LOKAL LOKAL LOKAL LOKAL

Lokal: دسترخوان Bordduk, men på gulvet

22.08.2025–04.10.2025
Urtegata 36 (Blank Blank Studio)
Tue–Fri 10–16

22.08.2025 18:00-20:00 Opening
18:30 Reading by Muhammad Anwar Soofi & a conversation between Sarah Kazmi, Petri Henriksson and Muhammad Anwar Soofi.
Pakistani snacks will be provided by our neighbours at Madina Sweets.

04.10.2025 13:00 Finissage + live video talk between Sarah Kazmi and Kurachee Reading Room

A bookstore and reading room curated by Sarah Kazmi exploring translation, multilingualism, and diaspora language. Inspired by Muhammad Anwar Soofi’s Pakistani bookstore previously located at Urtegata 36. Lokal: دسترخوان Bordduk, men på gulvet features publications from Soofi’s private collection, artist books from the independent art initiative Kurachee (Karachi), and a selection of language learning books in Urdu and Norwegian sourced from the National Library of Norway

Sarah Kazmi (b. 1990 Pakistan, she/her) is an interdisciplinary artist and writer, living and working between Oslo (Norway) and Karachi (Pakistan). Her artistic practice moves across research and visual production, observing the relationship between food, language, and politics; often based around/with communities and local environments. In addition to visual artworks, Kazmi works with writing, as her texts are often conveyed through a variety of rhythmic disciplines including sound, video, installation, and performance.

Alongside her artistic practice, Kazmi does policy advocacy for Verdensrommet (2021–), an artist-powered support network by and for non-EU/EEA creative professionals in Norway. 

Currently, she is a recipient of the Kunstnerforbundet Studio program, where she has been granted a free studio for two years.

Muhammad Anwar Soofi (b. 1942 Pakistan) is a Norwegian/Pakistani writer. Soofi came to Norway in 1974 and founded the first Pakistani bookstore in Oslo in the 1980s. Between 2019 and 2022 the bookstore shared the location at Urtegata 36 with Blank Blank. Soofis store had literature in Urdu, Punjabi, Hindi, Arabic, Tamil and English. Books ranged from religious books, poetry, dictionaries, as well as journalistic books, newspapers and magazines.

Besides running the bookstore, Soofi has published two books: Damane e Khayal e Watan (2000) and Shab o Roze Hijran (2004). The Norwegian etnolog Liv Hilde Bøe has written a book about Soofi under the title Bokhandleren på Grønland (2012).

The Kurachee Reading Room (PK) is a tenderly collected set of artists’ books, exhibition catalogues, zines, art fair catalogues, archives, experimental publications and art related printed and written materials. They have previously been housed at the COMO Museum in Lahore (2021-2022), and are currently hosted by AAN Ideas Lab (Art Space and Museum), Karachi. The reading room is open to all those interested, whether it be for research, working, perusing, knowledge-seeking, inspiration, meeting for dialogue or to be present in.

Supported by Grafill and Atelier Kunstnerforbundet.

Lokal #1 (Corner Store): Linn Henrichson + Bladr
A selection of artists’ books

4.5.–16.6.2024
Urtegata 36 (Blank Blank Studio)
Tue–Fri 10–16 (sometimes later)
Opening Sat 4.5.2024 at 16.00 + concert with Tatu Rönkkö 18.00

The first edition of Lokal was curated by artist and graphic designer Linn Henrichson (FIN). With an artistic approach to the task, Henrichson curated a selection of artists' books from the archive of the Copenhagen-based bookstore and exhibition space Bladr. Odes to publications were visible through textile and printed artworks inside and outside of the space during the project period. On the opening night, May 4th, Tatu Rönkkö (FIN) performed an improvised concert.

Linn Henrichson (born in Helsinki, Finland, 1993) is a visual artist and graphic designer, working within the fields of painting, textile production, and printmaking. With an MA in Visual Communication from Konstfack in Stockholm (2020), Henrichson’s practice has developed around multidisciplinary image-making, allowing new forms to emerge through experimental combinations of different techniques and media. She works with a visual language that is as much telling and suggestive as it is inclined towards abstraction. The use of collage is a central element in her work, and her pieces often involve elements of both digital and manual crafts. Drawing inspiration from scientific imagery, her work revolves around themes of distortion and explores the relationship between the organic and the artificial.

Bladr is an artist-run bookstore, exhibition space and platform for artists’ books, based in Copenhagen. They initiate workshops, screenings, performances, book launches, talks, and other events, with a mission to increase the visibility of artists’ books and foster a larger community. By exploring the artists’ book and how it is interlaced with various art disciplines, Bladr seeks to facilitate the potential of the art form and provide a platform for artists working with the book as their medium.

Tatu Rönkkö (FIN) is a Helsinki based sound artist and percussionist that uses found objects as instrument. He has played improvised solo concerts around Europe in people’s kitchens, forests, art museums, churches, catacombs, in a hardware store, in a cave, gas station and other off sites. “Any object is an instrument” is his philosophy to making experimental percussive music. Besides his solo work Rönkkö has performed/recorded with such artists as Nils Frahm, K-X-P, Efterklang, Liima, Lasse Marhaug, Gyda Valtysdottir (Mum), Islaja and Ilpo Väisänen (Pan Sonic).