Doors: 18:30
Event start: 19:00
Seated event
This conversation will be held in Norwegian.
In being open about children’s illness, what do we gain and what does it cost? And what are the consequences of staying silent? These are some of the questions Olaug Nilssen and Thorvald Steen will discuss in conversation with Anders Danielsen Lie. Based on Nilssen's and Steen's new essays for the MUNCH publication Lifeblood – Edvard Munch, the three will explore the connections between childhood, illness and care, as well as the role art and literature can play in dealing with these themes.
About the Who Cares? series
Death in the Sickroom, The Sick Child, Melancholy. Several of Edvard Munch's works testify to an artist seeking a visual language for lives that were fragile and vulnerable. The difficult themes raised in Munch's work are personal – and, for some, private - issues that affect us all.
In public discourse, these topics are approached with caution. This might be linked to the desire to show respect or care for those affected, or perhaps it is a case of protecting oneself from life's discomforts. Can caution sometimes be too cautious, and care too caring, when we fail to gain a deeper understanding or a nuanced perspective, for fear of raising difficult questions?
The series Who Cares? is linked to the exhibition Edvard Munch – Lifeblood. In a series of four conversations in autumn 2025, we reflect on how art can both create one-dimensional archetypes but also expand our perspectives and understanding of body and gender, health and illness, life and death.
Olaug Nilssen had her major breakthrough with Få meg på, for faen (For Fuck’s Sake Get Me Off) in 2005. The generation-defining book broke taboos related to youth and sexuality. Since then, she has written books in many genres and has distinguished herself as an important voice in Norwegian literature. The novel Tung tids tale, for which she received the Brage Prize, is a frank account of being the mother of a disabled child – a theme she explored in two recent novels. Nilssen received the the Dobloug Prize for her writing in 2019 and the Fritt Ord prize in 2021.
Thorvald Steen made his debut as a writer in 1983 and had his national breakthrough with the poetry cycle Ilden in 1992. His international breakthrough came the following year with the historical novel Don Carlos. His writing alternates between novels based on his own life experiences, such as Det hvite badehuset (2017) and Det siste fotografiet (2019), and innovative historical novels - so-called neo-sagas - such as Påklederen (2023). Steen has received numerous awards and honours. Both of his most recent novels were nominated for the Dublin Literary Award, and he is the only Norwegian to be honoured with the prestigious Czech Gratias Agit Prize. His books have been translated into more than 30 languages, and his most recent publication is the essay collection Min naive sjel (2024).
Anders Danielsen Lie is a doctor, musician and actor. He currently works as an assistant district chief physician in Oslo, and in 2024 released his second studio album, Idiosyncrasy. As an actor, Lie is best known for his roles in Joachim Trier's Oslo trilogy, including the Oscar-nominated The Worst Person in the World. He has also appeared in a number of foreign films, most recently in British director Grant Gee's Everybody Digs Bill Evans, which will be released in 2026.
©Eivind Senneset, Trine Hisdal
