Intermezzo i arbeiderklassen* (Intermezzo in the working class)

Intermezzo i arbeiderklassen* (Intermezzo in the working class) was founded in the working class background of the performing artists Karstein Solli and Berit Rusten.

"The past few years we, as artists, have had long conversations about our class background and how this has influenced us. The conversations have felt a little absurd, due to the topic being connected to terms such as class and social belonging, issues other define as irrelevant or imaginary", they say.

The artistic aim of Intermezzo i arbeiderklassen is connected to what Pierre Bourdieu defined as habitus. Solli and Rusten sought to challenge his term(s) from their own perspectives as artists, discussing what they see and experience as a non-existent or not contemporary term in the established art world or in established Norway as a whole. The aim was to give "this non-existent class" a clearer outline, a nuanced and many-layered term related to hybrid contemporary art expressions.

Intermezzo i arbeiderklassen by Karstein Solli Productions and Panter Tanter Produksjoner was supported by Arts Council Norway, The Audio Visual Fund, The Fund for Performing Artists, the municipality of Trondheim and Norwegian Writers Center.

Sources: Panter Tanter, http://www.pantertanter.com/images/intermezzo_magasin.pdf, 21.11.2010

Karstein Solli Productions, http://www.karstein.no/intermezzo.html, 21.11.2010

*Not yet translated into English. The title within parentheses is the Norwegian title's literal meaning.