Paula Rego and the Thorns of Fascism Talk
To mark the exhibition Paula Rego: Dance Among Thorns, MUNCH and Tankesmien Agenda invite you to a discussion on the potential of art in the face of authoritarian tendencies.
Paula Rego (1935–2022) grew up in Portugal under Salazar’s dictatorship (1932–1974). Her artistic practice bears clear traces of her experiences of a fascist and misogynistic society characterised by censorship, control and a lack of rights. Rego continued to challenge power structures and cultural norms throughout her artistic career. A clear example is her pastel works (1998–2000) addressing the issue of abortion in Portugal, which gained political significance far beyond the art world.
Even today, large sections of the world’s population live under authoritarian regimes. In recent years, the world’s democracies have been in decline and fundamental rights are being violated across the globe. One of the most important tools for fighting authoritarian regimes is art.
Kari J. Brandtzæg, senior curator at MUNCH and curator of Paula Rego: Dance Among Thornes, columnist and critic Mariken Lauvstad, and advisor and author Jonas Bals come together for a conversation moderated by Astrid Sverresdotter Dypvik from Tankesmien Agenda. The conversation takes Rego’s art as its starting point and turns attention to the larger questions: What does it mean to be an artist under fascist and authoritarian regimes? How are art’s spaces for expression, its functions, and its experimental possibilities affected when democracy is weakened? And what parallels can be drawn with today’s political landscape, characterised by growing authoritarian tendencies?
Mariken Lauvstad is a columnist and critic for Klassekampen. Lauvstad is a School of Stage Arts in Denmark graduate, in addition to studies from Oslo Academy of the Arts (2013) and a master's degree in international dramaturgy from the University of Cape Town (2019). In 2025, she debuted as a non-fiction author with the book "Kampen om kunsten – et forsvar for kulturens rolle i demokratiet" (Res Publica).
Jonas Bals is a Senior Policy Advisor at LO Norway, historian and skilled painter. He has written several books and is a columnist, writing for Klassekampen. In 2021, he published the book Streik!, followed by Tillitsvalgt (2022) and the duology on the history of fascism and anti-fascism, including the books Våre kamper (2023) and Kampen fortsetter (2024)
Kari J. Brandtzæg is a senior curator at MUNCH. She holds a PhD in art history from the University of Oslo. Brandtzæg has curated exhibitions featuring Tracey Emin (2021), Rolf Stenersen (2022), Marianne Bratteli (2023), Vanessa Baird (2024), and is the curator of this Paula Rego exhibition: Dance Among Thorns.
Astrid Sverresdotter Dypvik is an advisoer at Tankesmien Agenda. She holds a degree in history from the University of Oslo and Leipzig University, and is also a non-fiction author. In 2021, she published the book The Dark Germany, which explores the rise of the radical right-wing party Alternative for Germany (AfD).
Tankesmien Agenda is a politically independent think tank that contributes to social analysis and progressive policy development for the centre-left in Norwegian politics.
