ARCTIC hYSTERIA bY LOCUS
Arctic Hysteria is a touring exhibition and publication with international artists initiated and produced by LOCUS.
Arctic Hysteria exhibition at Visningsrommet USF in Bergen 2017
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Programme:
2017: April: Exhibition at Visningsrommet USF in Bergen Norway Sept: Exhibition at Museum of Nonconformist Art, St.Petersburg Russia 2016: Sept: Book launch at MoMA PS1, NY Art Book Fair Sept: Exhibition at Dikemark during Kunst Rett Vest in Norway. Oct: Exhibition during Uncontaminated Art and Fashion festival in Oslo. |
RESEARCH AND RESIDENCY - How the artists work
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Arctic Hysteria explore the northern region in various ways through contemporary art.
The artists involved in the project has created new work by doing extensive research in the region with residencies and study-trips. Vanessa Albury has been to Svalbard, Tanja Thorjussen had a 2 month residency in Vadsø and a study trip to St.Petersburg with Thale Fastvold and Amelia Beavis-Harrison, who have also done extensive research in Finnmark, Norway. Fritz Horstman travelled to Svalbard June 2016 for a residency and Thale Fastvold and Tanja Thorjussen went on a BAR residency in Kirkenes - Murmansk - Teriberka with Pikene på Broen in 2016. Many miles, hours and meetings have influence the artists in creating the work presented. |
LOCUS at BAR Residency in Teriberka, Russia
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ARCTIC HYSTERIA - collected stories and research through contemporary art
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Launched at NY Art Book Fair at MoMA PS1in 2016 with support from OCA
Presenting artists: Vanessa Albury (USA), Amelia Beavis-Harrison (UK/NO), Thale Fastvold (NO), Fritz Horstman (USA), Marianne Darlén Solhaugstrand (NO), Tanja Thorjussen (NO), Javier Barrios (GT/MX/NO), Ekaterina Shelganova (RU) and Vemund Thoe (NO) Contributing writers: Vilde Fastvold (NO), PhD Candidate, medical antropology, UiO Tommy Olsson (SE), art critic/curator and Maria Kotlyachkova (RU) curator/writer Design: Maria Romstad |
Arctic Hysteria - collected stories and research through contemporary art
Locus presents a publication that touch upon the themes of the arctic region, mythology, shamanism, spirits and transformation. The book is a research tool and function as a publication for the traveling exhibition Arctic Hysteria.
The artists involved present text about their work and research process and new work in drawing, photography, painting, performance, sculpture and installation.
In addition the book has texts by a medical anthropologist, an art critic and a curator as well as three artists relevant to the theme.
Locus presents a publication that touch upon the themes of the arctic region, mythology, shamanism, spirits and transformation. The book is a research tool and function as a publication for the traveling exhibition Arctic Hysteria.
The artists involved present text about their work and research process and new work in drawing, photography, painting, performance, sculpture and installation.
In addition the book has texts by a medical anthropologist, an art critic and a curator as well as three artists relevant to the theme.
eXHIBITIONS:
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VISNINGSROMMET USF in Bergen
April 2017 Vanessa Albury (USA) Amelia Beavis-Harrison (UK/NO) Thale Fastvold (NO) Fritz Horstman (USA) Marianne Darlén Solhaugstrand (NO) Tanja Thorjussen (NO) |
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DIKEMARK
A previous mental hospital outside Oslo Sept 2016 Vanessa Albury (USA) Javier Barrios (GT/MX/NO) Amelia Beavis-Harrison (UK/NO) Thale Fastvold (NO) Fritz Horstman (USA) Marianne Darlén Solhaugstrand (NO) Tanja Thorjussen (NO) |
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Opening of Arctic Hysteria at Uncontaminated
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UNCONTAMINATED
Art and Fashion festival in Oslo Oct 2016 Vanessa Albury (USA) Amelia Beavis-Harrison (UK/NO) Thale Fastvold (NO) Fritz Horstman (USA) Cathrine Krog (NO) Marianne Darlén Solhaugstrand (NO) Tanja Thorjussen (NO) |
ARCTIC HYSTERIA / PIBLOKTO - curatorial Background - research
The arctic north is viewed as a pristine clear untouched and vast landscape, but it can also be a dangerous, stormy and turbulent place.
Ecologically it is the final frontier of defending the planet from exploitation such as oil drilling, excessive fishing industry and shipping. Politically it is a border area, where cultures have lived nomadic and interconnected organically with or without regard to changing national borders.
Spiritually it is a symbol of a pure untouched, and unsoiled nature, and the shamanistic bond between humans, nature and animals.
When arriving at this place the understanding of the world can tilt.
The light is different, whether it is during the dark winter or the bright summer. The contrasts are clearer, the air rougher, the space between life and death is nearer.
Through history the explorers, most often men, has descended on a foreign land and interpret it from their standpoint. Among these interpretations was the condition of Arctic Hysteria.
The term originated from explorers that went to Greenland and found something they interpreted as a medical condition only prevalent in the north, hence the name of the diagnosis became Arctic Hysteria.
Now however this condition may say more of the explorers themselves, and their view of the people they met, than of the affected people.
In this exhibition we explore various ways of relating to the Arctic North, and look upon interpretations of how the world see this area of the planet.
FROM RESEARCH:
Piblokto, or Arctic Hysteria is an abrupt dissociative episode with four phases: social withdrawal, excitement, convulsions and stupor, and recovery.
Arctic hysteria, is a condition most commonly appearing in Inughuit societies living within the Arctic Circle. It is a culture-specific hysterical reaction in Inuit, especially women, who may perform irrational or dangerous acts, followed by amnesia. It may be linked to repression of the personality of Inuit women.[1] Appears most commonly in winter and is considered to be a culture-bound syndrome, although more recent studies question whether it exists at all. Arctic Hysteria is part of the glossary of cultural bound syndromes found in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV).[3]
Arctic Hysteria was first documented in 1892 and appears to be common to all Arctic regions. Explorers such as Admiral Robert E. Peary, were the first to notice it, he provided a detailed look into the disorder during an expedition to Greenland. The acts Peary and his men witnessed among the Inuit women provided entertainment, and, having sent the women's male counterparts out on missions, Peary's men reaped the sexual benefits of being the only males present.
Ecologically it is the final frontier of defending the planet from exploitation such as oil drilling, excessive fishing industry and shipping. Politically it is a border area, where cultures have lived nomadic and interconnected organically with or without regard to changing national borders.
Spiritually it is a symbol of a pure untouched, and unsoiled nature, and the shamanistic bond between humans, nature and animals.
When arriving at this place the understanding of the world can tilt.
The light is different, whether it is during the dark winter or the bright summer. The contrasts are clearer, the air rougher, the space between life and death is nearer.
