Tromsø Kunstforening

Tromsø Kunstforening / RomssaDáiddasiida is a free space for contemporary art, exhibiting new, experimental art and artists. Starting in 1924, we continue to present boundary-pushing exhibitions, projects in public space, performances and workshops that are open to all.

We are home to the artist-run book shop, Mondo Books, and the Materialbanken for kreative prosjekter, which allows you to donate and withdraw various materials for reuse.

Our programme includes internationally recognised artists and new, emerging artists, with special attention to projects that are rooted in the region. We are organised as an association where anyone can become a member and participate democratically in the institution.

We are the oldest institution in northern Norway, and are inspired by the artist Idar Ingebrigtsen, we follow the principles of community, imagination and idleness (contemplation). Ingebrigtsen occupied the former Tromsø Museum, a neoclassical building in Muséparken (Finngammsletta), in the 80’s, bringing it back into the hands of artists and creatives and eventually allowing for TKF/RDS to gain a permanent home there.

We work to collaborate, support and give space to other independent arts initiatives. Currently, we are home to Mondo Books and Materialbanken for Kreative Prosjekter and are caretakers to the project KINOBOX. We have previously collaborated with and given home to: Open Out Festival, Failure, Understanding, Care (& Kunst), Tromsø Folkekjøkken and Vårscenefest, among others.

Tromsø Kunstforening’s home in Muségata 2 is under renovation. Due to this, we have temporarily moved premises to what was once Hvilhaug Sykehjem on Mellomvegen 82. We will be there for 1.5 years, together with the artists’ studio collective, Loftet Arbeidsfelleskap.

"In the field of tension between these three manifestations of human life: idleness, imagination and the sense of community, art arose. It gave idleness content, imagination form and community communication. Through art, we could realise everything that was previously only an inkling. Art became a manifestation of what man had become." - Idar Ingebrigtsen