Start: 1 December 2019
Duration: Six-year term with option to extend
Deadline for applications: 23 August 2019

Bergen Assembly seeks a director to lead the organisation into the future as one of Norway’s most vital international platforms for contemporary art. Having originated in a critical approach to biennials, Bergen Assembly is an art institution that is research-oriented and open to conceptual and organisational experimentation with ways of making, presenting, collaborating and engaging the public. Bergen Assembly convenes triennially. The forthcoming third edition, titled Actually, the Dead Are Not Dead, takes place from 5 September to 10 November 2019 with multiple exhibitionary, performative and discursive public platforms across the city of Bergen. 

The Director of Bergen Assembly has extensive knowledge, expertise and networks in the expanded field of contemporary art, nationally and internationally. They demonstrate passion for working in the arts as well as a proven track record of outstanding leadership, collaborative work and inspirational institutional development. Prior involvement with the public sector and publicly financed projects is an advantage. Experience in project organisation and the ability to handle busy periods are paramount.

The Director of Bergen Assembly is expected to develop and implement unconventional institutional vision, to lead change, think strategically, exercise good judgement and demonstrate their talent and inspirational approaches to:

– LEADERSHIP AND INSTITUTIONAL DEVELOPMENT

– Envisioning the future development of Bergen Assembly as one of Norway’s most important international platforms for contemporary art with a focus on artistic research and experimentation;

– Developing the institution locally as well as at the national and international scale;

– Further positioning Bergen Assembly in the global context of perennial projects; 

– Creative development and strengthening of organisational infrastructure;

– Planning and realisation of future editions of Bergen Assembly in close collaboration with the appointed conveners;

– Envisioning Bergen Assembly’s activities in the periods between editions;

– Deepening close relationships with the art scene(s) as well as other fields, audiences and public and private stakeholders in Bergen, Norway and internationally. 

– MANAGING FINANCES AND ADMINISTRATION

– Overall financial and administrative responsibility for the institution, including monitoring and oversight of annual budget planning and financial reporting;

– Strategic development of the organisation in terms of fundraising (including Norwegian and Scandinavian public grants and administration).

– PERSONAL SKILLS

– Great negotiation and communication skills, both oral and written; 

– Ability to build, manage and motivate the team; 

– Passion for working closely with artists, conveners and other cultural practitioners; 

– Experience of and interest in community engagement.

– Resourceful, motivated and with an aptitude for dealing with challenges and problem solving;

– Independent and structured;

– Aptitude with budgets and financial insight;

– Open and communicative.

Bergen Assembly offers an exciting and challenging position in an energetic environment of a young, flexible and ambitious art institution. This position is for a fixed-term of six years with an option to extend. The Director reports to Bergen Assembly’s Board and works closely with the international Advisory Board composed of notable artists, theorists, curators and other cultural practitioners worldwide. 

Fluency in English language is required (oral and written); candidates with knowledge of Norwegian/Scandinavian language(s) are preferred. Salary is negotiable.

The applicant may request to be excluded from the public list of applicants in the application. Information may still be shared in the public applicant list, including in cases where the applicant has requested non-disclosure (see Freedom of Information Act, section 25).

LOCATION

Bergen Assembly/Bergenstriennalen AS is based in the centre of Bergen. The successful candidate is expected to work primarily from the office and live in Bergen.

Applications can be handed in digitally at application@bergenassembly.no.

ABOUT BERGEN ASSEMBLY

Bergen Assembly is a perennial platform for artistic research and production structured around public formats taking place in the city of Bergen every three years. 

Bergen Assembly’s flexible model is reinvented for each edition, responding in particular to a need for alternative temporalities of art production and experience within an oversaturated information culture, where attention itself is increasingly commodified and subject to pressure.

Bergen Assembly originated from the Bergen Biennial Conference in 2009, which was a response to a proposition by the municipality of Bergen to establish an international biennial for contemporary art in the city. The conference discussed the question “To biennial or not to biennial?” with international curators, artists, and academics, and was followed by The Biennial Reader (Hatje Cantz/Bergen Kunsthall, 2010), to date the most comprehensive publication on the history and practice of biennials and other recurrent contemporary art projects in a global perspective.

The first edition of Bergen Assembly, titled Monday Begins on Saturday and convened by Ekaterina Degot and David Riff, manifested as a multi-venue exhibition and a publication in 2013. The latest edition of the triennial was led by the artistic directors Tarek Atoui, the collective freethought, and the collaboration PRAXES in 2016. For the third edition of Bergen Assembly in 2019, Hans D. Christ and Iris Dressler have been appointed as «conveners»

Bergen Assembly receives financial support from Bergen municipality, Arts Council Norway, and Hordaland County. The organisation also seeks financial support from variety of national and international project grants. 

Bergen Assembly is a private company owned by Bergen municipality and has an appointed board. Additionally, Bergen Assembly has an international Advisory Board.