Photo: by Hanna Hildebrand: Franziska Lantz, Pane Per Poveri, Athens, 2017
On 20th February, the artist Franziska Lantz will explore the spiritual energy of waste collected from the beaches of Svalbard, constructing new stories from the waste that reached Svalbard. Franziska Lantz is an artist/musician who merges music and objects in her installations, using dynamic performances in her perpetual quest to unearth hidden landscapes and lost remains from a post-apocalyptic future past.
Artica Svalbard has joined forces with the local sports club on Svalbard, Aktiv i Friluft, which has initiated and run “Project Isfjorden” to organise ocean plastic cleanups, particularly in and around Longyearbyen on Svalbard. So far the project has helped to clear marine litter from eleven beaches. Plastic poses a great risk to polar bears, reindeer and seals, and small plastic particles are a hazard to bird life in the Arctic. The project is now entering its second stage, where cleanups will continue in parallel with a strong focus on communicating and raising awareness of the problem of plastics in the Arctic through art projects, museum exhibitions and workshops.