Morten Jensen Vågen: So it Goes

In its “Video of the Month” series, the Kunsthalle Dortmund presents current video works by international artists on a monthly basis

- selected by Inke Arns (Kunsthalle Dortmund) –

So it Goes is a video project documenting the process of collecting discarded materials from urban environments and transforming them into functional hand tools without relying on pre-existing tools. Filmed primarily from a first-person perspective, the step-by-step process draws visual inspiration from video games and online how-to tutorials.

The project is loosely inspired by survivalist practices, in which individuals or groups develop skills to survive without access to common resources during emergencies.

Rather than focusing on wilderness survival, Morten Jensen Vågen explores the possibilities of the urban landscape, where discarded materials are abundant and readily available. The video begins with the creation of a knife, which is then used to make the next tool, establishing a chain in which each object enables the production of the next. With his background from skateboarding and graffiti, which are urban subcultures that reinterpret and repurpose the city's architecture, Vågen extends this approach to toolmaking. Concrete walls become grinding surfaces for shaping and sharpening metal, while cracks and crevices provide leverage for bending and forming materials.

Through these improvised techniques, the city itself becomes both workshop andtoolkit. (Text: Morten Jensen Vågen)

Morten Jensen Vågen (b. 1987, Haugesund, Norway) is a Norwegian artist based in Oslo. 
He holds both a BA and an MFA from the Oslo National Academy of the Arts, where he has lived and worked as a practicing artist since 2010. Working primarily with sculpture and video, Vågen's practice explores themes of society, politics, and the urban environment. 
His works often employ humor while critically examining the structures that shape both public space and contemporary society. Rooted in the subcultures of skateboarding and graffiti, Vågen draws on experiences that challenge conventional understandings of urban space and propose alternative ways of inhabiting and interacting with it. These influences remain central to his artistic practice, informing projects that reinterpret the visual language and social dynamics of the city. Morten Jensen Vågen has exhibited his work at Cabanon Paris, Gallery 69, the Norwegian Sculptors Society, the Norwegian Sculpture Biennial, Deichman Bjørvika, Stavanger Art Museum, the National Annual Autumn Exhibition, and the National Gallery in Prague. Vågen recently completed an artist residency at Künstlerhaus Dortmund. He is the recipient of a working grant from Arts Council Norway and has received additional funding in support of his independent artistic projects.

Website: www.mjv.no
Instagram: @mortenjensenvagen