Through history the explorers, most often men, has descended on a foreign land and interpret it from their standpoint. Among these interpretations was the condition of Arctic Hysteria.
The term originated from explorers that went to Greenland and found something they interpreted as a medical condition only prevalent in the north, hence the name of the diagnosis became Arctic Hysteria.
Now however this condition may say more of the explorers themselves, and their view of the people they met, than of the affected people.
In this exhibition we explore various ways of relating to the Arctic North, and look upon interpretations of how the world see this area of the planet.
FROM RESEARCH:
Piblokto, or Arctic Hysteria is an abrupt dissociative episode with four phases: social withdrawal, excitement, convulsions and stupor, and recovery.
Arctic hysteria, is a condition most commonly appearing in Inughuit societies living within the Arctic Circle. It is a culture-specific hysterical reaction in Inuit, especially women, who may perform irrational or dangerous acts, followed by amnesia. It may be linked to repression of the personality of Inuit women.[1] Appears most commonly in winter and is considered to be a culture-bound syndrome, although more recent studies question whether it exists at all. Arctic Hysteria is part of the glossary of cultural bound syndromes found in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV).[3]
Arctic Hysteria was first documented in 1892 and appears to be common to all Arctic regions. Explorers such as Admiral Robert E. Peary, were the first to notice it, he provided a detailed look into the disorder during an expedition to Greenland. The acts Peary and his men witnessed among the Inuit women provided entertainment, and, having sent the women's male counterparts out on missions, Peary's men reaped the sexual benefits of being the only males present.
ARTIST BIOS:
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Vanessa Albury was born in Nashville, TN in 1978 and currently lives in Brooklyn, NY. She received her MFA in Studio Art from New York University’s Steinhardt School. Albury uses analog materials to discuss ephemerality and invites spontaneous occurrences in everyday moments as a means to access the sublime. She has exhibited her works in solo and group exhibitions internationally, including two solo shows in 2012 A Stilled Cascade of Image at Window Box Gallery (Oslo, Norway) curated by Thale Fastvold and In Waves at Monty ABN (Antwerp, Belgium) curated by Jan Van Woensel. Recent group shows include Multiple/ Addition curated by Kathleen Forde at P339 (NYC); Melancoly Lover of a Vanished Space at Silverlens Gallery (Singapore); Subtext Project’s Wish You Were Here at the Fort Worth Contemporary Arts (TX); Crystal Pantomime curated by Kari Adelaide at the Poetry Project (NYC); UN-SCR-1325 at the Chelsea Art Museum (NYC); If Love Could Have Saved You, You Would Have Lived Forever at Bellwether Gallery (NYC) and Into the Atomic Sunshine at the Puffin Room (NYC), Hillside Forum Gallery (Tokyo) and Okinawa Prefectural Art Museum (Okinawa). www.vanessaalbury.com
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Amelia Beavis-Harrison (b. 1986) is a British artist based between the UK and Norway. Amelia’s practice uses tandem strands of performance that alternate between minimal works in public space and theatrically staged environments in galleries or theatres. The work which primarily explores links between histories and contemporary politics, making links that are relevant today from situations that have occurred in the past. Her use of sculptural elements to create environments often means the work functions on two levels, that of a performance and the aftermath which is often viewed as installation or residue. Dependant on the venue Amelia often work’s directly with a particular context or history relevant to the site to produce new work. Amelia initiated and runs Lincoln Art Programme, a live art commissioning body in Lincoln, UK, alongside her freelance work. www.ameliabeavisharrison.com
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Fritz Horstman is an artist and curator based in Bethany, CT. He focuses on unusual and quiet instances of nature and culture overlapping, often producing scientific-like tools and images. He has been a member of Ortega Y Gasset Projects since 2014. (BA Kenyon College; MFA Maryland Institute College of Art) hwww.fritzhorstman.com
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Thale Fastvold (b. 1978) is an artist, curator and writer from Oslo, Norway. Working with photography and installations, her art practice researches concepts such as liminality in time and space and the Earth’s place within the Universe through various mediums. She has a BA in photography from Istituto Europeo di Design in Rome, a Cand.mag in Art History and Literature from the University of Oslo, and is educated a curator from Telemark University. Her work has been shown internationally in USA, Italy and Greece, as well as locally in Norway at Kunstnernes Hus and Tegnerforbundet (Oslo), Blunk (Trondheim) and Small Projects (Tromsø) among others. www.thalefastvold.com
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Marianne Darlén Solhaugstrand (b.1975, Tromsø) lives and works in Oslo. Balancing on a thin line between the known and the unknown she explores the intricacies and complexities of gender and sexuality in her large watercolors. Solhaugstrand received an MFA from the National Academy of Fine Arts in Oslo in 2004. She has participated in more than 60 exhibitions all over the world, 15 of which were solo shows. Over the past eight years, Solhaugstrand has won 16 artist grants awarded by the Norwegian government, as well as 4 grants from private foundations. She is in the collection of Sparebank1 Nordnorge Art Foundation, North Norwegian Art Museum, Haugesund Art Gallery, Steinkjer Municipality, Koro (Tromsø Youth Embellishment) and Tor Juul private collection. www.darlen.no
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Tanja Thorjussen (b. 1970) is an artist educated in fine-art from KHIB in Bergen (95) and Parsons The New School in New York (98). Thorjussen has exhibited internationally in USA, Iceland, Switzerland, Russia and Greece as well as locally in Norway at Bryne Kunstforening, Østlandsutstillingen 2015, Tegnerforbundet in Oslo and Tegning Nå in Skien. With drawing, installation and land-art she explores the theme of liminality in nature and mythology. Thorjussen explore liminal creatures such as the Tupilaq (depicted) and other in-between animals and creatures in a state of metamorphosis. www.tanjathorjussen.com
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ABOUT THE PROJECTS - RESEARCH AND METHOD:
Each artist is asked five questions to further explain the artistic process and the works they develop:
Tanja Thorjussen
Tanja Thorjussen did a residency in Vadsø, Finnmark in Norway in January and February 2015. During this time she developed work for Arctic Hysteria among others. Above is a picture from Mortensnes next to Transteinen, a Monolith on a settlement area which dates back ca 8,000 years BC.
Tanja Thorjussen, February 2016, Oslo
1. What is your artistic background and what media do you work with
My main media is pencil drawing on paper, but I also work with Land-Art, installation and performance.
2. Can you describe your research process for this project
While doing research for the project “Tupilaq” I was reading about polar explorers travelling to Greenland and I stumbled upon Pibloktoq, or Arctic Hysteria. As I read more about this condition I saw that this was something that many artists could interpret in various ways, and the idea of a group exhibition that could do even more research about this theme came about. So this exhibition project is in fact research based in itself, and it will be exciting to see what the other artists will come up with. In June, Thale and Marianne and I will go on a residency to Kirkenes to do more research for our artworks.
