Edited by Michael Juul Holm, Mathias Ussing Seeberg, Poul Erik Tøjner. Text by Minik Rosing, Geoff Dyer, Robert McGhee, Peter Davidson, et al.
Looming large in the cultural imagination as a wild territory to be conquered and the ultimate perimeter of human power, the seemingly untouched landscape of the Arctic has been an inspiration to artists from the Romantic age to the present. Arctic, published to accompany a major exhibition at the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in Denmark, brings together a range of artists responding to the terrifying sublime of the Arctic, from Caspar David Friedrich to Sigmar Polke, Sophie Calle, Mark Dion and Joachim Koester. With contributions from geologists, historians, archeaologists and glaciologists, as well as a new essay by Geoff Dyer about the photographs from the nineteenth-century expeditions that provided some of the first glimpses of the region and its inhabitants, this catalogue considers the place of the Arctic in the history and culture of the West at a moment when the region is taking on a new significance as a threatened, vanishing space.
Featured photograph, from Russian photographer Evgenia Arbugaeva's Tiksi series (2010-12), is reproduced from Louisiana Museum's new survey, Arctic. Arbugaeva writes,"After the fall of the USSR, the government stopped financing its Northern projects, and many little towns were left to survive on their own. In 1993 my family, along with many others, boarded up the windows of our home and left for a bigger city. I was 8 when we left, and ever since I have never been able to forget Tiksi. The scenery, the fluorescent colors of the northern lights and the moments of pure childhood imagination made a lasting impression on me. I have always wanted to be that little girl again.
In 2010, for the first time in 17 years, I went back to Tiksi. The scenery was still there, but the town was nearly abandoned. I met Tanya, a young girl who reminded me of myself when I was a kid. She had a similar fascination with the sea and the tundra, and a similar urge to explore her environment. Soon after I met Tanya, she told me how much she admired Jacques-Yves Cousteau – she wore a red hat as a tribute to her hero. She quickly became my friend and my guide to Tiksi. Soon Tanya’s family – just like my own 19 years ago – will leave Tiksi behind. They see no future in the small town and plan to move to a larger city. I wanted to capture Tiksi, both the way it really is, and the way it exists in a child’s imagination. These photographs are like postcards – nostalgic postcards from the imagination of a young girl in Tiksi."
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FORMAT: Hbk, 8.75 x 10.25 in. / 128 pgs / 150 color. LIST PRICE: U.S. $35.00 LIST PRICE: CANADA $49 GBP £30.00 ISBN: 9788792877161 PUBLISHER: Louisiana Museum of Modern Art AVAILABLE: 11/30/2014 DISTRIBUTION: D.A.P. RETAILER DISC: TRADE PUBLISHING STATUS: Active AVAILABILITY: In stock TERRITORY: WORLD
Published by Louisiana Museum of Modern Art. Edited by Michael Juul Holm, Mathias Ussing Seeberg, Poul Erik Tøjner. Text by Minik Rosing, Geoff Dyer, Robert McGhee, Peter Davidson, et al.
Looming large in the cultural imagination as a wild territory to be conquered and the ultimate perimeter of human power, the seemingly untouched landscape of the Arctic has been an inspiration to artists from the Romantic age to the present. Arctic, published to accompany a major exhibition at the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in Denmark, brings together a range of artists responding to the terrifying sublime of the Arctic, from Caspar David Friedrich to Sigmar Polke, Sophie Calle, Mark Dion and Joachim Koester. With contributions from geologists, historians, archeaologists and glaciologists, as well as a new essay by Geoff Dyer about the photographs from the nineteenth-century expeditions that provided some of the first glimpses of the region and its inhabitants, this catalogue considers the place of the Arctic in the history and culture of the West at a moment when the region is taking on a new significance as a threatened, vanishing space.
