Solastalgia – Environmental emotions and artistic practice in response to landscape transformations

The digital seminar was hosted by Pikene på Broen and Solastalgia artist group on the 22nd of May, 2024.

“The homesickness you have when you’re still at home” is how the philosopher Glenn Albrecht describes the feeling of observing our local environment change in disturbing ways, introducing the term Solastalgia. How can the term serve as a starting point to discuss the balance between facts and feelings in our reflections and actions on our changing landscapes, climate and environment?

The artist group Solastalgia explores the term through site-specific artistic practices. In their ongoing exhibition Solastalgia 4.0: Forsøksfelt (Experimental site) at Terminal B in Kirkenes, the group takes a closer look at the human-touched landscapes in Sør-Varanger and East-Finnmark through material processing, photography, text, video and installations. The seminar unfolds the term Solastalgia by introducing artistic, philosophical, and fieldwork approaches that are connected to the theme.

Programme

00:00:00 - Introduction
– The exhibition “Solastalgia 4.0: Forsøksfelt” by curator Astrid Fadnes, Pikene på Broen.

00:06:12 - Solastalgia
– An introduction of the artist group and the term by artist Andrea Grundt Johns.

00:20:51 - Finnmark as an Eldorado
– A performance lecture by artist Skade Henriksen.

00:30:20 - Schaannings Egg
– Between 1899 and 1917, ornithologist Hans T. L. Schaanning collected bird eggs in Pasvikdalen. Today, extensive birdlife documentation continues. What clues about climate and environmental changes are hidden within the shape and colours of an egg? Artist talk by Sidsel Bonde.

00:48:25 - The Queen Crab
– Intro and screening of video work “The Queen Crab” by artist Christine Hansen.
The film presents a story from the perspective of the female king crab, based on the artist's research. In the poetic narrative, we learn, among other things, how the Queen Crab senses the world, the significance of the male crab when she moults, and her relationship with the sea.

01:09:55 - Animal Ethics and Solastalgia
– A meeting between artistic and philosophical practices through a conversation with philosopher Hannah Winther about solastalgic feelings, bioethics and the possibility of saving wild salmon through genome editing.

 

Participants

  • The artist group Solastalgia consists of Sidsel Bonde, Ann Edvartsen Hay, Åsne Eldøy, Christine Hansen, Skade Henriksen, and Andrea Grundt Johns.

  • Hannah Winther is a postdoctoral researcher in philosophy at NTNU. She studies the ethics of genome editing animals, bioethics, and ethics after Wittgenstein.

  • Pikene på Broen is a group of curators and producers based in Kirkenes, running the gallery space Terminal B, a residency programme and the art festival Barents Spektakel.

The seminar was hosted by Pikene på Broen and Solastalgia artist group on the 22nd of May, 2024.