3. How do you interpret the theme of the exhibition Arctic Hysteria.
I will enter the project looking at shamanism and magic praxis throughout the arctic region. The title Tupilaq is borrowed from the Inuit language, and I am currently looking at the connection between the Tupilaq and the totem pole in the Alaskan tradition.
4. Can you describe the artworks you will show at the Arctic Hysteria exhibition, what is it about, what media, etc
I will show the series of drawings on paper titled “Tupilaq” which I started to create at a residency in Vadsø, Finmark in Norway.
Tupilaq is a creature in Inuit and Greenland folklore and mythology, which is created by mixing physical material from plant, animal and human with the spell and intention from its creator. A Tupilaq can be a protection or a spell and is usually only visible to the shaman, however its spell can be sensed by anybody.
By drawing and observing the Tupilaq I wish to meditate on and investigate the shamanistic bond between animal, nature and human. These Tupilaq has the intention to protect nature from harm.
The series is evolving and expanding, and have been previously exhibited at Bryne Kunstforening outside Stavanger and X-Contemporary Art Fair in Miami, USA.
5. What is your relationship to the arctic, when and how did you begin an interest in the region, what fascinated you.
As long as I can remember I have had a fascination with the north, and the north of Norway. I grew up in Oslo and had the opportunity to travel to Lofoten when I was a teenager, and went back on many trips in my 20s to Finnmark and also to Svalbard. I was especially taken by the twilight and the dramatic landscape in Lofoten with its steep mountain rising up from the vast ocean. When I went to art school in Bergen I also had the opportunity to create an open project and chose to make a Runebomme, which is the drum a shaman use in the ritual of entering the underworld. Through this process I read books about Sami shamanism, made numerous phonecalls to various experts and did a shaman journey with Ailo Gaup. This was before Internet and Wikipedia, so researching was quite different then. When I lived in New York for 10 years the landscape and the light entered my paintings as a dreamlike memory of a land far away. After moving back to Norway in 2006 I have been residencies in Iceland and Vadsø (Finnmark) and travelled to Lofoten, Kjerringøy, Tromsø, Kirkenes and Bodø making art projects or doing research about the north. So the north and the arctic is something that stay with me and which I will develop further in various ways.
Tanja Thorjussen, February 2016, Oslo
1. What is your artistic background and what media do you work with
My main media is pencil drawing on paper, but I also work with Land-Art, installation and performance.
2. Can you describe your research process for this project
While doing research for the project “Tupilaq” I was reading about polar explorers travelling to Greenland and I stumbled upon Pibloktoq, or Arctic Hysteria. As I read more about this condition I saw that this was something that many artists could interpret in various ways, and the idea of a group exhibition that could do even more research about this theme came about. So this exhibition project is in fact research based in itself, and it will be exciting to see what the other artists will come up with. In June, Thale and Marianne and I will go on a residency to Kirkenes to do more research for our artworks.
3. How do you interpret the theme of the exhibition Arctic Hysteria.
I will enter the project looking at shamanism and magic praxis throughout the arctic region. The title Tupilaq is borrowed from the Inuit language, and I am currently looking at the connection between the Tupilaq and the totem pole in the Alaskan tradition.
4. Can you describe the artworks you will show at the Arctic Hysteria exhibition, what is it about, what media, etc
I will show the series of drawings on paper titled “Tupilaq” which I started to create at a residency in Vadsø, Finmark in Norway.
Tupilaq is a creature in Inuit and Greenland folklore and mythology, which is created by mixing physical material from plant, animal and human with the spell and intention from its creator. A Tupilaq can be a protection or a spell and is usually only visible to the shaman, however its spell can be sensed by anybody.
By drawing and observing the Tupilaq I wish to meditate on and investigate the shamanistic bond between animal, nature and human. These Tupilaq has the intention to protect nature from harm.
The series is evolving and expanding, and have been previously exhibited at Bryne Kunstforening outside Stavanger and X-Contemporary Art Fair in Miami, USA.
5. What is your relationship to the arctic, when and how did you begin an interest in the region, what fascinated you.
As long as I can remember I have had a fascination with the north, and the north of Norway. I grew up in Oslo and had the opportunity to travel to Lofoten when I was a teenager, and went back on many trips in my 20s to Finnmark and also to Svalbard. I was especially taken by the twilight and the dramatic landscape in Lofoten with its steep mountain rising up from the vast ocean. When I went to art school in Bergen I also had the opportunity to create an open project and chose to make a Runebomme, which is the drum a shaman use in the ritual of entering the underworld. Through this process I read books about Sami shamanism, made numerous phonecalls to various experts and did a shaman journey with Ailo Gaup. This was before Internet and Wikipedia, so researching was quite different then. When I lived in New York for 10 years the landscape and the light entered my paintings as a dreamlike memory of a land far away. After moving back to Norway in 2006 I have been residencies in Iceland and Vadsø (Finnmark) and travelled to Lofoten, Kjerringøy, Tromsø, Kirkenes and Bodø making art projects or doing research about the north. So the north and the arctic is something that stay with me and which I will develop further in various ways.
Amelia Beavis-Harrison
Amelia Beavis-Harrison, February 2016, Oslo
1. What is your artistic background and what media do you work with
I have been working as an artist since 2007 having graduated my BA in the UK, then in 2013 I decided it was time to return to studying and undertook my MA at Kunstakademiet I Oslo. The years in-between studying were my most formative leading me into using performance as my main medium. I was largely influenced by performance collectives that were active at the time such as Reactor who created alternate realities for audience to inhabit. This is probably where my interest in performance aesthetics and costume comes from.
2. Can you describe your research process for this project
When researching a project I like to find a piece of history or material that I can get stuck into and begin dissecting. Finding the material is often a long search through physical and digital records, a bit like searching in a dark room for a light switch. For this project I returned to my previous research into the witchcraft trials in Northern Norway hoping to find a direct connection between Arctic Hysteria and the trials. Although unsuccessful the research directed me to the text Beauty of the Primitive by Andrei A. Znamenski where in a small section of the book he mentioned Catherine the Great and her theatrical works, one of which is a criticism of shamanism, which was the very material I was looking for. After going through a textual journey I then begin to work physically with movement and composition to bring together various references which become the final piece. For Arctic Hysteria this will be a process of transformation as The Siberian Shaman by Catherine the Great is adapted for choreography and performance.
3. How do you interpret the theme of the exhibition Arctic Hysteria.
I spent some time trying to understand from its various references what Arctic Hysteria actually was, only to conclude there is no definitive definition. From this I began to look at the exhibition in three parts, the Arctic, hysteria and Arctic Hysteria. This process of separation allowed for the various correlations in my own practice and the thematic to join in a more natural way leading to the discovery of the plays by Catherine the Great.
