Make the most of your days off in Oslo. From concerts to festivals, art exhibitions to cultural events, outdoor activities to sports arrangements, you'll find the best things to see and do during your holiday here.
Concerts and music festivals
Oslo
12.03.2026 - 21.03.2026
Oslo International Church Music Festival
The Oslo International Church Music Festival takes place annually over ten days in March and has, since its inception in 2001, established itself as a leading national and international platform for high-quality artistic projects. The festival’s concerts are held in churches across the capital, with Oslo Cathedral serving as the main venue. The programme is launched each year on 1 December. Showcasing the rich diversity of church music, the festival’s repertoire ranges from the Middle Ages to contemporary works. As a key player in early music and a significant promoter of modern expressions, the festival plays an important role in preserving and advancing the genre. In addition to concerts, the public is invited to attend lectures, masterclasses, and open rehearsals. Programme to be announced, visit the festival's website.Exhibitions
Book nowOsloART·HAND·WORK
Explore contemporary crafts in a playful and multifaceted exhibition. Art can be interpreted in many ways. Each art discipline has its own ways of reading, and each way of reading offers new meanings. This exhibition is an opportunity to discover some of the ways crafts can be read. With almost 100 works by a wealth of practitioners, the breadth and depth of contemporary crafts is presented under a variety of headings. From large, immersive installations to small, intricate works of art – here you will find both surprises and hidden stories. In ART·HAND·WORK contemporary crafts are explored under the headings of Materiality, Craft traditions, Everyday life, Decoration, Recycling, and Post-industrialism. Here you will encounter a range of voices and perspectives, through audio stories, texts, activity spaces, and videos that show work processes. In 2025, the artist organisation Norske Kunsthåndverkere (the Norwegian Association for Craft Artists) celebrates its fiftieth anniversary. To mark the occasion, Kode, the National Museum, and Nordenfjeldske Kunstindustrimuseum (the National Museum of Decorative Arts and Design, Trondheim) have joined forces to create an exhibition that presents crafts as an independent and important art form.. The exhibition is based mainly on the collections of the three museums, with an emphasis on works from the past twenty-five years.
Oslo02.02.2026 - 18.04.2026Anawana Haloba. I Want to Tell You Something
The Zambian-Norwegian artist creates multi-media installations that appeal to all the senses, including hearing and taste. But she also challenges audiences to think. Many of her works address current discussions about Africa's colonial legacy. The exhibition presents a varied selection of works from her artistic practice. In addition, she has created a new work—her very own opera— a video insallation with singing sculptures, that draws on rich traditions of folk opera in Zambia. On four large split screens, we see Zambian chiyabilo performers juxtaposed with singers based in Oslo. The sculptures in the room, which chant the artist's own libretto, are made from traditional instruments and tools used in ceremonial rituals as well as food preparation. The work challenges and transcends conventional Western notions of classical Italian opera.
Book nowOslo02.02.2026 - 29.09.2026DEMOCRACY ON THE BRINK
Defending democracy in the face of authoritarian rule requires courage, determination, and collective action. The exhibition opens 12 December 2025 and is on view until 30 September 2026. This year's Nobel Peace Prize exhibition shows how the fight for democracy in Venezuela has become a symbol of a broader global challenge: Across the world democracy is in retreat and authoritarian power is on the rise. Democracy on the Brink invites you to explore how the principles of democracy depend on our ability to protect them, and to see democracy not only as a system, but as a mindset. In the exhibition, Venezuela's transition from democracy to dictatorship is made visible, alongside Nobel Peace Prize laureate Maria Corina Machado's tireless struggle for change. Venezuela is one of the world's most repressive regimes and one of those that have driven the highest numbers of people to flee. More than 8 million people, or ¼ of the population, have left since 2014. Those who remain live in poverty and fear, while they miss their exiled family members. Through photographs and interviews with young, exiled Venezuelans in Colombia, Magnum photographer Emin Özmen portrays a lost generation. These young people don't see a future for themselves in Venezuela. They have given up hope for their country, but they haven't given up hope for themselves. That is why they leave. – Photographer Emin Özmen
Book nowOslo02.02.2026 - 14.03.2026Deviant Ornaments
Queer sexuality in art is nothing new. Through everything from historical manuscripts to contemporary works, the exhibition shows the abundance and complexity of queer expressions from the Islamic world. In the exhibition you'll see a broad spectrum of works and techniques, which depict or hint at diverse sexualities in different ways: from the explicit to the coded and ornamental. Historical tiles, textiles and illustrations are displayed side by side with contemporary installations, paintings and sculptures. What histories have we been told, and how do they shape how we interpret what we see? Can the pattern on a ceramic tile or on a carpet be seen as queer? And might there be interpretations hidden in the artworks, waiting to be discovered? "Deviant Ornaments" spans more than a thousand years and four continents, with works by more than 30 artists, craftspeople and producers. You will find everything from golden plates from 11th-century Egypt and tiles from the 13th century, through to contemporary installations, video works, sculptures and paintings. Some of the historical works are of unknown origin, and more is known about the context they were made in, than about the people who made them. The exhibition explores historical periods full of transformations, translations and exchanges across cultures and borders. Four contemporary artists have produced new works for the exhibition. They have all worked with historical sources, playing with and manipulating history in different ways. In "Queer Alterations", Kasra Jalilipour changes the gender of the figures in a Persian 19th-century manuscript that depicts sexual interaction. Based on an explicit Mughal illustration from the 17th century, Rah Eleh has produced a 3D-printed, almost life-size sculpture. Sa'dia Rehman's work is an etching, with repeating architectural elements from the Taj Mahal and religious buildings, while Damien Ajavon presents a textile work based on protective symbols. Contributing contemporary artists: Damien Ajavon, Kasra Jalilipour, Sa'dia Rehman, Rah Eleh, Kuldeep Singh, Taner Ceylan, Lynette Yiadom-Boakye, Shahzia Sikander, Chaza Charafeddine, Kiki Salem, Alize Zorlutuna, Ramin Haerizadeh, Rokni Haerizadeh and Hesam Rahmanian.
