Håvard Sagen (b. 1986 Sandnes, Norway) is a multi-disciplinary artist currently working between Norway and Australia whose practice exists at the intersection of art, science, architecture, and the environment. He is known for producing site-specific installations with a considerable built and social element that typically work beyond the gallery framework. Sagen’s commitment to social engagement, interdisciplinarity, and sustainability is at the core of his broader practice.
In 2022, Sagen represented Norway at the International Studio and Curatorial Program (New York) as part of the collective SKAUS and built the project Trehus for the Oslo Architecture Triennale, a temporary structure that (re)frames a linden tree by the entrance of the Old Munch Museum in Norway. Trehus explores the sensory and conscious use of shared spaces and the cultivation of community. He also created an extensive installation for the memorial exhibition of Gunnar Torvund at the Bryne Kunstforening, which incorporated found materials from the landscapes that informed Gunnar’s practice and leveraged the winter light by removing interior walls and window coverings to create tension and drama through the contrast of organic and wild elements.
Sagen is also known for his collaborative project Book of Sand - Singular Hands, which was presented in three different culturally-rich landscapes in Rogaland, Norway, undergoing transformation through extractive industries, development, and gentrification. In 2018 and 2019, he was employed as the expedition artist for two separate scientific missions on the arctic ice sheet with the Nansen Center and the INTAROS and CAATEX projects, where he collected field recordings and video for future installations.
Sagen is one of the initiators of Skaus, a dynamic support structure that instigates encounters between sites, artists, architecture, social infrastructures, institutions, and local communities. Driven by an interest in the way community understandings are acquired, challenged, and changed within the theoretical frameworks and built environment of the cultural sphere, Skaus is an innovative and experimental project that seeks to challenge traditional ideas of art and community engagement.