4. Can you describe the artworks you will show at the Arctic Hysteria exhibition, what is it about, what media, etc
I will show the work Catherine the Great and the Shaman during the exhibition. This is an entirely new performance responding directly to the exhibition theme. The reason for working with Catherine the Great’s play The Siberian Shaman is the politics that surround the play. Catherine could be described as an early feminist relative to the time, she promoted the education of women and successfully disposed of her husband to rule Russia. I am interested in the juxtaposition of women, between one in power and others without power, all living at the same time. Whilst Catherine was able to control to some extent her life, women in other parts of the world rapidly lost power. Arctic Hysteria is commonly connected to women in the Arctic region, a female disease and phenomenon, associated with mysticism and mental health. By suggesting that Arctic Hysteria and mysticism are fictitious Catherine creates a connection between the disempowered woman and herself. The male shaman in Catherine’s play becomes the scapegoat for her beliefs and politics. My re-interpretation of Catherine’s work creates a conversation between the Empress and the shaman, where by Catherine is confronted by the fictitious character she has created. Over the course of the performance Catherine and the shaman exist within the same landscape, but are alien to each other, almost entirely dismissive of each other’s existence, but still in dialogue. The tension between the performers represents the intentions in Catherine’s work and the disparity between history and today where inequalities and prejudice are still rife. The performance will materialize as an improvised dance within a constructed environment inspired by stage directions Catherine wrote within her play.
5. What is your relationship to the arctic, when and how did you begin an interest in the region, what fascinated you.
In 2013 I began looking into the witchcraft trials of the North of Norway in what became a two year long research project. What interested me the most was the political implications of the trials and their relevance to today. I spent a lot of time going over the court records and mapping each trial into a ‘family tree’ of accusations. From this I generate several pieces of work, and am still drawing reference to the material today.
1. What is your artistic background and what media do you work with
I have been working as an artist since 2007 having graduated my BA in the UK, then in 2013 I decided it was time to return to studying and undertook my MA at Kunstakademiet I Oslo. The years in-between studying were my most formative leading me into using performance as my main medium. I was largely influenced by performance collectives that were active at the time such as Reactor who created alternate realities for audience to inhabit. This is probably where my interest in performance aesthetics and costume comes from.
2. Can you describe your research process for this project
When researching a project I like to find a piece of history or material that I can get stuck into and begin dissecting. Finding the material is often a long search through physical and digital records, a bit like searching in a dark room for a light switch. For this project I returned to my previous research into the witchcraft trials in Northern Norway hoping to find a direct connection between Arctic Hysteria and the trials. Although unsuccessful the research directed me to the text Beauty of the Primitive by Andrei A. Znamenski where in a small section of the book he mentioned Catherine the Great and her theatrical works, one of which is a criticism of shamanism, which was the very material I was looking for. After going through a textual journey I then begin to work physically with movement and composition to bring together various references which become the final piece. For Arctic Hysteria this will be a process of transformation as The Siberian Shaman by Catherine the Great is adapted for choreography and performance.
3. How do you interpret the theme of the exhibition Arctic Hysteria.
I spent some time trying to understand from its various references what Arctic Hysteria actually was, only to conclude there is no definitive definition. From this I began to look at the exhibition in three parts, the Arctic, hysteria and Arctic Hysteria. This process of separation allowed for the various correlations in my own practice and the thematic to join in a more natural way leading to the discovery of the plays by Catherine the Great.
4. Can you describe the artworks you will show at the Arctic Hysteria exhibition, what is it about, what media, etc
I will show the work Catherine the Great and the Shaman during the exhibition. This is an entirely new performance responding directly to the exhibition theme. The reason for working with Catherine the Great’s play The Siberian Shaman is the politics that surround the play. Catherine could be described as an early feminist relative to the time, she promoted the education of women and successfully disposed of her husband to rule Russia. I am interested in the juxtaposition of women, between one in power and others without power, all living at the same time. Whilst Catherine was able to control to some extent her life, women in other parts of the world rapidly lost power. Arctic Hysteria is commonly connected to women in the Arctic region, a female disease and phenomenon, associated with mysticism and mental health. By suggesting that Arctic Hysteria and mysticism are fictitious Catherine creates a connection between the disempowered woman and herself. The male shaman in Catherine’s play becomes the scapegoat for her beliefs and politics. My re-interpretation of Catherine’s work creates a conversation between the Empress and the shaman, where by Catherine is confronted by the fictitious character she has created. Over the course of the performance Catherine and the shaman exist within the same landscape, but are alien to each other, almost entirely dismissive of each other’s existence, but still in dialogue. The tension between the performers represents the intentions in Catherine’s work and the disparity between history and today where inequalities and prejudice are still rife. The performance will materialize as an improvised dance within a constructed environment inspired by stage directions Catherine wrote within her play.
5. What is your relationship to the arctic, when and how did you begin an interest in the region, what fascinated you.
In 2013 I began looking into the witchcraft trials of the North of Norway in what became a two year long research project. What interested me the most was the political implications of the trials and their relevance to today. I spent a lot of time going over the court records and mapping each trial into a ‘family tree’ of accusations. From this I generate several pieces of work, and am still drawing reference to the material today.
Marianne Darlén Solhaugstrand
Marianne Darlén Solhaugstrand, March 2016, Nesodden
1. What is your artistic background and what media do you work with
I work with paintings, and for the last fifteen years I have been working on art projects that shows the relative in how gender is portrayed. I think it is important to reflect on how our own gaze discriminates. As artists, we are involved in unalike levels of perception, and have to explore different social and collective dimensions. Roles are assigned and in various situations we take on different roles more or less unconsciously. The topic in my work during several years of working with objectification of men and eroticizing as a power strategy, has been revolving around the question of an artist's contribution can ever emerge as asexual, and whether the sex can be transcended.
2. Can you describe your research process for this project
In the art project ”Arctic Hysteria” I will process how female Arctic culture and nature have been diagnosed and invite to a further exchange of culture in a contemporary context. In my approach to the project I will perceive a female gaze, and I want to appropriate Admiral Robert E Peary position in my studies of men in the northern area. I want to study men living north of the Arctic Circle. Specifically, I will photograph/study men in the polar days, this as a feminine counterpoint to Peary's study of women in the polar nights (in a dualistic worldview men historically represents the sun/light and women represents the moon/night).
Here I work with painting based on photographs. The paintings will clarify a bodily intentionality, since they are a story made for an imaginary audience showing traces of my own/the painter's own perception more than statistical scientific results. "The realized result of the creator and the contents action and interaction" (Bakhtin in Living, Thinking, Looking- Essays by Siri Hustvedt 2013,p 343). This is to investigate how both the cultural background of the person conducting the work and coincidences may be coloring the results.
