PEELED: Exploring the Body Through Art, Identity and Transformation
A multidisciplinary exhibition examining vulnerability, memory, and the human experience
In September 2022, Collective Oslo launched PEELED within the historic Ammunition Storage at Akershus Fortress in Oslo. Bringing together artists Malin Bülow, Mette Mygland, and Inti Wang, the exhibition transformed the site into an immersive landscape where themes of identity, transformation, vulnerability, and embodiment unfolded through sculpture, performance, installation, sound, and fashion.
Revealing What Lies Beneath
Centered around the concept of being “peeled,” the exhibition explored what emerges when external layers are stripped away. Through distinct artistic practices, the participating artists investigated emotional memory, bodily experience, gender identity, and personal transformation. Despite their different disciplines and expressions, the works shared a common interest in exposing internal states that often remain unseen.
The exhibition invited visitors into a series of intimate encounters where pain, humor, beauty, uncertainty, and resilience existed side by side, creating a deeply personal yet universally relatable experience.
Three Artistic Perspectives
Visual performance artist Malin Bülow presented a series of elastic sculptural works developed in collaboration with contemporary dancers. Encased within transparent membranes, the performers moved between stillness and motion, creating hypnotic compositions that explored the relationship between interior and exterior worlds.
Artist Mette Mygland contributed expressive paintings and sculptures rooted in personal experiences, self-portraiture, and themes of birth and transformation. Her work approached the body as both a physical reality and an emotional archive, reflecting on memory, healing, and identity.
Through a series of genetically modified garments, Inti Wang explored fluid identity and the possibilities of transformation. The garments functioned as evolving sculptural forms, challenging fixed ideas of gender, body, and self-expression while emphasizing adaptability and personal agency.
Our Approach
Curated by Collective Oslo and Anders Graham, and produced by Collective Oslo, PEELED was conceived as a site-specific experience where contemporary art could interact directly with the history and atmosphere of the Ammunition Storage. The exhibition blended installation, live performance, fashion, sound, and sculpture into a cohesive sensory journey.
An original soundscape by Lene McNair and Gabrial McNair played a central role in shaping the visitor experience. Breathing compositions, metallic references to the site's military history, and ambient contemporary sounds created an immersive environment where past and present merged.
Through interdisciplinary collaboration and careful spatial curation, PEELED transformed the historic venue into a reflective space for dialogue around identity, vulnerability, and human connection.
Artist Reflection
"With PEELED, artists from different disciplines came together around a shared theme. The result became an exhibition with clear links between the works, telling a magical story about the body."
— METTE MYGLAND
ARTISTS
Malin Bülow
Mette Mygland
Inti Wang
SOUNDSCAPE
Lene McNair
Gabrial McNair
CLIENT
Collective Oslo
LOCATION
The Ammunition Storage, Akershus Fortress, Oslo
CATEGORY
Exhibition & Contemporary Art Installation
DELIVERABLES
Creative Direction
Exhibition Curation
Art Production
Performance Art
Spatial Experience Design
Sound Design
Artist Collaboration
Cultural Programming
On-Site Production
CURATION
Collective Oslo
Anders Graham
PARTNERS
Adam og Eva
Oslo Kommune
Oslo Audio
Lundeby
SNI
DOCUMENTATION
Photography by Tonje Gulbæk
Additional Photography by Andreas Ramirez