Frontiers of Solitude is a collaborative project between Skolska Gallery in Prague (CZ), Atelier Nord in Oslo (NO), and Skaftfell Center for Visual Art in Seyðisfjörður (IS), which is now coming to an end. From April 2015 to April 2016 Frontiers of Solitude has worked with 20 artists through a series of field expeditions, workshops, lectures, symposia, and exhibitions. The project has focused on the effects of recent industrial human activity on the natural world. It invited its participants to observe and address the ecological and socio-economic impacts of energy production and mining on specific landscapes in Czech Republic, Norway, and Iceland.
In the context of the project six artists from the three participating countries were invited to East Iceland in August 2015. Organized by Skaftfell, they undertook a 12-day expedition tracing the ecological and socio-economic effects of hydropower, in particular the systemic connections between Kárahnjúkar hydroelectric dam, Alcoa Fjarðaál in Reyðarfjörður, and the Héraðsflói estuary in East Iceland. Four more artists from Iceland took part in similar multinational expeditions, which led them to the industrial mining and oil refinery sites in northern Norway and to the open pit coal mines in Czech Republic. The works shown in the Skaftfell gallery present a selection of artistic responses to these three expeditions.
The Frontiers of Solitude project has been exhibited in its entirety at Skolska Gallery, Fotograf Gallery, and Ex-Post Gallery in Prague (CZ), co-curated by Dana Recmanová (CZ), Ivar Smedstad (NO), and Julia Martin (IS).
A selection of works has been shown at The Vysočina Regional Gallery in Jihlava (CZ). Further presentations are planned at the Jan Evangelista Purknyé University in Usti nad Labem (CZ), and at Atelier Nord in Oslo (NO).
The project is documented in a catalogue which is available for viewing in the Skaftfell gallery.
At Skaftfell, the participating artists are:
Finnur Arnar Arnarson (IS), Karlotta Blöndal (IS), Peter Cusack (UK/CZ), Þórunn Eymundardóttir (IS), Iselin Linstad Hauge (NO), Monika Fryčová (CZ/IS), Elvar Már Kjartansson (IS), Alena Kotzmannová (CZ), Pavel Mrkus (CZ), Greg Pope (UK/NO), Kristín Rúnarsdóttir (IS), Ivar Smedstad (NO), Diana Winklerová (CZ), Martin Zet (CZ).
Project management by Julia Martin.
Frontiers of Solitude project is supported by a grant from Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway through the EEA Grants (Program CZ06 Cultural Heritage and Contemporary Arts). The project is a joint initiative of the Skolska 28 Gallery (Deai/setkn), Atelier Nord and Skaftfell – Center for Visual Art.
For more information: www.frontiers-of-solitude.org