3. How do you interpret the theme of the exhibition Arctic Hysteria.
Throughout history, explorers(usually men) have described their meeting with the Arctic based on their own perspective and gaze. Such a meeting resulted in a medical diagnosis of an entire population - Arctic Hysteria, a diagnosis that is still considered relevant.
Arctic Hysteria is described as an abrupt antisocial episode in four phases: social withdrawal, seizures and condition of decreased consciousness and responsiveness, and ultimately recovery. Arctic Hysteria is a cultural specific hysterical reaction, especially among Inuit women, first discovered by the English explorer Admiral Robert E Peary in 1892. In this state, they can perform potentially dangerous and irrational actions, followed by amnesia.
The condition takes place most often during the winter, and is regarded as a cultural syndrome. You can find out more about the condition in the encyclopedia ”The Diagnostic and Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM - IV)”.
4. Can you describe the artworks you will show at the Arctic Hysteria exhibition, what is it about, what media, etc
I will depict men in natural surroundings in the nighttime during the polar days. The paintings will be processing the impression I got when I photographed the person and nature, and here the influence of how I perceived the atmosphere/ aura/radiation of the person at that time play a role. I will mainly paint on large plastic canvases. The plastic canvases have qualities suitable to depict close-ups of bodies in insomnia condition and ecstasy, because the paint will gather in a way that is able to capture both the intense light and sweaty skin. At the same time painting is a dialogue that takes place between the painter and the painting as an object . The materials themselves are co-creators, and the gradations of tint, pigmentation and luminosity that happens during the painting process also visualizes ”thought forms” or ”tulpas” around the depicted objects and thus create its own possibilities for interpretation. Often this dialogue can take new and unexpected turns during the process. And so we might end up a place where the unconscious influences that are present along the way have become visible to the viewer.
5. What is your relationship to the arctic, when and how did you begin an interest in the region, what fascinated you.
I was born north of the Arctic Circle, and have grown up in a small fishing community there. This background perhaps makes me finds other things that are common south of the Arctic Circle, such as wild strawberries, fruit trees, bats and snakes more exotic than the eight months long winter that has two months of polar night (with lots of northern lights that we as children where told was the dead riding across the sky). The homely feeling of the summer that has polar days with mother of pearl light in the night times, and the spring that lasts only a few days (no more than two weeks), so you can almost see the leaves grow. While the autumn starts already in August when the night comes back, and in September/October the days more and more consist only of twilight, which provides amazing colors in the sky. This and the gravity of a nature that can easily change from beautiful to dangerous during a normal fishing trip in the summer time, and the sanguine and quick temperament of the people. So for me it's not so much a fascination as a strong attachment and belonging to the Arctic that forms the background.
1. What is your artistic background and what media do you work with
I work with paintings, and for the last fifteen years I have been working on art projects that shows the relative in how gender is portrayed. I think it is important to reflect on how our own gaze discriminates. As artists, we are involved in unalike levels of perception, and have to explore different social and collective dimensions. Roles are assigned and in various situations we take on different roles more or less unconsciously. The topic in my work during several years of working with objectification of men and eroticizing as a power strategy, has been revolving around the question of an artist's contribution can ever emerge as asexual, and whether the sex can be transcended.
2. Can you describe your research process for this project
In the art project ”Arctic Hysteria” I will process how female Arctic culture and nature have been diagnosed and invite to a further exchange of culture in a contemporary context. In my approach to the project I will perceive a female gaze, and I want to appropriate Admiral Robert E Peary position in my studies of men in the northern area. I want to study men living north of the Arctic Circle. Specifically, I will photograph/study men in the polar days, this as a feminine counterpoint to Peary's study of women in the polar nights (in a dualistic worldview men historically represents the sun/light and women represents the moon/night).
Here I work with painting based on photographs. The paintings will clarify a bodily intentionality, since they are a story made for an imaginary audience showing traces of my own/the painter's own perception more than statistical scientific results. "The realized result of the creator and the contents action and interaction" (Bakhtin in Living, Thinking, Looking- Essays by Siri Hustvedt 2013,p 343). This is to investigate how both the cultural background of the person conducting the work and coincidences may be coloring the results.
3. How do you interpret the theme of the exhibition Arctic Hysteria.
Throughout history, explorers(usually men) have described their meeting with the Arctic based on their own perspective and gaze. Such a meeting resulted in a medical diagnosis of an entire population - Arctic Hysteria, a diagnosis that is still considered relevant.
Arctic Hysteria is described as an abrupt antisocial episode in four phases: social withdrawal, seizures and condition of decreased consciousness and responsiveness, and ultimately recovery. Arctic Hysteria is a cultural specific hysterical reaction, especially among Inuit women, first discovered by the English explorer Admiral Robert E Peary in 1892. In this state, they can perform potentially dangerous and irrational actions, followed by amnesia.
The condition takes place most often during the winter, and is regarded as a cultural syndrome. You can find out more about the condition in the encyclopedia ”The Diagnostic and Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM - IV)”.
4. Can you describe the artworks you will show at the Arctic Hysteria exhibition, what is it about, what media, etc
I will depict men in natural surroundings in the nighttime during the polar days. The paintings will be processing the impression I got when I photographed the person and nature, and here the influence of how I perceived the atmosphere/ aura/radiation of the person at that time play a role. I will mainly paint on large plastic canvases. The plastic canvases have qualities suitable to depict close-ups of bodies in insomnia condition and ecstasy, because the paint will gather in a way that is able to capture both the intense light and sweaty skin. At the same time painting is a dialogue that takes place between the painter and the painting as an object . The materials themselves are co-creators, and the gradations of tint, pigmentation and luminosity that happens during the painting process also visualizes ”thought forms” or ”tulpas” around the depicted objects and thus create its own possibilities for interpretation. Often this dialogue can take new and unexpected turns during the process. And so we might end up a place where the unconscious influences that are present along the way have become visible to the viewer.
5. What is your relationship to the arctic, when and how did you begin an interest in the region, what fascinated you.
I was born north of the Arctic Circle, and have grown up in a small fishing community there. This background perhaps makes me finds other things that are common south of the Arctic Circle, such as wild strawberries, fruit trees, bats and snakes more exotic than the eight months long winter that has two months of polar night (with lots of northern lights that we as children where told was the dead riding across the sky). The homely feeling of the summer that has polar days with mother of pearl light in the night times, and the spring that lasts only a few days (no more than two weeks), so you can almost see the leaves grow. While the autumn starts already in August when the night comes back, and in September/October the days more and more consist only of twilight, which provides amazing colors in the sky. This and the gravity of a nature that can easily change from beautiful to dangerous during a normal fishing trip in the summer time, and the sanguine and quick temperament of the people. So for me it's not so much a fascination as a strong attachment and belonging to the Arctic that forms the background.
