An urban residency does not need to begin with a studio door. It can begin with a street, a repeated walk or a question that becomes clearer through attention. In Oslo, Karl Johans gate offers a way to encounter the city as a lived route: a corridor between important civic places, commercial activity, transit and everyday movement. Treating it as a site for artistic research means looking beyond the familiar postcard view and asking how the street is used, represented and experienced.
A residency based on this avenue can be rigorous without turning every passerby into material. It needs a clear research focus, a respectful method and enough time to notice change. The street is public, but it is not an empty stage. People work, commute, gather and go about private lives there. An artist’s attention should be curious and careful in equal measure.
Begin with a question, not a spectacle
A useful residency question is specific enough to guide observation but open enough to evolve. You might ask how people negotiate a busy pedestrian space, how weather alters the feeling of a familiar route, or how storefronts and civic buildings shape a visitor’s sense of the city. These are starting points, not predetermined conclusions. Let early walks refine the question before deciding what to make.
Avoid assuming that a well-known street has one stable meaning. It may feel ceremonial in one section and ordinary in another; it may be a route to somewhere else rather than a destination. Notice how your own position changes the experience. A visitor looking for landmarks will see something different from someone moving through on a daily errand.
Write a short statement of intent before the residency begins. Identify what you hope to observe, what forms of documentation you may use, and what you will not collect. A defined boundary can make the project more thoughtful. It also gives you a way to notice when the work is drifting toward material that is intrusive or unrelated.
Walk the route in more than one way
A first walk can be deliberately unproductive: no photographs, no recording, just a route taken at a measured pace. Notice where you slow down, where the sound changes and where the avenue opens or narrows. Mark transitions in a notebook without trying to explain them immediately. Returning at a different time can reveal different patterns of movement, light and activity.
Use a consistent route when comparison matters. Record the time, weather, direction of travel and any detours. If your interest is in how the street feels, include sensory details such as wind, crowd density as you perceived it, noise and the quality of pauses. Avoid pretending that impressions are objective measurements. Label them as situated observations and support broader claims with repeated evidence.
It can also be useful to leave the main route briefly and observe how adjacent streets connect to it. Do this only where access is appropriate and safe. A site is not defined solely by its official boundaries; it can include thresholds, waiting areas and routes that lead people toward or away from the avenue. Keep the project’s scope manageable, however, so that the street does not become a vague stand-in for the whole city.
Notice what the city asks of its users
Urban space is shaped by more than architecture. Signs, paving, crossings, benches, temporary barriers and commercial displays all influence how people move. Ask what the design invites, what it discourages and who can use it comfortably. Consider mobility, age, weather and carrying needs, but do not infer an individual’s circumstances from appearance alone.
A residency can examine the relationship between planned use and actual use. A place designed for movement can become a point of rest; a broad public space can feel crowded during an event. Such observations require context. If you document a temporary installation, gathering or closure, record the date and conditions rather than treating it as the ordinary state of the site.
Pay attention to what is absent as well as what is visible. Which parts of the avenue are easy to linger in? Where is it difficult to stop? Are there voices or experiences missing from your account because your method reaches only people who choose to speak with you? These questions can make the work more attentive without claiming to represent everyone.
Choose documentation with care
A notebook is often enough for a first phase. Drawing can record spatial relationships without capturing identifiable faces. Photographs may be useful for surfaces, light or changing displays, but aim them deliberately and be mindful of people in the frame. Rules and expectations vary by situation, and recording in public does not eliminate ethical responsibilities.
If you plan interviews, portraits, audio recording or participatory activities, consider consent, privacy, permissions and data handling before beginning. Explain the project in plain language and make participation voluntary. Do not record sensitive conversations or identifiable material merely because it seems artistically compelling. Where institutional or legal guidance applies, follow it and ask for advice when uncertain.
A simple field-note template can keep documentation consistent: date and time, route segment, conditions, what was directly observed, what you interpreted, and what you want to revisit. Keep interpretation separate from description. This distinction is especially valuable when a project develops over several weeks and the memory of the original moment becomes less vivid.
Make time for studio thinking
An urban residency needs intervals away from the street. After each walk, review notes, identify patterns and decide what remains unresolved. A small map, sequence of drawings or annotated route can help you see relationships that were hard to notice while moving. Resist the pressure to produce a finished work after every observation. Sometimes the most useful result of a session is a better question.
Set a rhythm that allows repetition. A daily short walk may reveal more than one ambitious excursion, particularly if the project concerns ordinary routines. Make room for days when the street offers no clear answer. Record the conditions and return later rather than forcing a narrative from a single encounter.
If you work with collaborators or invite participants, plan how their contributions will be credited and how their material will be used. Share the intended form of the work where appropriate. A residency is a relationship with a place and its users, not simply a period of extraction.
Let the final work stay specific
The strongest outcomes are often those that retain the texture of the site. A sound piece can preserve contrasts between movement and pause; a series of drawings can focus on thresholds; a text can map the gap between what a street promises and how it feels to use it. The medium should follow the inquiry. Avoid relying on familiar city imagery if it obscures the particular observations that led to the work.
When presenting conclusions, distinguish your experience from claims about the city as a whole. State what you observed, when and under what conditions. A limited, precise account is more credible than a sweeping statement unsupported by the fieldwork.
Keep the residency open to encounter
Karl Johan can function as a research site because it is both a recognizable route and an everyday urban environment. Walk it repeatedly, notice its changes, document with care and leave room for uncertainty. If your residency includes a public walk or event connected to artistic practice, learn about the programme and activities at Uhørt i Strøget. The street may offer no single story, but a patient practice can make its many rhythms legible without flattening them into one.
About Dr. Mira Solheim
Dr. Mira Solheim is an art historian and writer focused on artistic research, Nordic visual culture and the intersection of art with technology and film. She writes for Artistic-Research.no on methodology, institutions and practice.