Kåre Grundvåg
b. 1984

Born and raised in Tromsø with strong ties to Vanna, Senja and Nordreisa, Sápmi and costal Troms my home is my frame of reference. I decided early that I wanted to become an artist, maybe it was the endless summers at the country house located three hours from the nearest road, melting lead weights and making small figurines in carved potato moulds. Or maybe it was the contrast between summers in the open and the drab block life of suburban winter in Tromsø?



I still draw a lot of inspiration from vernacular problem solving.

Sometimes it is good to try new thinking tools, and to quote myself «As I mentioned on the phone, I work on a project that assumes that all times exist in parallel, stone age and sci-fi side by side. I think this is an exciting starting point as it effectively breaks down classic hierarchies and notions of progress. It also opens up for a re-evaluation of traditional knowledge that is not as bound in nostalgia.»  (google translate from an email exchange of Oct 16, 2018)

I usually opt for a hands on approach. Examining the subject at hand through experimentation. In a similar fashion to alchemy the main quest often evades a solution, though the way there often provides unexpected results with a life of their own. And that is also the case for my collaboration with Trond Ansten on the seaweed brew. We researched yeast types and came across this old Norwegian farmhouse yeast. That lived and hibernated in specially carved wood logs. In other word people had carved little  intricate «towers» for invisible creatures so they could multiply and make alcohol for the thirsty. And it was not because people scientifically knew there where these little single celled creatures nesting within the log tower, but one can assume that carving it a bit more like this or that, inferred some advantage in the process and over time exquisite yeast architecture was produced.


In 2013 as part of a workshop with Marietta Potrc, I attempted felt a pallet of discarded wool from wild sheeps using traditional mongolian methods and club music.

Kåre Grundvåg (b.1984 in Tromsø, Norway, lives and works in Tromsø) is an artist and jack of all trades educated from the Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø Academy of Contemporary Art in 2015. For the last ten years he has been part of the art scene in Tromsø in various capacities, most notably as one of the founders of the artist run space Kurant Visningsrom.

Last night i dreamt i was grazing, Tromsø Kunstforening 2015.

Intervention in the old magazine space, the space was no longer in use, due to high levels of moisture.

When i started working there the moisture was 100% and water droplets on all surfaces, in tandem with mould growing rampant.

It was the start of a three month transformation period.


One of the first attempts at pseudo natural noise generation, the pattern generated is also subject to the most common symmetry in nature, mirroring.

 Devil´s Apron
(A Collaboration with Trond Ansten)
-A Journey in seaweed, punk and brewing culture in the north.




Growing Kveik yeast into gigant colonies, the different strains of yeast used in brewing are identical under the microscope and DNA analyses is usually needed to separate different strains. The interesting thing is that different strains forms completely different giant colonies in therms of morphology. Different shapes, elevation, color and smell.

More info and photos from the seaweed project on Devil Aprons facebook page here.