Vanessa Albury
Vanessa Albury, February 2016, New York USA
1. What is your artistic background and what media do you work with?
I'm an image and process-based artist living in Brooklyn for the last 10 years. I'm originally from Nashville, TN. My work takes form as photographs, sculpture, video, performance and installation. I extend beyond the traditional view of photographs as “windows into the world” to objects in space and time. I exaggerate and remove the photograph’s materiality, to probe into the power of image and access the sublime through natural phenomena.
2. Can you describe your research process for this project.
I sailed around Svalbard in a Barkentine sailboat on residency during the summer of 2014. I shot hundreds of images of the waves crashing over my cabin's 13" porthole. I went to sleep lulled by the visions of the surface of the sea folding and spiraling over my little window just above sea level and awoke to them everyday. I was in the arctic archipelago for 19 days, so I picked 19 images to represent the experience and the series.
3. How do you interpret the theme of the exhibition Arctic Hysteria.
I began to see the wave play over my porthole as a metaphor for the unknown and unknowable of the Arctic, as a window into the harsh and in-climate, even deadly, place. The unchartered territory of glaciers and polar bear habitats is mesmerizing, just as the microcosm of the surface of the water is. In each instance of a splash, there are world unfolding over that aperture. Porthole Waves (Svalbard) creates other-worldly images that are both glimpses into what the Arctic is and spaces for the imagination to run wild. This project shows the total abstraction of a place that is only ice and harsh conditions. Looking at the images can be like attempting to peer through the ice surface.
4. Can you describe the artworks you will show at the Arctic Hysteria exhibition, what is it about, what media, etc.
Porthole Waves (Svalbard) is a series of digital C-prints and was shot while on residency with the Arctic Circle Program, Summer Solstice 2014 expedition. I was living on a sailboat over the summer with other artists, writers and scientists, exploring glaciers and unmanned islands. We sailed the West coast of Svalbard, less that 10 degrees south of the North Pole, during the midnight sun of summer. Porthole Waves (Svalbard) was shot through a 13" porthole, which was the only source of light in my cabin. The porthole was perpetually bouncing just above and just below the surfaces of the water. I watched the waves splash above me as I drifted to sleep and was greeted in the morning the same way. The view provided an intimacy with the icy waters, showing me graphic visions of the way the water swirls just below the surface. I photographed my view daily and selected 19 images to print, one for each day I was in Svalbard, as representatives of the experience. I see the series as stills from the living film of the dream-state I experienced gazing into the cross-section of arctic waves from my porthole.
5. What is your relationship to the arctic, when and how did you begin an interest in the region, what fascinated you.
What fascinates me about the Arctic in a word is light. I love the qualities of light present there. My fascination with the Arctic started in childhood with my favorite picture book, The Snowman. I loved snow days or the opening they created in everyday life. The very known and familiar world transforms under snow and becomes a space of unimaginable possibilities. I transposed those ideas to the poles and both the Arctic and Antarctic since they are snow-capped year round. Later I I become focused on light in my art practice and learned the Aurora Borealis was visible in the Arctic. I also learned of the summer's Midnight Sun, which made it even more alluring. I first visited the Arctic in 2012 for Barents Spektakel. Since then, I've done a few projects with Vebjørg Hagene Thoe at Galleri 2 and a residency at Kunstvarteret Lofoten in the Lofoten Island. I also attend a residency at AiR Nordlands in Bodø. As I've become familiar with art above the Arctic Circle, I've become intrigued by the fantastic community of artists working there. I plan to continue my light and community investigations in the Arctic.
1. What is your artistic background and what media do you work with?
I'm an image and process-based artist living in Brooklyn for the last 10 years. I'm originally from Nashville, TN. My work takes form as photographs, sculpture, video, performance and installation. I extend beyond the traditional view of photographs as “windows into the world” to objects in space and time. I exaggerate and remove the photograph’s materiality, to probe into the power of image and access the sublime through natural phenomena.
2. Can you describe your research process for this project.
I sailed around Svalbard in a Barkentine sailboat on residency during the summer of 2014. I shot hundreds of images of the waves crashing over my cabin's 13" porthole. I went to sleep lulled by the visions of the surface of the sea folding and spiraling over my little window just above sea level and awoke to them everyday. I was in the arctic archipelago for 19 days, so I picked 19 images to represent the experience and the series.
3. How do you interpret the theme of the exhibition Arctic Hysteria.
I began to see the wave play over my porthole as a metaphor for the unknown and unknowable of the Arctic, as a window into the harsh and in-climate, even deadly, place. The unchartered territory of glaciers and polar bear habitats is mesmerizing, just as the microcosm of the surface of the water is. In each instance of a splash, there are world unfolding over that aperture. Porthole Waves (Svalbard) creates other-worldly images that are both glimpses into what the Arctic is and spaces for the imagination to run wild. This project shows the total abstraction of a place that is only ice and harsh conditions. Looking at the images can be like attempting to peer through the ice surface.
4. Can you describe the artworks you will show at the Arctic Hysteria exhibition, what is it about, what media, etc.
Porthole Waves (Svalbard) is a series of digital C-prints and was shot while on residency with the Arctic Circle Program, Summer Solstice 2014 expedition. I was living on a sailboat over the summer with other artists, writers and scientists, exploring glaciers and unmanned islands. We sailed the West coast of Svalbard, less that 10 degrees south of the North Pole, during the midnight sun of summer. Porthole Waves (Svalbard) was shot through a 13" porthole, which was the only source of light in my cabin. The porthole was perpetually bouncing just above and just below the surfaces of the water. I watched the waves splash above me as I drifted to sleep and was greeted in the morning the same way. The view provided an intimacy with the icy waters, showing me graphic visions of the way the water swirls just below the surface. I photographed my view daily and selected 19 images to print, one for each day I was in Svalbard, as representatives of the experience. I see the series as stills from the living film of the dream-state I experienced gazing into the cross-section of arctic waves from my porthole.
5. What is your relationship to the arctic, when and how did you begin an interest in the region, what fascinated you.
What fascinates me about the Arctic in a word is light. I love the qualities of light present there. My fascination with the Arctic started in childhood with my favorite picture book, The Snowman. I loved snow days or the opening they created in everyday life. The very known and familiar world transforms under snow and becomes a space of unimaginable possibilities. I transposed those ideas to the poles and both the Arctic and Antarctic since they are snow-capped year round. Later I I become focused on light in my art practice and learned the Aurora Borealis was visible in the Arctic. I also learned of the summer's Midnight Sun, which made it even more alluring. I first visited the Arctic in 2012 for Barents Spektakel. Since then, I've done a few projects with Vebjørg Hagene Thoe at Galleri 2 and a residency at Kunstvarteret Lofoten in the Lofoten Island. I also attend a residency at AiR Nordlands in Bodø. As I've become familiar with art above the Arctic Circle, I've become intrigued by the fantastic community of artists working there. I plan to continue my light and community investigations in the Arctic.
