Exploring time, memory and grief at Norway’s national centre dedicated to the terrorist attacks of July 22, 2011.

Suspended in the centre’s entrance pavilion, 189 Minutes is a light installation visible from Johan Nygaardsvolls plass and illuminated around the clock. It consists of 189 lamps, separated by aluminium panels, each representing one minute between the bombing of the Government Quarter and the apprehension of the terrorist on Utøya. Together, they mark a period of three hours and nine minutes.

The installation functions as a clock that measures only its own time. As each minute passes, the light moves forward through the sequence. After 189 minutes, the cycle begins again.

Frozen within the timeline of July 22, the work establishes a continuous, repeating measure of a specific historical duration. Positioned between the city and the exhibition, it remains present in the urban landscape day and night, making time itself a visible part of the centre’s subject.