Photo by Vegard Giskehaug

We are Hilde & Bård Tørdal, artists working from our studio in the small valley Tørdal and in Spriten Kunsthall.

Our work draw inspiration from video games, comics, science fiction, cartoons, technology, movies and robots – and we merge these influences with sculpture, microprocessors, paintings, drawings: Although we have strived to keep our project as open-ended as possible through the years, most of our work are scaled down versions of our reality and either character or story driven – whether the final work is a pencil drawing, a robot or an installation.

Our art has often a playfulness and adapts a humorous approach to the dynamics of progress that constitutes the new individual in the new environment run by the smart machines- – an environment where we also can imagine a more dark utopia of oppressive automated reality.

We have worked with miniatures, robotics and micro controllers in our art in one way or another for many years. Our main interest in this field has been the ability to give life and movement to inanimate objects and to use sensors and electronics to create a character, hint towards a narrative and engage in a closer dialogue with the visitor of an exhibition.

In our art we have not focused on using the technology as a visual element, we look for incomplete storylines or portraits of human character where the element of technology is hidden.