Wall text

Quiet
Instruments
1971 – 2026

Eleven works assembled around a single stubborn question: what does a tool look like once it has stopped being useful?

The objects gathered here were all made to do something — to measure, to sound, to hold a line steady. Each has since been relieved of its duty. Freed from function, they behave like drawings: they mark intervals, they insist on edges, they wait.

The hang follows a single centre line at 145 cm. Nothing is grouped, nothing is stacked. The distance between works is part of the work.

Curator
Ines Halberg
Works
11
Room
4 · 240 m²
Lux
50 (paper) / 180 (metal)

Scroll, drag, or press to walk the wall

01 Halvard Reim Instrument for a Flat Horizon 1971. Gouache and graphite on prepared board, 82 × 106 cm. Verso Collection, gift of the artist Audio 01 · 2:14
02 Halvard Reim Metronome (Stopped) 1974. Ink on tracing paper, 48 × 66 cm. Private collection, Bergen
03 Mireille Danto Plumb, Resting 1989. Cast bronze, lead, oak plinth, 61 × 22 × 22 cm. Courtesy the artist and Galerie Sauvin Audio 03 · 3:40
04 Unattributed Field Notation No. 7 c. 1978. Silver gelatin print, 140 × 96 cm. Printed 2011 from the original negative. Verso Collection
05 Suki Oyelaran Dial for an Unmeasured Room 2014. Enamel and steel pin on aluminium, 78 × 78 cm. Acquired with support of the Halberg Fund Audio 05 · 1:52
06 Suki Oyelaran Four Intervals 2016. Acrylic on linen, 210 × 88 cm. On long-term loan from the artist
07 Tomas Vrba Weight of a Held Note 2019. Charcoal and rabbit-skin glue on canvas, 96 × 132 cm. Verso Collection
08 Tomas Vrba Rule (Broken) 2021. Screenprint on Somerset, edition 4 of 12, 44 × 58 cm. Verso Collection
09 Ada Pell Nocturne for a Closed Gallery 2026. Oil and pigment stick on panel, 150 × 150 cm. Commissioned for this exhibition. Courtesy the artist Audio 09 · 4:07

Checklist of the exhibition

No.WorkYearMedium
01Reim, Instrument for a Flat Horizon1971Gouache, graphite
02Reim, Metronome (Stopped)1974Ink on tracing paper
03Danto, Plumb, Resting1989Bronze, lead, oak
04Unattributed, Field Notation No. 7c.1978Silver gelatin print
05Oyelaran, Dial for an Unmeasured Room2014Enamel, steel
06Oyelaran, Four Intervals2016Acrylic on linen
07Vrba, Weight of a Held Note2019Charcoal, canvas
08Vrba, Rule (Broken)2021Screenprint
09Pell, Nocturne for a Closed Gallery2026Oil, pigment stick
10Danto, Two Levels — Room 51993Glass, mercury
11Pell, Rehearsal — Room 52024Sound, 18 min loop

Verso Kunsthalle · Skeppargatan 11 · Open Tue–Sun 11–18, Thu until 21
Free entry on the last Thursday of each month.
Design and typography by the Verso studio. Photography permitted without flash.