Exhibition

Wenche Selmer. What Can You Live Without?

Wenche and Jens Selmer, Summer House on Fjelldalsøy (Fjelldals island), 1960.
Photo: Max Creasy, 2025

Wenche Selmer pursued the ideal of a rich life based on simple means. She perfected the idea of the Norwegian cabin: frugal, useful and adapted to the environment.

This exhibition showcases the Norwegian architect Wenche Selmer's (1920–1998) works. They were often designed and conceived in partnership with her husband Jens Selmer (1911–1995).

For Selmer, a cabin was more than a building project – it was an ideal for architecture in general and a metaphor for the good and simple life.

Wenche Selmer developed a distinctive architectural language that was poetic and generous at the same time as it was almost mercilessly plain. She often described her projects as insignificant. Behind the facade of what she called 'the little wooden house', the projects were unmistakably modern, with open and functional floor plans and a use of space reduced to the bare minimum.

Central to her approach were studies of local building styles, a careful mapping of the given surroundings and sensitivity for the building project and those who would live there. She embraced the ideal of living a rich life with simple means. 'What can you do without?' she asked both her clients and the students she taught at Oslo School of Architecture and Design. The question was contextualised by the postwar period's scarce resources and a growing awareness of environmental concerns.

The question is also relevant today. The increasing size of cabins and expanding vacation housing developments that involve ever-more comprehensive infrastructure has contributed to the degradation of Norwegian nature. In opposition to this, Wenche and Jens Selmers' beautiful and minimalist wooden cabins stand as models and correctives in Norwegian cabin history.

Wenche and Jens Selmer at the drawing board. © Private collection. Photo: Jens Selmer
Wenche og Jens Selmer, Detail from summer house at Fjelldalsøy, 1983. Photo: Max Creasy, 2025.
The exhibition in The Light Hall. Photo: Andreas Harvik / Nasjonalmuseet
Wenche and Jens Selmer, The Selmers’ own house in Trosterudstien, 1963. Photo: Jens Selmer / Nasjonalmuseet
The exhibition. Photo: Andreas Harvik. Nasjonalmuseet
Wenche og Jens Selmer, Summerhouse at Fjelldalsøy, 1972. Photo: Max Creasy, 2025
Wenche Selmer and Jens Selmer, Summer house on Fjelldalsøy, 1961. © Private collection. Photo: Jens Selmer.
Wenche Selmer and Jens Selmer, Cabin at Ringkollen, 1953. Photo: Jens Selmer / Nasjonalmuseet
Breakfast at Beltesholmen, 1957. © Private collection. Photo: Jens Selmer
Wenche and Jens Selmer, Cabin at Ringkollen, 1952. © Private collection. Photo: Jens Selmer.
Wenche and Jens Selmer, Cabin at Roa, interior sketch, 1959. Photo: Nasjonalmuseet
Wenche Selmer, Cabin at Sørbølseter, interior, 1974. Photo: Max Creasy, 2025

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Utforsk mer

Tegnebordet, stedet, livet, rommet og huset

Hytta som byggeoppgave

Fordyp deg i artikler om hytter i det siste nummeret av Kunst og Kultur.

Wenche Selmer i samlingen

I Nasjonalmuseets digitale samling finner du mer om Wenche Selmer og hennes arbeider.

Virtuell visning

Se utstillingen slik den vises i Lyshallen.

Litteraturliste til utstillingen

Studer litteraturlisten Nasjonalmuseets bibliotek har laget til «Wenche Selmer. Hva kan du unnvære?».

Project Manager: Cathrine Sæthre Furuholmen
Curator Exhibition: Martin Braathen and Joakim Skajaa
Curator Education: Gustav Greger Nyborg Elgin
Press Contact: Rannveig Falkenberg-Arell

The exhibition architecture was created by the architectural office Manthey Kula by Simon Indrehus Furuli, Ilse Kempf, Per Tamsen and Beate Hølmebakk.