Elsker

About this place Elsker

Elsker — the name means 'Lover' in Norwegian — is Oslo's primary gay bar and club for queer women and non-binary people, occupying the specific position in the city's LGBTQ+ landscape that other Scandinavian gay capitals provide through venues like Vela in Copenhagen. The bar operates in the Sentrum area, near the Aker Brygge waterfront, and runs a regular programme of DJ nights and community events with a specifically queer-feminist identity. The crowd is predominantly queer women, non-binary people, and their allies, with a significant gay male contingent who appreciate the quality of the music programming over the more conventional gay male bars elsewhere in the city. Elsker's programming covers house, techno, and left-field electronic music — a level above the commercial mainstream that characterises some of the other Oslo gay venues — and the bar's specifically queer-feminist politics give it an atmosphere of engaged community rather than passive consumption. For queer women visiting Oslo, Elsker is the essential stop; for all LGBTQ+ visitors, it is one of the most interesting venues in the city.