Participating artists: Anders Sunna (Sweden), Andreas Siqueland (Norway), Ann Cathrin November Høibo (Norway), Anna Líndal (Island), Arngunnur Ýr (Island), Bita Razavi (Finland/Estonia), Christopher Carroll (USA), D´Arcy Wilson (Canada), Frida Orupabo (Norway), Gideonsson/Londré (Sweden), Hans Rosenström (Finland), Jason Brown aka Firefly (USA), Jessie Kleemann (Greenland), Joan Jonas (USA), Joshua Reiman (Canada), Jóhan Martin Christiansen (Faroe Islands), Julie Edel Hardenberg (Greenland), Justin Levesque (USA), Katarina Pirak Sikku (Sweden), Lauren Fensterstock (USA), Magnús Sigurðarson (Island), Mattias Olofsson (Sweden), Máret Ánne Sara (Norway), Meagan Musseau (Canada), Peter Soriano (USA), Ragnar Axelsson (Island), Reggie Burrows Hodges (USA), Snæbjörnsdóttir/Wilson (Island, UK), and SUPERFLEX (Denmark).
Artists are modern-day explorers, investigating poignant themes and capitalizing on art’s emotional impact and narrative potential as a catalyst for change. Climate and environmental changes, and a difficult history of colonialization of Indigenous peoples, have generated new works of art that address a cascading series of social, economic, political, and ecological challenges throughout the region.
Artists also confront the illusion of the North as a remote wilderness and challenge the romanticized notion of an untouched land and its perceived homogeneity. The selected works, in all media, trace shared narratives in the field of contemporary art, reflecting novel affinities and chasms within societies and among nations in the North Atlantic.
Down North / Contemporary Art in the Arctic is co-organized by Bildmuseet, Sweden; Portland Museum of Art, USA; and Reykjavik Art Museum, Island. Curators: Anders Jansson, Bildmuseet, Jaime DeSimone, Portland Museum of Art, and Markús Þór Andrésson, Reykjavík Art Museum.
