THE SCHNORK INSTITUTE FOR ARCTIC RESEARCH
300 x 400 x 700 cm
Tromsø Centre for Contemporary Art
2013

Each year, 2- 4 Norwegian artists are invited to spend two weeks on a ship alongside scientists who work in the Arctic Ocean. The project is called PolArt and focuses on opening up a dialogue between art and science. In September 2012, I travelled from Svalbard and up to 82° north on the ship RV Lance, where I got to spend time with, learn from and assist, a group of oceanographers. After my trip, I was invited to spend a month in Tromsø working and preparing for the exhibition PolArt 2013. For this particular show, I chose to create my own fictitious research institute: The Schnork Institute for Arctic Research.
«Using advanced hermeneutics, the Schnork Institute for Arctic Research provides forecasts and models for future climatic scenarios in the polar regions. Our area of expertise includes changes in temperature and ice melting, and changes in ocean currents and wind patterns, as well as changes in animal populations on land and at sea. Our forecasts and models are developed through advanced osteomancy, ie. by divination through the throwing of some chicken bones onto a magic chart. We are the only research institute which can process the enormous volume of information that polar research is currently facing in this way. Thereby providing useful correctives to empirical research.»