As part of Artica Svalbard’s public programme, we will throughout the year present a series of Artist Talks by our artists and writers in residence.
The idea of this series is to offer visiting artists and writers a chance to introduce how they explore ideas, meaning, social and political relevance within their work.
Through this series we will also invite artists, writers and other practitioners, from outside Artica Svalbard, whose research, practice and work speaks to the intentions of Artica Svalbard and highlights connections between the work of our artists in residence and the Arctic environment.
This evening’s Artist Talk is shared by Tiina Kivinen and Michael Günzburger and offers two perspectives on the process of making new work. Kivinen at the beginning of new work and Günzburger at the end of his project. Both artists working at times in the medium of printmaking, while employing varied research methods and unique approaches to art making.
Join Tiina Kivinen, Artica’s first Artist-in-Residence as she guides us through a studio tour, sharing a film and works in progress of her ongoing project linking Svalbard to the forests of Finland. Part of her exploration currently involves the caring for a small forest in Finland, which she intends to turn into a large scale art project.
In connection with Tiina Kivinen’s residency at Artica Svalbard, she will present work in progress at Artica’s studios. Tiina was nominated for Artica’s residency by Queen Sonja Print Award and has been in Longyearbyen since mid March. Tiina is a visual artist and print maker based in Finland, exhibiting internationally. Tiina was also the first artist to receive the Queen Sonja Print Award in 2012.
Michael Günzburger is returning to Svalbard to bring the work “Collision, Trace and Rumor” to a close. Through this work, Günzburger aims to deal with the notions of the wild and human-to-animal relationships. Last year he got the chance to print a polar bear that had died from the most common cause of death, here on Svalbard.
As a guest speaker at Artica’s Artist Talk series, Michael will share with us his thoughts on research and the collaboration between natural sciences and art that occurred in his work cycle. Michael lives in Zürich and works in the fields of drawing and printing. Among other lines of works, he is involved in an ongoing collaboration for developments of printing techniques and machines with the Lithography Workshop Thomi Wolfensberger in Zürich. He is the co-author of the research project "Hands-on" at the Institut for Contemporary Art and Research (IFCAR) the University of the Arts in Zürich.