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Saturday 9 May 2026

On 17 May Norwegians celebrate Norwegian National Day, which dates back to the signing of the constitution of 1814. Across Norway and abroad, you’ll find Norwegians marching in parades with flags, wearing "bunad" (traditional regional dress), and eating food from ice cream and waffles to pølse i brød.

Join the celebrations in the UK by attending one of the following - more info in the links:
📍 London: Service at Sjømannskirken, events in Southwark Park, and later an evening event at Den Norske Klub.
📍 Edinburgh: 12:45:  Assembly for parade, High Street (by the top of Cockburn Street); 13:00:  Parade starts; 13:30:  Ceremony and speeches by the Norwegian memorial stone in Princes Street Garden.
📍 Aberdeen: Parade and celebrations at Kippie Lodge.
📍 Cardiff: Parade from the Wales Millennium Centre to the Norwegian Church Arts Centre, followed by the official programme.

Ambassador Tore Hattrem together with leader of the 17 May London committee Kåre Sivertsen and guests at the 17 May Parade in Southwark Park last year. Photo: Erlend C. L. Birkeland.

London, ICA, 14 May: Sassy 009 is the shape-shifting project from Oslo-based producer, songwriter and vocalist Sunniva Lindgård. 

After appearing on the cover of NME in December and playing a sold-out night at The Lower Third in February, Sassy 009 will be back in London performing at the ICA, before heading down to Brighton the following night for The Great Escape.

Brighton, 13-16 May: New music festival The Great Escape returns to Brighton in May, showcasing 450 emerging artists from all over the world in 30+ walkable venues across the city and a pop-up festival site on Brighton Beach.

On this year's line-up from Norway are:
Thursday at The Hope and Ruin: Yndling (above) is the dream pop project of Norwegian artist and producer Silje Espevik, known for weaving heavy, reverb-soaked guitars through expansive synthscapes, introspective lyrics, and a soft, haunting vocal delivery. 

Friday at Daltons: Playing a blistering, genre-crossing variant of rock, Heave Blood & Die is a Northern Norwegian wall of sound, immersing audiences in an unparalleled live sonic experience.

Friday at Quarters: Sassy 009 is following-up her ICA gig with a night at Quarters club under the arches facing Brighton beach.

London, Somerset House, 14 - 17 May: Bergen-based Trykkeriet will participate in the London Original Print Fair, presenting works by Ciara Phillips, Gardar Eide Einarsson, Apichaya Wanthiang, Daniel Persson, Azar Alsharif, Claudia Hausfeld, and many more.

Trykkeriet is a centre for contemporary printmaking in Bergen, working with both the production and dissemination of various graphic techniques. Each year, different Norwegian and international artists are invited to produce work and hold exhibitions. Trykkeriet has now been operating for 16 years and is the largest of its kind in the Nordic region. 

The London Original Print Fair is London’s longest running art fair, showcasing original prints from Old Masters to contemporary artists, with 40–50 international exhibitors and special exhibitions each year.

The participation is supported by Office for Contemporary Art Norway. 

Apichaya Wanthiang, Ritsurin Garden, Pond. Japanese woodcut. Courtesy of Trykkeriet.

London, British Library, 16-17 May: Leading and debut writers from 26 countries, from Spain to Ukraine, the Faroes to Turkey, gather to discuss love, war, humour, nature, crime, myth and memoir and the power of literature and translation to help navigate the challenges facing Europe today.

On Saturday 16 May, crime writer Jørn Lier Horst is on the panel together with Greek author Makis Malafekas, and from Hungary Krisztina Tóth, in the session Secrets and Lies, chaired by Noreen Masud. The session runs from 14.30-15.15 on Saturday, as part of a full weekend of panels from European Authors at the British Library.

London, St John's Wood Church, 16 May: Celebrating their 10th anniversary, London Nordic Choir are performing in a concert featuring well-loved choral works such as Kung Liljekonvalje, Ubi Caritas, and Northern Lights. The programme celebrates the magic of summer and the rich storytelling heritage of the Nordic lands, moving between major and minor with that distinctive, evocative Scandinavian choral sound.

19-21 May, Clerkenwell, London: Norwegian Collection presents 'The Norwegian Boutique Bedroom,' a showcase of materiality, sustainability, and Norwegian comfort.

The collection features Eikund’s revived mid-century furniture icons, Jensen Beds' world-leading sleep solutions, the tactile coolness of Lundhs Real Stone, and the luxurious warmth of Norsk Dun’s ethical, circular goose down.

On 21 May, join a design talk with the brands, chaired by William Knight (Material Matters). Click here to find out more about the talk. 

