- Åpning av utstillingen fredag 21. april kl. 19.00.
- Lørdag 22. april er det åpent kl. 12.00 - 16.00.
- Lørdag 22. april kl. 14.00 performance: "Catherine the great and the shaman" by Amelia Beavis-Harrison. Performed by dancers Hans Christian van Nijkerk and Malgorzata Osypinska.
- Søndag 23. april er det åpent kl. 12.00 - 14.00.
Gratis adgang.
CURATOR STATEMENT:
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, weapon testing, excessive fishing and shipping.
Politicaly it is a border area where major geopolitical powers share boundaries. However, it is also a region where cultures have lived nomadically and interconnected 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 sharper, the air rougher, the space between life and death are closer.
Throughout history, explorers have descended on this foreign land and interpreted it from their standpoint. Among these interpretations was the medical condition of Arctic Hysteria.
The term originated from explorers who went to Greenland, about 100-150 years ago and found something that they saw as a medical condition only prevalent in this area; hence the name of the diagnosis Arctic Hysteria.
Now however, this condition may say more of the explorers themselves, and their view of the people that they met, than of the affected people.
Originating in our own artistic praxis and research we wanted to discover how artists as explorers respond to this place and what kind of art they create when working with the Arctic.
Will the art be poetic, political, inspired by nature or the spiritual? How about history and colonization, the indigenous people versus what the arctic explorers brought into the museums? What do we see in the media, what do we learn from scientists and what can the artist portray?
In exploring various ways of relating to the Arctic north we look upon interpretations of how the world sees this area of the planet.
ARTISTS:
Vanessa Albury (USA)
Amelia Beavis-Harrison (UK/NO)
Thale Fastvold (NO)
Fritz Horstman (USA)
Marianne Darlén Solhaugstrand (NO)
Tanja Thorjussen (NO)
Thale Fastvold & Tanja Thorjussen / LOCUS
>> Locusart.org
ARCTIC HYSTERIA PUBLICATION:
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 publication is a research tool and functions as a collaborative artist book for the traveling exhibition Arctic Hysteria, which opened in Dikemark in Asker in the fall 2016, and will travel to St Petersburg fall 2017.
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 publication has texts by a medical anthropologist, an art critic and a curator as well as 3 additional artists relevant to the theme.
Publication 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)
Vemund Thoe (NO)
Contributing writers:
Vilde Fastvold (NO), PhD Candidate, medical antropology, UiO
Tommy Olsson (SE), art critic/curator
Maria Kotlyachkova (RU) curator/writer
Design by Maria Romstad
