Scarcely any Norwegian artist has left such a numerous and distinctive mark on iconic public buildings in Norway as Ole Lislerud – from Oslo Courthouse to The Ivar Aasen Centre language museum in Ørsta and the NATO Joint Warfare Centre in Stavanger, to name but a few of his projects. These are site-specific artworks, as Lislerud calls them, a concept that carries a particular resonance given that they are created by a man who grew up in South Africa, with studios and homes in Italy and China, and with collaborative projects in Japan, the USA, China, Turkey, Canada, Italy and Korea. Lislerud’s multicultural background is evident in every facet of his art and is an aspect that is documented extensively in this book.

Professor and art historian Gunnar Danbolt has written the book’s foreword, in which he highlights Lislerud’s international projects and continuous artistic renewal – from ceramist to conceptual artist.

Author, curator and art historian Åsmund Thorkildsen provides the book’s central text, a comprehensive reflection titled ‘When and how does a gesture acquire meaning?’, in which he examines the gesture as an activity and an event, elucidated by way of Lislerud’s artistic projects in the public sphere.