Book nowOslo05.02.2026 - 09.05.2026Grammars of Light
Text from the organiser: In Grammars of Light, three artists come together to transform the Astrup Fearnley Museum’s exhibition spaces with their immersive installations. Cerith Wyn Evans, Ann Lislegaard and P. Staff work with artificial light using digital projectors, electrified neon gas, programmable LED lights and other technologies that choreograph visitors’ movements and create physical, embodied experiences. The works actively engage with the museum’s architecture, while also referencing other structures and built environments. Columns of light are reflected in the museum’s glass ceiling, crystalline forms envelop a modernist building, and hologram fans form a corridor of intensely coloured light.
Book nowOslo01.02.2026 - 21.02.2026MUNCH Triennale: Almost Unreal
The second MUNCH Triennale explores the spaces between the real and the virtual, old and new technologies, dystopian and hopeful visions of the future. Working in many different formats, the 20-plus artists featured in Almost Unreal open portals to other realities: parallel universes, mystical realms, alternative ways of seeing. They appropriate and hack existing technologies, such as music boxes, holograms and weaving looms. They create new worlds using advanced gaming engines and generative machine learning tools.
Book nowOslo02.02.2026 - 06.04.2026War is Peace?
This autumn’s major exhibition at the Nobel Peace Center presents artworks spanning three centuries, leaving us with an unsettling question: Has anything truly changed? War is Peace? is a group exhibition featuring works from the 19th century to the present day - from Francisco Goya’s harrowing depictions of war, through Yoko Ono’s activist pieces, to Barbara Kruger’s bold, graphic messages. Is violence an inevitable part of human nature? Can peace be more than just the absence of conflict? Can we imagine a peace founded on care, justice, and belonging? In a time of global disorder, War is Peace? challenges us to confront uncomfortable truths and envision paths to peace that we may not yet have words for. War is Peace? will be on display at the Nobel Peace Center from 12 September 2025 until 7 April 2026. The exhibition features works by Antoine d’Agata, Carolina Caycedo, Marius Engh, Ernst Friedrich, Francisco Goya, Nanna Heitmann, Barbara Kruger, and Yoko Ono.
Theatre, opera, and other shows
Oslo22.01.2026 - 23.01.20261969 - True. Crime. Theatre.
In January 2024, Kate Pendry went to the police in London to report a historic, serious crime within her family. 1969 – True. Crime. Theatre. centres on the police investigation that has now been opened into the case. At its core, the performance explores how unreported murders can affect family and relationships. When an artist shares close DNA with both a murderer and his victim, the ripple effects can last for decades. Kate Pendry and Mads Sjøgård Pettersen previously collaborated on the critically acclaimed production My Dinner With Putin. Both artists have received numerous awards for their theatrical work. Kate Pendry is an actress and playwright based in Oslo. With a wide-ranging body of work spanning 30 years, she is known for her cross-political social commentary and use of dark humour. Mads Sjøgård Pettersen is a Norwegian actor and director, known for his versatile roles on screen and stage, and his groundbreaking use of live camera work as a theatrical device. Duration: Two hours including interval The performance is in English.
Oslo07.02.2026 - 19.02.2026Hedda Gabler
Text from the organiser: The Norwegian National Ballet's acclaimed success is back! Marit Moum Aune's Ibsen ballets have been praised by critics both in Norway and abroad. You can now experience Hedda Gabler once more, this time retold through dance, with music by Nils Petter Molvær.
Book nowOslo25.02.2026 - 27.02.2026Oslo Humorfest
Fun, Funnier – Norway's most entertaining festival! Some of Oslo’s finest jesters gather for four days of laughter-filled comedy at SALT. You’ll be treated to jokes across the entire spectrum, including stand-up, improv, clowning, revue (and worse, if you can imagine). For more information about the programme, see the event's website (in Norwegian).
Oslo06.02.2026 - 21.02.2026The Barber of Seville
A vitamin injection of an opera! Rossini’s masterpiece is bursting with exuberant music, twisted disguises and liberating comedy. Bribes, betrayal and complications The young girl Rosina lives in the home of the old doctor Bartolo, who plans to marry her. But Count Almaviva has fallen head over heels in love with the girl and tries to win over her heart. The town’s self-proclaimed handyman, Figaro the barber, decides to help the count seduce Rosina. This sets the stage for bribery, betrayal and comic entanglements. How will Figaro unravel all the knots, save the day – and love? Comedy and tragedy hand in hand The characters all have their unpleasant sides: selfishness, desire and greed. Director Jetske Mijnssen takes this seriously and shows how comedy is never far from tragedy. The Barber of Seville is one of three plays by Pierre Beaumarchais and is a prequel to the Marriage of Figaro. In that play, Count Almaviva has won his Rosina, but it is not a happy marriage. In light of this, Rossini’s comic opera about the young love between Rosina and Count Almaviva takes on a different tone.
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