Ingvild Holm

Ingvild Holm is a Professor in Performing Arts specializing in scenography, acting, and performance at the Norwegian Theatre Academy (NTA), part of Østfold University College. She holds a 50% position with 20% dedicated to research. Her academic work is deeply intertwined with her practice as a theater and performance artist, engaging in interdisciplinary projects that bridge visual arts, performance, and institutional critique.

Her educational background includes completion of a 3-year national Artistic Research Fellowship program (equivalent to a Ph.D.) from 2015 to 2020. This program focused on her doctoral project 'Scenomaten,' which examined the relationship between place and context in artistic form and content. She previously was a member of the performing arts collective Baktruppen from 1987 to 2011, which significantly shaped her collaborative approach to performance.

Ingvild Holm's research interests center on object-oriented performance art, performative scenography, text as an object, object dramaturgy, ontology, site specificity, precarity, and reuse. Her work represents an 'expressive minimalism' that explores the political and structural dimensions of theater spaces through object-oriented formats. She draws from historical avant-garde traditions including Commedia dell'arte, performance art, installation, puppetry, and slapstick comedy, re-exploring their radical and political potential. Her approach, which she terms 'performative scenography,' investigates how spaces themselves become protagonists in theatrical works, asking what every possible place and context do to artistic content and form.

Her recent publications demonstrate a consistent exploration of site-specificity, object-oriented performance, and the relationship between theatrical form and political content. Across her work, Holm examines how place and context shape artistic content and form, often using minimal interventions that question institutional structures while maintaining accessibility and playfulness. She frequently employs 'expressive minimalism, post-spectacular, low or popular' approaches that challenge traditional hierarchies between spaces, materials, and artistic forms.

• Government Grants for Artists (2019-2022)
• Artists Working Grant, Arts Council Norway (2020-23, 2011, 2005)
• Norwegian Artistic Research Fellowship Program (2015-2020)

Holm has extensive experience mentoring students, currently guiding three MA students in performance while providing tutoring for BA-level independent productions and individual students since 2017. She has served on expert committees for Ph.D. applications at the Oslo National Academy of the Arts and assessment committees for Ph.D. candidates at both KHiO and the Norwegian Academy of Music. Her research collaborations include 'Material Strategies' with Concordia University in Canada and 'Blind Spot' with international partners across Europe and North America, funded by multiple national arts councils. She has developed and led numerous courses including 'Picture the picture' (MA Performance), 'Twins of reality' (BA Scenography/Acting), and 'Low status material & re-use' (BA Acting/Scenography).

As a former member of the performing arts collective Baktruppen (1987-2011), Holm brings collective experience to her current work. She currently engages in multiple research collaborations including 'Material Strategies' and serves as a vara member in the board of the Norwegian Artistic Research Program (NARP) since 2022. Her artistic practice spans performance, writing, film, exhibitions, scenography, and curating, with a particular focus on how spaces themselves become active participants in theatrical works. She has participated in numerous Norwegian and international collaborations, including 'Resite Venice' at the Venice Research Pavilion (2017) and 'Blind Spot' project with partners from Germany, Romania, Canada, and Norway.