Håkon Anton Fagerås, sculptor from Oslo, Norway. Photography © Francesco Martinelli

1.In your opinion what is the role of a museum?

To preserve and inspire. To keep us from forgetting, and to make us look at the past with fresh eyes.

2.What are your favorite museums in the world? Why?

I’d say the National Museum of Bargello in Florence. The medieval palace building itself is a time machine, and the quality of the collection, consisting mainly of gothic and renaissance sculpture, is amazing.

Florence can be quite congested at times, but at the Bargello there is always a calm and wonderful atmosphere. One of my favorite pieces there is the marble bust of Brutus by Michelangelo.

3.How important are social networks in your business? And which platform do you prefer and why.

I signed up on Instagram 5 years ago just for the fun of it, not knowing how many possibilities it would create. So the whole thing was a bit of a surprise to me. It has connected me with lots of colleagues, clients and galleries that I otherwise would not have known.

More than just showing my finished pieces, I like to show the creative process behind them. I spend maybe six months a year carving marble in Italy, and I find that people are especially keen to see how a marble sculpture is made.

As it takes a bit of time to create and publish content I have chosen to not use other social networks.

4.In particular, due to the coronavirus emergency, how have you changed your business on social networks?

No changes at all actually. I occasionally post a photo or a clip, and that seems to work just fine, I get plenty of requests that way.

5.To create greater engagement among museums, artists and professionals, do you have any advice for cultural projects such as #MuseumWeek?

More content online. Maybe the virus situation the last few months will lead to permanent changes in that respect, I believe it will.

Interview by Fabio Pariante, journalist

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Håkon A. Fagerås on social networks: Instagram

Håkon Anton Fagerås (Oslo, 1975) is a Norwegian sculptor who trained at the National Academy of Fine Arts in Oslo. Like a photograph, his sculptures stop instants carved in time: a walking girl, a man in balance, the dreamy eyes of a boy lost in emptiness… each sculpture tells a story that the artist sculptes above all in the white marble of Carrara.

Soft shapes of a pillow or the wings of a moth, hard marble becomes light, almost fragile, in the eyes of the beholder. Fagerås lives between his country and Pietrasanta, in Italy.