelbost (b.1976) is a graduate of the Academy of Fine Arts in Oslo from 1997 to 2002. He is perhaps best known for his detailed and poetic collages that are extremely detailed and grand. He uses materials from magazines, but has also worked with glass and textile. In addition to being a visual artist, Mokkelbost is also a musician and composer and plays in several bands.

Mokkelbost has exhibited in Antwerp, Paris, New York, Rotterdam, Oslo, Moss and Los Angeles, among others. He has been acquired by, among others, DNB, UD, Hydro, Kunst på Arbeidsplassen and Henie Onstad Kunstsenter (through Kunstgaven, funded by Sparebankstiftelsen DNB).

Above the bar in Marmorsalen, Camilla Løw has left her distinctive mark on Sentralen's biggest stage. From the ceiling of Marmorsalen hang three neon light installations, placed above the bar. The lamps are shaped like lightning and are three meters long. The minimalist and clean look stands in stark contrast to the building's massive, baroque architecture. The work has been titled Oscillations, and Løw links it to the song of the same name by the band Silver apples.

Camilla Løw (b.1976) is a graduate of Glasgow School of Art from 1998 to 2001. Since then, she has exhibited in Edinburgh, San Francisco, Paris, Malmö, Berlin, London, Bergen, New York, Cologne, Athens and Stockholm, among others. In 2012 she had a solo exhibition in the Museum of Contemporary Art in Oslo. Løw often works with clear primary colors and geometric shapes and structures.

She likes to use the basic shapes circle, cube and triangle, and several of her sculptures are in materials such as plexiglass, steel, wood, plastic and concrete.

Løw is represented by the galleries Elastic in Malmö and Jack Henley in New York, and her works have been purchased for Henie Onstad Kunstsenters Sculpture Park through Kunstgaven, funded by Sparebankstiftelsen DNB. Løw was the first to receive Statoil's artist grant in 2007.

The piece in Vinterhagen actively uses the architecture of the physical core of Sentralen and has a built-in utility function. It may at first glance look like part of the stairwell and is in the same material as the handrail. The installation follows the railing upwards, but gradually detaches itself and takes its own paths upwards towards the roof. The work has been titled The Icarus Complex and alludes to the myth of Icarus, who in Greek mythology was the son of the artisan and artist Diadalos. Together they were to escape from captivity using wings made of wax and feathers. Against his father's advice to fly in detours after him, Icarus flew too close to the sun, and his wings melted and he drowned in the sea.

“The whole can be read as a picture that the shortest path to the goal in a creative process is not necessarily a straight line” - Christensen, Dahl.

Jan Christensen (b.1977) is a graduate of the Oslo School of Arts and Crafts from 1997 to 2000. He has a diverse oeuvre and works in many different media and techniques, including sculpture, painting, drawing and photography, often in large formats. Christensen has had a number of solo exhibitions both in Norway and abroad, including in New York, Berlin, Oslo, Bern, Bergen, Munich, Kristiansand, Viborg, Moss and Drammen.

Christensen often collaborates with Marius Dahl (b.1969), and together they have delivered a wide range of art projects in public and private contexts in Norway. Dahl has previously resided 15 years in Istanbul, and has participated in many exhibition projects in Turkey. Galleri Ask, Åsgårdstrand (solo exhibition) and the Scholarship Exhibition 2015 at Buskerud Kunstsenter in Drammen are among the places he has had exhibitions in Norway.

Hanne Friis has created the sculpture that hangs in Gullhallen on the third floor.

When Hanne Friis visited Sentralen for the first time, she had an idea of wanting to create a sculpture in gold. The idea came from the building's history as the head office of Christiania Sparebank, which housed people's values and savings, and that Sentralen should now accommodate values of a completely different nature.

‍ “With gold-colored textiles as a starting point, I want to create an open work that can bring many different and contradictory associations and thoughts. It can be about what value is, about knowing the price of everything but not the value of something, or the difference between real and illegitimate good. There is not gold in everything that glitters.” - Hanne Friis

The gold sculpture looks like it grows out of the area where wall and ceiling meet, and is made of fabric. The rest of the room is in raw concrete and has a rough expression that contrasts with the gleaming gold sculpture.

Hanne Friis was educated at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in Trondheim from 1992 to 1996 in painting and sculpture, but is best known for her sculptural works in textiles. She works with time-consuming needlework techniques in which meters of textile are folded, sewn or wound together into compact, organic sculptures that provide an experience of growth and change. Her works have been acquired by several Norwegian museums and collections.

Vanessa Baird has decorated the passageway outside the Gymnasium on the fourth floor.

In the space that has been named Galleriet, Baird has chosen to paint a mural directly on the wall which is approximately 10 metres long.

Baird has painted the ocean with the horizon just above the windows and sandy beach furthest down towards the floor. In the water people and rescue rings floats. On the beach, various personal belongings are washed up; suitcases, shoes, jewelry and mobile phones. Some are warming themselves around a bonfire, and a girl looks out over the sea at those who come swimming towards the beach — and at us who are watching the work. The mural bears strong associations with the enormous tragedy unfolding in the Mediterranean, where people risk their lives fleeing war.

Vanessa Baird was a graduate of the State Crafts and Art Industry School from 1982 to 1985 and has an MA from the Royal College of Art in London. She works mainly with drawing and painting on paper, both in small and large formats. Her works are often in bright, harmonious tones and colors but with a dark and disturbing undertone in detailed, surreal fairy-tale worlds.

Anette Moi has painted the mural on the wall of the Mynt bar, located on the roof terrace.

Anette Moi is a Norwegian illustrator, artist and designer based in Stavanger.

With degrees from Norges Kreative Fagskole in Stavanger and London Metropolitan in England, Moi has been active as a freelance illustrator since 2013.

Known for her colourful, playful and naive style, she uses humour to comment on social conditions and current events, with a particular interest in animal rights, equality and human rights.

Moi had her first solo exhibition in 2012 and has since worked full-time as an artist and illustrator, participating in several solo and group exhibitions, decorating commissions, and murals for public and private actors, as well as publishing books and designing clothing. She is also affiliated with the illustration agency ByHands and has worked with a number of well-known clients including the Washington Post, Vipps and Coop. Her work ranges widely, from humorous portraits to socially critical illustrations.

Photographer Tom Sandberg has captured the images of the instruments hanging on the first floor meeting rooms and on the elevator shaft.

The images are of a selection of the instrument collection of Dextra Musica.

The instrument collection of Dextra Musica is one of the world's foremost collections of stringed instruments.

Dextra Musica, together with Sentralen, is one of the subsidiaries of Sparebankstiftelsen DNB. The company invests in rare instruments, which are loaned to some of Norway's most famous musicians.

You can read more about Dextra Musica here.

Tom Sandberg was a prominent Norwegian fine art photographer known for his black and white images, which often had an intense sense of presence. His photographic work is characterised by the use of coarse-grained film and a tendency towards the abstract.

Sandberg studied photography in England in the 1970s, where he was influenced by both the English and American photography traditions. This laid the foundation for his artistic expression. He was a central figure in the creation of an artistic photography environment in Norway, and contributed significantly to the recognition of photography as an art form. Sandberg's images have been exhibited and recognized internationally, and have been acquired for important collections.