Thale Fastvold
Thale Fastvold, June 2016, Teriberka, Russia
1, What is your artistic background and what media do you work with?
My background is as a classically trained photographer. I was lucky to start my studies in photography already when I was 15 years old and was accepted to a one year photography program in the Lofoten Islands in the north of Norway. This was in 1994, before the digital revolution in photography, and we used only analog cameras and film so I learned how to work in the darkroom processing and developing film and black and white prints. It was my first time living alone, far away from my family in Oslo, and I almost never slept that year, walking around in the white spring nights of northern Norway taking pictures or in the darkroom making prints. Because of the way light is very present - all day all night sun in the summer, and the no sun, only various shades of sunset and night in the winter - I learned how photography really is all about ”writing with light”. I continued my studies in photography in Oslo, but felt the need for a more theory based understanding of art so I did a MA in Art history, Literature and Ethnology at the University of Oslo, and then moved to Italy where I continued my photography studies with a BA at the IED in Rome. In 2004 I moved from Rome to New York, and in the vibrant and energetic art scene there I found myself getting disillusioned with photography as a media, I needed to break free from the limits of the traditional photograph. I focused on installations and that way learned how to work with lots of materials. I now mostly use photography as a starting point for my projects and then combine and/or transform photographs in dialog with other materials, like metal, meteorites, painting and living plants.
2. Can you describe your research process for this project?
I love to read and generally spend a lot of time doing research for all my projects. I started thinking about the theme after Tanja, Marianne and I did a residency in Stavanger in spring 2015, and have been going back and forth in my mind with this project since then. Reading something, then leaving it to process, talking with other artists, with my partner who is a also a photographer, my sister who is an anthropologist, and getting lots of different views and questions about the theme. In May I went to the Museum of Arctic and Antarctic Studies in St Petersburg, which was interesting from a historical point of view, and in June Tanja and I had a residency with BAR/Pikene på Broen, where we went to Kirkenes and Mortensnes in Finnmark (Norway), and Murmansk and Teriberka at the Kola Peninsula in Russia. The reason for traveling to Teriberka, which is a very remote small town on the Northern arctic coast of Russia, was that I heard about a ship cemetery on the beach there. Teriberka is at once very run down by time and weather and at the same time a beautiful place, and the ships left to be overtaken with nature was something I particularly wanted to see and work with in this project. Pikene på Broen, who organized our residency, had to ask the local government if we could come and the drive there was quite hard as the roads to get there are rough and underdeveloped. During the research trips I have been making photographs of ice, trees, metal and stone which will be part of my work in this exhibition.
3. How do you interpret the theme of the exhibition Arctic Hysteria.
I find it interesting that the diagnosis Arctic Hysteria actually still exist as a medical term in 2016. Coincidentally ”Hysteria” as a medical term was very popular during the 1850s – 1920s which is the same time period as lots of the explorer trips to the Arctic regions. In 1859 the physician George Taylor claimed that a quarter of all women suffered from hysteria and another physician George Beard cataloged seventy-five pages of possible symptoms of hysteria and called the list incomplete; almost any ailment could fit the diagnosis. After reading a lot about arctic hysteria, my interpretation of the documented arctic hysteria episodes is that they seem more like a culture crash between western explorers and people living in the Arctic than a medical condition.
To put focus on the Arctic and this culture crash is relevant in our time as well. As the climate warms the Arctic ice is melting and this has effects on the natural habitat of animals, fish and birds. The Arctic areas are put under pressure because of climate changes, search for oil, industrial fishing, testing of weapons, and so on. These issues are relevant for my interpretation of arctic hysteria as an interesting subject in a contemporary context.
4. Can you describe the artworks you will show at the Arctic Hysteria exhibition, what is it about, what media, etc?
I am focusing on the culture crash between the explores and the arctic, symbolized industrial products and ice, stone and nature. I will show photography and installation.
5. What is your relationship to the arctic, when and how did you begin an interest in the region, what fascinated you?
Even thought I grew up in Oslo, part of my mother’s family are from Nordland, so I always felt a connection to the northern part of Norway and have been traveling there ever since I was a child.
1, What is your artistic background and what media do you work with?
My background is as a classically trained photographer. I was lucky to start my studies in photography already when I was 15 years old and was accepted to a one year photography program in the Lofoten Islands in the north of Norway. This was in 1994, before the digital revolution in photography, and we used only analog cameras and film so I learned how to work in the darkroom processing and developing film and black and white prints. It was my first time living alone, far away from my family in Oslo, and I almost never slept that year, walking around in the white spring nights of northern Norway taking pictures or in the darkroom making prints. Because of the way light is very present - all day all night sun in the summer, and the no sun, only various shades of sunset and night in the winter - I learned how photography really is all about ”writing with light”. I continued my studies in photography in Oslo, but felt the need for a more theory based understanding of art so I did a MA in Art history, Literature and Ethnology at the University of Oslo, and then moved to Italy where I continued my photography studies with a BA at the IED in Rome. In 2004 I moved from Rome to New York, and in the vibrant and energetic art scene there I found myself getting disillusioned with photography as a media, I needed to break free from the limits of the traditional photograph. I focused on installations and that way learned how to work with lots of materials. I now mostly use photography as a starting point for my projects and then combine and/or transform photographs in dialog with other materials, like metal, meteorites, painting and living plants.
2. Can you describe your research process for this project?
I love to read and generally spend a lot of time doing research for all my projects. I started thinking about the theme after Tanja, Marianne and I did a residency in Stavanger in spring 2015, and have been going back and forth in my mind with this project since then. Reading something, then leaving it to process, talking with other artists, with my partner who is a also a photographer, my sister who is an anthropologist, and getting lots of different views and questions about the theme. In May I went to the Museum of Arctic and Antarctic Studies in St Petersburg, which was interesting from a historical point of view, and in June Tanja and I had a residency with BAR/Pikene på Broen, where we went to Kirkenes and Mortensnes in Finnmark (Norway), and Murmansk and Teriberka at the Kola Peninsula in Russia. The reason for traveling to Teriberka, which is a very remote small town on the Northern arctic coast of Russia, was that I heard about a ship cemetery on the beach there. Teriberka is at once very run down by time and weather and at the same time a beautiful place, and the ships left to be overtaken with nature was something I particularly wanted to see and work with in this project. Pikene på Broen, who organized our residency, had to ask the local government if we could come and the drive there was quite hard as the roads to get there are rough and underdeveloped. During the research trips I have been making photographs of ice, trees, metal and stone which will be part of my work in this exhibition.
