In the exhibition Grammars of Light, with works by the three artists Cerith Wyn Evans, Ann Lislegaard and P. Staff, science fiction is a theme that several of the works revolve around or draw direct inspiration from.

Ursula K. Le Guin’s The Left Hand of Darkness is considered a major work in the science fiction genre. It is also a timeless classic about culture clashes and fluid identities.

Ursula K. Le Guin (1929-2018) was an American author and is considered one of the most important writers of science fiction in the 20th century. The literary critic Harold Bloom called The Left Hand of Darkness a masterpiece and that Le Guin apparently never wrote a wrong or bad sentence. She received both the Hugo and Nebula awards for the book when it was published in 1969.

Simen Hagerup was born in Porsgrunn in 1980, he is a writer, translator and critic. In 2025, his new translation of the novel The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin was published, and in 2026 he translated several shorter texts by Le Guin for Find Forlag. The last book that came from his own hand is the fantasy novel Jordverv, which was published in 2021. Simen Hagerup currently lives in Fredrikstad with two guinea pigs and three people.

NOK 80 (free for members of Astrup Fearnley Museet and Henie Onstad Art Center)

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Grammars of Light is organized in parallel with Henie Onstad Art Center’s exhibition Ann Lislegaard: ANIMOID  (09 January 2026 – 19 April 2026). A joint public program will provide visitors with an opportunity to engage with the artist’s practice in depth across two institutions.

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