New book release: Chiquitita by Pedro Carmona-Alvarez (translated into English by Seán Kinsella and published by Akoya) follows Marisol as a middle‑aged woman reflecting on her past, triggered by a moment in a museum years earlier when she broke down in front of a painting.

The novel moves between her adult life, a holiday with her first love, and her childhood as a refugee forced to flee her homeland with her parents. From a vibrant early life by the sea, through flight over the mountains and time in a refugee camp, to eventual resettlement in Norway, the story explores trauma, memory, displacement, and the enduring traces of love, hope, and loss.

Photo: Eva Lene Gilje Østensen.

London, White Bear Theatre, 19 May - 6 June: What should be a simple family gathering becomes something quietly unsettling. Questions circle. Silence lingers. The unborn child waits at the centre of the room. The question of its name is never answered. The question of its origin arises.

When her partner speaks of reincarnation, the mood shifts. When her former lover is mentioned, it shifts again.

The Name is a haunting and tender exploration of family, of communication withheld, and of the authority of silence. Written during the period in which Jon Fosse received the Norwegian Ibsen Award, the play established him as one of Europe’s most distinctive dramatic voices.

London, 21 May - 6 September: The exhibition Nomenclature for the Time Being gathers the work of Rebecca Bellantoni, Hannah Black, Maren Hassinger, Deborah-Joyce Holman, Marla-Sunshine Kellard-Jones, Atiéna R. Kilfa, Christine Kirubi, Kumbirai Makumbe, Zanele Muholi, Sandra Mujinga, Shenece Oretha, Ingrid Pollard and Ebun Sodipo – artists whose practices span sculpture, performance, writing, photography and video. Most of all, this is a
sculpture show, with artists deploying rope, steel wire, leather, plastic, velvet, wood, concrete, petroleum, wax, glass, thread – always with an awareness of the body.

Sandra Mujinga is a Norwegian-Congolese contemporary artist and musician known for her immersive installations, video works, and sculptures that explore visibility, surveillance, Blackness, futurism, and the boundaries between human and non‑human forms. Her work often features large-scale, otherworldly figures and atmospheric environments that blend technology, sound, and performance. She has exhibited at major institutions including the Venice Biennale, Hamburger Bahnhof, Munch Museum, and Guggenheim Museum. Mujinga was also winner of Preis der Nationalgalerie (2021), Germany’s most prestigious contemporary art award for artists under 40.

Sandra Mujinga, Love Language, 2023. Installation view, Artificial Optimism, 2024, Den Frie Museum of Contemporary Art, Copenhagen. Photograph by Malle Madsen.

London, Siegfried Contemporary, until 18 July: For her debut solo exhibition in the UK, Oslo-based artist Ann Iren Buan investigates the materiality of drawing, the emotional and atmospheric potential of colour, and the tension between surface and structure. 

The artworks on view explore themes of decay, material transformation and renewal. Buan continuously pushes the surface of her drawings towards volume and material presence. Densely layered dry pastel accumulates into thick tactile formations that rupture the picture plane, shifting drawing into the realm of relief and sculpture. Pigment is not applied but built, compressed and worked, producing surfaces that appear both fragile and excessive, at once eroded and generative. 

Photo: Anne Iren Buan, Carmine Ashes I, II, III, 2026, drypastel on paper, drypastel and waxoil on birch. Credit: Gillies Adamson Semple.

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Happening Now:

▶ Almeida Theatre presents A Doll's House by Henrik Ibsen, in a new version by Anya Reiss. Nora and Torvald’s marriage vows are a binding contract, but when scandal threatens to wreck their lives, it’s time to renegotiate the terms. Money, sex, power – this time nothing’s off the table. Romola Garai returns to the Almeida, following her Olivier Award-winning performance in The Years, to play Nora in Henrik Ibsen’s subversive domestic tragedy. Until 23 May.


▶ 9 - 16 May, Reading, Norwich, Glasgow, Bristol, Brighton, London

With one foot steadily planted in the punk domain while the other one is kicking down doors to noise rock, drone and experimental music, DAUFØDT are embarking on their first UK tour.


▶ 12 - 16 May, London

Rebecca Lenkiewicz's adaptation of Henrik Ibsen's An Enemy of the People is coming to Studio at the New Wimbledon Theatre.


▶ 31 May & 1 June, London

Lise Davidsen is singing Lieder by Schubert with pianist James Bailleu with two performances at Wigmore Hall (sold out).


▶ 3 & 4 May, London & Salford

Following the release of her latest album Iris Silver Mist, Jenny Hval will be at the ICA in London performing in the round, and then at The White Hotel in Salford.


▶ 17 June, London

A special celebration of contemporary Norwegian poetry is set to open the ninth edition of the European Poetry Festival at St Olave Church Hart Street.

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