3. How do you interpret the theme of the exhibition Arctic Hysteria.
I find it interesting that the diagnosis Arctic Hysteria actually still exist as a medical term in 2016. Coincidentally ”Hysteria” as a medical term was very popular during the 1850s – 1920s which is the same time period as lots of the explorer trips to the Arctic regions. In 1859 the physician George Taylor claimed that a quarter of all women suffered from hysteria and another physician George Beard cataloged seventy-five pages of possible symptoms of hysteria and called the list incomplete; almost any ailment could fit the diagnosis. After reading a lot about arctic hysteria, my interpretation of the documented arctic hysteria episodes is that they seem more like a culture crash between western explorers and people living in the Arctic than a medical condition.
To put focus on the Arctic and this culture crash is relevant in our time as well. As the climate warms the Arctic ice is melting and this has effects on the natural habitat of animals, fish and birds. The Arctic areas are put under pressure because of climate changes, search for oil, industrial fishing, testing of weapons, and so on. These issues are relevant for my interpretation of arctic hysteria as an interesting subject in a contemporary context.
4. Can you describe the artworks you will show at the Arctic Hysteria exhibition, what is it about, what media, etc?
I am focusing on the culture crash between the explores and the arctic, symbolized industrial products and ice, stone and nature. I will show photography and installation.
5. What is your relationship to the arctic, when and how did you begin an interest in the region, what fascinated you?
Even thought I grew up in Oslo, part of my mother’s family are from Nordland, so I always felt a connection to the northern part of Norway and have been traveling there ever since I was a child.
Fritz Horstman
Fritz Horstman, July 2016, Connecticut 2016
1. What is your artistic background and what media do you work with?
I make sculpture, photographs, drawings, video, sound, and music. Focusing on the requirements and desires at the interface between nature and culture, I make work that explores the tactile, visual and aural qualities of natural phenomena, and about the perception of the perception of the environment.
2. Can you describe your research process for this project?
I spent the month of June participating in the Arctic Circle Residency program, sailing around the archipelago of Svalbard. In preparation I made a study of the history atlases, and of scientific objectivity’s relationship to artists’ depictions of the natural world.
3. How do you interpret the theme of the exhibition Arctic Hysteria?
I was not prepared for the beauty, power, scale, and quantity of glaciers on Svalbard. In their presence I whispered. Their booming, shuddering calving amplified the quiet ecstasy I felt in their presence to versions of hysteria, leaving me rapt; eyes and ears completely glued to the blue-green cleavage.
4. Can you describe the artworks you will show at the Arctic Hysteria exhibition, what is it about, what media, etc?
Using a contraption I made with a fishing rod and camera platform, I took several series of underwater photographs documenting the changing turbidity and color of the water near the face of glaciers, and at stages moving away. I will present a selection those photographs, along with small sculptures of arctic animals I encountered, carved from polystyrene I found washed up on arctic shores.
5. What is your relationship to the arctic, when and how did you begin an interest in the region, what fascinated you?
The Arctic is a place out of time, or of alternative time. Being there requires reassessing the temporal and spatial preconditions of experience. Strange things happen in my thought patterns as I adjust to the continuous light or dark, and to the scale of the landscape. Even when I was a teenager visiting Alaska I noticed a changing mindset in the midnight sun. There is nothing more valuable to my artistic practice than the new ways of thinking that have presented themselves each time I have been in the extreme north.
1. What is your artistic background and what media do you work with?
I make sculpture, photographs, drawings, video, sound, and music. Focusing on the requirements and desires at the interface between nature and culture, I make work that explores the tactile, visual and aural qualities of natural phenomena, and about the perception of the perception of the environment.
2. Can you describe your research process for this project?
I spent the month of June participating in the Arctic Circle Residency program, sailing around the archipelago of Svalbard. In preparation I made a study of the history atlases, and of scientific objectivity’s relationship to artists’ depictions of the natural world.
3. How do you interpret the theme of the exhibition Arctic Hysteria?
I was not prepared for the beauty, power, scale, and quantity of glaciers on Svalbard. In their presence I whispered. Their booming, shuddering calving amplified the quiet ecstasy I felt in their presence to versions of hysteria, leaving me rapt; eyes and ears completely glued to the blue-green cleavage.
4. Can you describe the artworks you will show at the Arctic Hysteria exhibition, what is it about, what media, etc?
Using a contraption I made with a fishing rod and camera platform, I took several series of underwater photographs documenting the changing turbidity and color of the water near the face of glaciers, and at stages moving away. I will present a selection those photographs, along with small sculptures of arctic animals I encountered, carved from polystyrene I found washed up on arctic shores.
5. What is your relationship to the arctic, when and how did you begin an interest in the region, what fascinated you?
The Arctic is a place out of time, or of alternative time. Being there requires reassessing the temporal and spatial preconditions of experience. Strange things happen in my thought patterns as I adjust to the continuous light or dark, and to the scale of the landscape. Even when I was a teenager visiting Alaska I noticed a changing mindset in the midnight sun. There is nothing more valuable to my artistic practice than the new ways of thinking that have presented themselves each time I have been in the extreme north.
Thale Fastvold & tanja thorjussen at BAR Residency with pikene på broen - june 2016
Residency with Pikene på Broen
June 2016
Thale Fastvold and Tanja Thorjussen
During a short but hectic residency we visited Kirkenes, Varangerbotn and Mortensnes in Norway and Murmansk and Teriberka at the Kola peninsula in Russia.
We explored areas with strong and ancient energies important to the native people of the Barents region in arctic Norway and Russia.
Transteinen in Mortensnes is placed on a settlement dating back 8000 BC and is a monolith stone with 13 circles of small stones surrounding it. As a sacred place for making offerings it is still in use.
Teriberka is located in a far remote area on the Kola peninsula, which is an area with long standing Sami traditions.
With these spiritual areas as a starting point we seek to channel and interpret the genius loci (spirit of the place) into our artworks.
June 2016
Thale Fastvold and Tanja Thorjussen
During a short but hectic residency we visited Kirkenes, Varangerbotn and Mortensnes in Norway and Murmansk and Teriberka at the Kola peninsula in Russia.
We explored areas with strong and ancient energies important to the native people of the Barents region in arctic Norway and Russia.
Transteinen in Mortensnes is placed on a settlement dating back 8000 BC and is a monolith stone with 13 circles of small stones surrounding it. As a sacred place for making offerings it is still in use.
Teriberka is located in a far remote area on the Kola peninsula, which is an area with long standing Sami traditions.
With these spiritual areas as a starting point we seek to channel and interpret the genius loci (spirit of the place) into our artworks.