Maia Urstad

Maia Urstad is an artist based in Bergen, Norway, working at the intersection of audio and visual art. Technological progress and communications technology are pervasive themes in her projects, where she uses radio as a key audio, visual, and conceptual element, commenting on the temporary nature of present technology, and what traces and stories we leave behind when new inventions enter our daily lives.

She studied at the Bergen National Academy of the Arts, while she also has a background in rock music. In 2017, she was appointed as City Sound Artist of Bonn, creating “Time-Tone-Passages” – a 40-channel site-specific sound installation, based on material from the radio archive of Deutsche Welle, Germany. The installation was open to the public by early 2019.

Maia Urstad has been an active contributor to the Norwegian and international contemporary art scene since the mid-eighties. She is part of the international sound art collective Freq_out curated by CM von Hausswolff, and a co-founder of Lydgalleriet, Bergen. She has created light and sound installations in collaboration with artist Hilde Hauan Johnsen since 2007, and together with artist Anton Kats she formed Project MAKU following a residency at Bergen Kunsthall in 2018.

Her solo and collaboration work has been presented at spaces such as: Bergen Kunsthall, Norway; Bonnhoeren, Germany; Fundacion Proa, Argentina; Radiorevolten, Germany; Off the Page, Norway; Trafo Kunsthall Oslo, Norway; High Zero Festival, USA; Cafe OTO, London, UK; Barents Spektakel, Norway; Singuhr Sound Gallery, Germany; Lydgalleriet in Bergen, Visningsrommet USF, Norway; Moderna Museet, Sweden; The 5th Marrakech Biennial, Morocco; KODE – Bergen Art Museum, Norway; Johannesburg Art Gallery, South Africa; Prefix ICA in Toronto, Canada; and Electrohype i Malmö Konsthall, Sweden. Permanent installasjon i Kongsvinger Festning and Herdla Museum (NO). Her work is also exhibited as permanent installations at Kongsvinger Museum and Herdla Museum in Norway. www.maia.no