MELK proudly presents our third duo exhibition this year featuring Farhad Kalantary and Ulla Schildt, two artists who explore the relationship between perception, materiality, and science through two different yet connected approaches to photography and moving image.
We hope to see you at Elisenbergveien 7 from 18.00–21.00 on Friday, October 17.
Cows Are Better
Farhad Kalantary’s exhibition Cows Are Better consists of ten new works in photography, video, and mixed media. The works in the exhibition convert the gallery space into a barn and bring the air of a rural location into an urban space. The project was initially intended to explore the emotional conditions of cows captured in a barn. A cowshed is a distinct location excluded from the urban space. It is a place that unites the entire humanity against nature. Entering a cowshed is like arriving at past times for any urban person. As we come into a barn we step into the fragrant space of our ancestors.
However, the theme of the exhibition acts as a pretext to experiment with the interdependency of moving image and photography, and their coalition in making new visual experiences.
Foreign Landscapes
Ulla Schildt’s exhibition explores how collective consciousness takes shape through repetition and shared experience. With time, scientific paradigms shift, cultural values evolve, technologies collapse and are reborn. The image, once solid, may become ambiguous and acquire new meanings when viewed from different perspectives.
The exhibition Foreign Landscapes reflects this ambiguity, presenting a constellation of photographic fragments that both complement one another and create a sense of unease. Between photographs of unfamiliar objects, snow-covered forests, and microscopic structures, a quiet narrative unfolds—one that reflects the fragile balance between knowledge and the unknown. What, if anything, remains solid and familiar when everything seems to be in flux?
The full exhibition text Foreign Landscapes written by Monica Holmen will be available at the exhibition.
Farhad Kalantary (b. Tabriz, Iran, 1962) lives and works in Nesodden. He works in a non-narrative context, combining the intuitive approach with an investigation of formal and historical aspects of his media. His film and video works are concerned with the poetics of everyday life as they explore the potentiality of the moving image and the relationship of sound and image. His topic of previous research works includes the history of film and video art in Norway, and the ways in which different places influence our perception of the world.
Kalantary’s works have been shown widely around the country and abroad and they are part of the collections of Moderna museum in Stockholm, Art Council Norway and the art collections of Oslo, Lørenskog and Arendal Municipalities. Kalantary was the co-founder and artistic leader of Atopia: film-video kunst (2003-17) in Oslo. He has also been working as a Board or Jury member with various art organizations in the country including Fond for lyd og bilde (2020-23), Nordic Art Center, Dale (2023-25), KUNSTKANTEN 2024, Bodø, Bærum kunsthall (2025), Lorck Schive kunstpris (2023- ) and Tenthaus, Oslo (2025- ).
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Ulla Schildt (b. 1971, Finland) lives and works in Oslo. Ulla Schildt works with photography, combining analogue and digital techniques with archival materials and found objects. Her practice explores humanity’s urge to collect, categorize, and thus master the world.
Schildt has held solo exhibitions at venues such as Fotografiens hus (2025), Gyldenpris Kunsthall, Bergen (2023); Bærum Kunsthall (2020); Gallery Hippolyte, Helsinki, Finland (2019); Heimdal Kunstforening, Trøndelag (2017); Oslo Prosjektrom (2017); Street Level Photoworks, Glasgow, Scotland (2016); and Akershus Kunstsenter, Lillestrøm (2015). Schildt has also participated in numerous national and international exhibitions, including at Preus Museum, Horten (2023); Henie Onstad Kunstsenter, Bærum (2021); Sagene Kunstsmie, Oslo (2023); The 35th Anniversary Exhibition, Northern Photographic Centre, Oulu (2022); The Annual Spring Exhibition, Vårutstillingen, Fotogalleriet, Oslo (2022); Frozen Horizon, Tenthaus, Oslo (2022); Høstutstillingen, Kunstnernes Hus, Oslo (2018, 2024, and others); Photovisa, International Festival of Photography, Krasnodar (2017); New Nordic Photography, COMMON GROUND, Hasselblad Center, Gothenburg, Sweden (Shortlisted for the Victor Award) (2008), to name a few.
Schildt's work is included in several collections, including the University of Oslo's Art Collection, the Ministry of Local Government and Modernization, OsloMet Art Collection, The Curtin O’Donoghue Art Collection, Preus Museum, and the Møller Collection.
This exhibition is supported by Arts Council Norway and The Norwegian Photographic Fund.
MELK is supported by Arts Council Norway
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Christian Tunge
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MELK
Thursday & Friday 12.00 – 16.00
Saturday & Sunday 12.00 – 16.00
during exhibitions or by appointment
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