NEPTUN ART/ SCIENCE LAB IN RESIDENCY
NEPTUN ART/ SCIENCE LAB Neptun Art/Science Lab er et direkte resultat av det tidligere prosjektet “Fra Dokken Havnelager til Melbu Felleslager” i 2015. En gruppe kunstnere fra Bergen Ateliergruppe (BAG Art) kom til Melbu og gjennomførte en kunstnerworkshop i forkant av, og under festivalen Sommer-Melbu. Fokuset på Bag Art 2015 var å utvikle stedsspesifikke arbeider og intervensjoner som forholdt seg til historiske, sosiale, fysiske og kulturelle aspekter ved koblingene mellom Bergen og Melbu. Deres arbeid ble utstilt i Felleslageret, som ble en felles plattform for innbyggere, besøkende, organisasjoner og næringsliv på Melbu. Besøkende fikk møte kunstnerne, som tok seg tid til å presentere både kunstverk såvel som ideer. Utstillingen skapte ringvirkninger og inspirasjon i lokalsamfunnet. Det er denne forbindelsen og dialogen Norland Akademi for Kunst og Vitenskap vi ønsker å bygge videre på med Neptun Art/Science Lab i samarbeid med Museum Nord. Hva er relevant og viktig for dette stedet, for vår region, og for den globale verden vi lever i idag? Vi ønsket å invitere kunstnere og andre hit slik at de kan arbeide med sin tenkning og kreativitet i forhold til folket, naturen og kulturen her. Det ble produsert sildolje på Neptun i mer enn 70 år. I dag huser denne nedlagte fabrikken Norsk fiskeindustrimuseum/ Museum Nord. Neptun Art/Science Lab vil fungere som et samlingspunkt og prosjektrom for kunstnerisk, hypotetisk og konseptuell tenkning innen kunst og vitenskap. Nærhet til historien, nærhet til samfunnet, til havet og naturen vil og har formet innholdet i de ulike gjesteoppholdene. Prosjektet bygger på en tro på at samarbeid og deltakelse åpner for undring og utforskning. Kommunikasjon på tvers av fag er utrolig viktig - ting skjer når folk møtes og deltar i samspill og dialog. I 2016-2017 har Nordland Akademi for Kunst og Vitenskap invitert kunstnere som allerede deltar i konseptuell tenking i forhold til havet og ressurser i havet, teknologi, samt betydningen av historien og hvordan den kan fungere som et kompass for fremtiden. Neptun Art/Science Lab er støttet av Norsk kulturråd og Nordland fylkeskommune.
Neptun Art/Science Lab is a physical and theoretical hub and project space, conceived to be at the intersection between Art and Science located at the Norwegian Fishing Industry Museum, North Norway. This project is a collaborative initiative between Nordland Akademi for Kunst og Vitenskap and Museum Nord, supported by Arts Council Norway and Nordland County Council. Neptun Art/Science Lab is a direct result of a previous residency with Nordland Akademi for Kunst og Vitenskap named “Fra Dokken Havnelager til Melbu Felleslager,� in 2015. A group of artists from Bergen (BAG Art) came to Melbu for a residency period to explore direct connections through historical links between Melbu and Bergen and to research and develop work in relation to this. The effects on the people and the organisations in Melbu and the surrounding region was inspirational in the sense that this project allowed for time and dialogue - a direct exchange between the artists and people who live here fostering a long lasting connection. And it is this connection and dialogue we wanted to build upon - digging deeper into what issues that are relevant and important for this place - region - and the global world in which we live in today; and opening it up for visiting artists to add their thinking and to connect this with the people and the culture here. Herring oil was produced at Neptun for more than 70 years, and now it is home to the Norwegian Fishing Industry Museum and Museum Nord. Our lab functions as a hub and lab for artistic, hypothetical and conceptual research in the field of art - science with the main focus on new ways of harvesting the sea; and new ways of processing what we harvest from the sea; our challenges related to the sea and climate, through the use of experimental thinking, new and old technology. This project builds on a belief that collaboration and participation opens up for wonder and exploration and that this is where thoughts and concepts are given the opportunity to grow into new innovative and novel ideas and concepts. The freedom to research and work across disciplines is incredibly important - things happen when people connect to each other within a physical space engaging in a dialogue on shared history and issues affecting us directly - and globally. For 2016 - 2017 we invited artists who already engage in conceptual thinking around issues that affects the sea, technology related to the sea, the future of sea platter and the importance of history and how it can serve as a compass to the future. - Norland Akademi for Kunst og Vitenskap Museum Nord
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ARCTIC DIALOGUE This exhibition is a natural result of the main project - a story continuing to be written, sculptured, spoken, heard and seen, screaming to be told to a larger audience. The exhibition gives us a glimpse into the various works in progress and the residents´ own experiences during their stay at Neptun Art/Science Lab. 4
The artists present, and the artists represented, are all going to communicate an artistic dimension of an Arctic dialogue as they experience it through their separate and collective means. Special thanks to the UK based Norwegian composer and cellist Maja Bugge and Icelandic guitarist Svanur Vilbergsson, for their collaboration and valuable musical addition to the exhibition experience. Last but not least, we would like to thank Artist//Developers for their untiring work with this exhibition and entire input into Neptun Art/Science Lab. You are an inspiration. We owe a great thank you to everyone who has participated in this project, both locally and regionally, and of course to our funders who made the project possible; Arts Council Norway and Nordland County Council. Special thanks to Audhild Dahlstrøm, who initiated the project on behalf of Nordland Akademi for Kunst og Vitenskap and Museum Nord. Additional funders of the exhibition: Fritt Ord, Nordland County Council, Arts Council England, British Council, The University of The West of England and University of Roehampton.
Denne utstillingen er et naturlig resultat av hovedprosjektet, den har tvunget seg frem slik at flere kan få sjansen til å oppleve kunstnerne, deres arbeid og inspirasjon fra de ulike opphold ved Neptun Art/Science Lab. Utstillingen inngår i Nordland Akademis program under festivalen Sommer-Melbu, og samlet legger programmet til rette for en nærværende arktisk dialog - med etterklang. Kunstnerne, de som er tilstede og de som er representert gjennom utstillingen, skal formidle kunstens dimensjon av en arktisk dialog slik de opplever den gjennom sine virkemidler. