Five letters formed in neon light constitute the Olsok exhibition during this year’s Olavsfest in Trondheim. The letters TRUTH hang from the ceiling in the centre of Nidaros Cathedral and appear to challenge the fundamental Christian message: “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” Truth means sannhet in English. The 17-metre-high light installation was conceived by the artist Lars Ø. Ramberg.
Red and blue neon light
“The light installation follows the vertical movement of the tower space and makes the cathedral’s architecture an active part of the work. The word TRUTH is divided into red and blue light. Through this simple displacement, the word loses its apparent unambiguity. Truth does not appear as an assertion, but as something that must continually be read, experienced and understood anew,” writes Olavsfest in its presentation of this year’s exhibition, which has Norway’s national shrine as its exhibition venue.
The management of Olavsfestdagene (the original name of the Olavsfest festival in Trondheim) invited artist Lars Ø. Ramberg themselves and describes the work as a commissioned piece. TRUTH is made from mouth-blown glass tubes and produced by glassblowers, based on Ramberg’s concept.
The neon artwork TRUTH could be experienced during both Olsok services in Nidaros Cathedral on 29 July 2026. Here during the Catholic solemn Mass for Norway’s national saint. Photo: Bente Haarstad.
The artist naturally receives much praise on his own Facebook page, but also a small amount of criticism.
“As I see it, the liturgical colours are somewhat reversed. But perhaps it is an atheistic stunt? Blue for the celestial heaven, the Resurrection. Red for the blood of Jesus. It probably feels amusing to do something quick within a setting and a space that contains so much time, work and prayer,” writes an Oslo artist who fears that this blocks prayer, the mental space of eternity for which the church was built.
Activating historic buildings
“With the artwork in Nidaros Cathedral, Ramberg continues his long-standing work of activating historic buildings through contemporary art. Through language, architecture and institutions, he explores how historic places can open new perspectives on our own time,” Olavsfest writes in its presentation. It does not elaborate on what is meant by “activating buildings”.
Festival director and self-declared atheist Steinar Larsen is, at any rate, immensely enthusiastic. He leads a church festival without faith, Vårt Land wrote when introducing Larsen as the new director in 2023. In 2026, he insists that a neon light installation in the middle of Nidaros Cathedral truly captures the spirit of our age.
> “When we bring Lars Ø. Ramberg’s work into Nidaros Cathedral, it is about raising the great questions and creating conversations. To be able to present this work here is the most important thing we are doing during this year’s festival, perhaps the most important thing in my entire time as director of Olavsfest,” the director told Adresseavisen.
One wonders whether this commissioned neon installation demonstrates that the festival has embraced a truth different from the Christian message on which it was founded, and whether the message now hanging in the centre of the sanctuary is perhaps, to some extent, anti-Christian.
We have not asked Steinar Larsen whether that was part of the intention, because on the occasions when Document has done so, we have received no reply.
This year, Larsen has also lent the cathedral to a Muslim rap artist.
Muslim får låne Nidarosdomen for nattkonsert under Olavsfest
The neon artwork stands in the centre of the tower space in Nidaros Cathedral, directly beneath the spire, throughout the entire Olavsfest festival, that is, until 4 August, and is not switched off during church services either. There are, in fact, several services, although Olavsfest does not advertise them. Among them were two on Olsok Day itself, 29 July, one Catholic and one organised by the Church of Norway, on the feast day of Norway’s national saint, St Olav. You know, the one for whom Olavsfestdagene was established in 1963 in order to carry on the Olav heritage, the legacy of Norway’s most famous Norwegian throughout history. The man who secured Christianity’s final breakthrough in Norway through his death at the Battle of Stiklestad.
Critical of the “disco lights”
Author, Catholic and public commentator Dordi Skuggevik from Nordmøre was among those attending the Olsok Mass in Nidaros Cathedral on Olsok Day, and she was not impressed by the artwork in the cathedral. In a Facebook post, she writes that she intends to send a letter of complaint to the Directorate for Cultural Heritage (Riksantikvaren), “both about the disco lights, the art installations and Islamic activity in the Cathedral”.
Someone must put a stop to what we have witnessed during this year’s Olsok celebration in Nidaros Cathedral: that a random artist is let loose on the interior and leaves behind something that undermines the entire ecclesiastical pedagogy embodied in it. The disco lighting in the Cathedral does exactly the same—it ought to be debated, because this outrage renders the carefully developed interior lifeless. The question is: Who is in charge of the Cathedral today? Egotistical mayflies? Home-knitted “prophets”? Dismantlers of Christianity? Fortunately, I had been warned before entering the Cathedral on 29 July, otherwise I might well have staged a one-person performance on the spot.
Skuggevik writes this. She has written a book about St Olav, and in 2014 she wrote the libretto for her first oratorio, The Baptism of St Olav, to mark the 1,000th anniversary of Olav’s baptism in Rouen. It was also performed in Rouen Cathedral, but so far never in St Olav’s burial church, Nidaros Cathedral. Composer Ole Karsten Sundlisæter wrote the music for the work, and the two also collaborated on the Easter oratorio JOHANNES – Apostle of Love, Bishop of Ephesus. It was first performed in Grue Church in May 2023. And, shall we guess: never in Nidaros Cathedral.
Truth is the theme of Olavsfest 2026. On the logo, the letters are almost cut in half from below, so perhaps that signifies half the truth?
Logo for Olavsfest 2026, where truth was the theme.
Document has written extensively about the transformation of Olavsfestdagene into Olavsfest. Among other things, this article from 2023:
Olav den helliges fest ble islams og asylinnvandringens fest