The exhibitions floor by floor
1st floor: Café Sult, shop and reception
Welcome to the Hamsun Center's museum shop and bookstore. Here you can buy literature, t-shirts and other Hamsun items. Café Sult offers hot and cold dishes based on locally sourced ingredients and locally produced products from the north. In the café, there is a series of pictures from Markens grøde by Unni Askeland, which was donated to the center by Nils Øverås. By the entrance door, there is Regine Hamsun's Stemmen , which is the title work from her Hamsun Day exhibition in 2022. The work is a gift from Hamarøy Municipality in connection with the festival's 40th anniversary.
On the ground floor we find pictures of Gunvor Nervold Antonsen and two models of The Hamsun Centre from the construction period.
Photos on this page: Karoline OA Pettersen/VisitBodø
2nd floor: OVERVIEW I: Hamsun's life and writings
The centerpiece of the floor is a glass display with first editions of Hamsun's books from 1877 to 1949. The display extends from the Nordlands wall where you can read about the ambitious Knud Pedersen and his upbringing in poor conditions in Hamsund, and to the opposite end of the floor where it is about the old, compromised Hamsun on the Nørholm estate. A selection of professionals and art by Martin Losvik and Sonja Langskjær add perspectives on the world-famous and controversial author.
3rd floor: THE POETRY OF NERVES
This floor displays Hamsun's psychological poetry through listening stations, art installations and luminous quotes on the walls. The two installations Nevel (the moving walls) and Plexus (the nerve network hanging from the ceiling) are created by the Tromsø-based Belgian artist Lawrence Malstaf. The audience can move freely throughout the floor, and also move between the walls of Nevel.
The floor's listening library contains a collection of short Hamsun texts, which show the author's psychological poetry in various ways. The texts are in Norwegian, English and Lule Sami. There are also listening stations inside Nevel.
4th floor: COME AND READ!
Sink into a wingback chair and choose a Hamsun gem to read in peace and quiet. Or just find peace. The reading room is furnished with help and inspiration from local youth associated with the Young Critics project. It's about creating space to read, think and express yourself honestly and clearly.
5th floor: THE CONTROVERSIAL HAMSUN
Hamsun was controversial from the beginning of his modern writing. We go into the breadth and depth of the ways in which he was controversial throughout his life and up to our time. Some of the examples make many people smile today, like or agree with, others many people strongly dislike today. You are invited to listen, read, delve into, think, write, and discuss Hamsun's value and significance today.
The exhibitions on the 5th floor are funded by Bodø2024, Fritt ord and Nordlandsmuseet.
Torsteinsen Design, Blæst Design and Netron are partners for exhibition design and technical solutions.
Temporary exhibition 5th floor: Hamsun-Epilogue
In 2026 – 27 we will show the German artist Friedrich Karl Gotsch's latest series of Hamsun woodcuts. The folder Hamsun-Epilogue is based on Hamsun's last book On Overgrown Paths . The folder's five woodcuts and two Hamsun reviews (R. Italiaander (1949) and JP Hodin (1968)) are little known today and in various ways thought-provoking.
6th floor: OVERVIEW II: Hamsun's landscape
Roof terrace
