About us

The foundation was established in 2013 and gained regional status the following year. We are based in the Ælvespeilet cultural centre and present four exhibitions a year — alongside openings, guided tours, workshops and seminars. Admission is free.

Since 2015, the kunsthall has played a key role both regionally and nationally in championing porcelain and ceramics as a material in art. Through a long-standing partnership with Porsgrunds Porselænsfabrik, we run the 1400 artists’ workshop, where artists can work with the factory’s own clay and use the kilns that have fired porcelain since 1887. Together with Porsgrunn municipality and the factory, we award the Porsgrunds porcelain bursary — a three-month working residency at the workshop.

We steward the town’s porcelain heritage in partnership with Porsgrunds Porselænsfabrik, Porselensmuseet and Porsgrunn municipality, and initiate collaborative projects — particularly across the Nordic region. Kunsthall Grenland is a member of Kunsthallene i Norge and works closely with the region’s art organisations under the Greenlight umbrella.

Sustainability is part of how we work. Everything we build for the exhibitions — walls, plinths and display cases — is kept and reused, and we reuse porcelain clay from the factory that would otherwise be discarded.