Between the Clock and the Bed - NOWNESS

Delve into the proto-existentialist ideas and psychological themes of Norwegian artist Edvard Munch’s work via the minds of musicians Patti Smith and Charlotte Gainsbourg. Touring an exhibition of the nineteenth-century artist's work, Between the Clock and the Bed, held at the Munch Museum in Olso, the artists take time out from their performances at the Øya Music Festival last summer to take in the 38 paintings on show.

“Munch was convinced that in order to be able to fully express yourself artistically you have to be alone," says Nikita Mathias, an art historian at the Munch Museum. "You have to be an outsider, you need a certain distance to society in order to be able to describe what’s going on there.”

Director Kasper Häggström explores the themes of loneliness, love, sexuality, grief and death – all major elements in Munch’s work. Working with ten performers at the 2018 Øya Music Festival in Oslo, Häggström combines guided tours of the exhibition with interviews and behind the scenes footage of the performers, drawing parallels between the work of the artist and the musicians.

Cast: NOWNESS

Tags: Patti Smith, Edvard Munch, Kasper Häggström and Charlotte Gainsbourg