Arctic

The project ‘Arctic’ unites the images of contemporary Danish and Russian photographers and artists, inspired by that northern region. For several centuries, being the icy cap of the world, the Arctic Zone fascinated both travelers and scientists. As early as the beginning of the 11th century Russian boats entered the seas of the Arctic Ocean. Starting in the 17th century the numerous polar exhibitions, headed by V. Bering, S. Dezhniov, the Laptev brothers, F. Vrangel, G.F. Holm, S. Cheliuskin and others, would discover and study the Arctic territories kilometer after kilometer.

After the invention of photography in the mid-19th century all polar expeditions were attended by photographers. Owing to their work we can visually imagine the different stages of discovering the Arctic. The historical shots were focused on demonstrating the triumph of human beings and science over nature.

The exhibition ‘Arctic’ unites photographs made in the last 20 years. It concentrates not only on those people who live and work in the Arctic Zone, but also on the beauty and magnificence of its unique natural environment. The works of the photographers and the artists demonstrate the conceptual changes that affected our views regarding the Arctic Zone, and give us an opportunity to notice a shift in priorities, when the principal objective becomes not just settling this region, but rather the preservation of its natural resources (in this case, first of all, drinking water), which, owing to global climate changes, may disappear by the end of the 21st century.

The show opens with the ‘Iceberg’, created by Russian artist Aleksander Ponomariov, whose works in 2007 were displayed in the Russian Pavilion of the Venice Biennale of Contemporary Art and are currently included into the collections of some major museums of the world, such as the Centre Pompidou, the State Tretyakov Gallery, Multimedia Art Museum, Moscow, etc. The ‘Iceberg’ sculpture, made out of more than half a million Lego pieces, represents not only a part of the Arctic landscape, but also symbolizes the idea that our knowledge about this region, with all the enormous scientific progress, is just an above-water part of an iceberg. We still have a lot of work to do in studying Arctic natural resources and jointly preserving them for future generations.

The show includes many shots by Danish masters, like one of the best ‘Arctic’ photographers Joakim Koester; Ivars Silis, who for many years collaborated with the GEO and National Geographic Magazines; Per Bak Jensen, professor of the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts; as well as Adam Jeppesen, a famous photo- and video-artist.

The Russian section of the exhibition includes shots by Georgy Pinkhassov, the only Russian photographer, who for more than twenty years has been a member of the legendary Magnum Photo Agency. In 2006 he published the book ‘Nordmeer’, documenting his travels in the Arctic Zone and in the neighboring regions. Visitors can also see photographs by Sergey Burasovsky, member of the Union of Russian Photo-Artists, who for many years was a member of Arctic geodesic expeditions; and those of Sergey Khvorostov, a special correspondent of the State Duma, who in 2007 accompanied the North Pole expedition of A. Chilingarov, which became widely known for its successful attempt to reach the bottom of the Arctic Ocean; and the photo artist Sergey Shestakov, who participated in the expedition «North Pole 2010».

In 2010 the Russian expedition set a world record for length of stay and number of dives on the North Pole. For the first time in history completely autonomous diving center worked in the Arctic ice for a week, drifting near the North Pole of the Earth. During this time expedition members made fifteen dives and the unique underwater 3D video «Dive into the cosmos» which will be shown at the exhibition.

The object of this exhibition is to show the beauty of the Arctic landscape, attracting the attention of not only specialists, but also of the public in general to the problems of the region. The countries of the ‘Arctic Council’, among them an important role played by Denmark and Russia, are today creating new ecological and scientific approaches regarding the Arctic Zone.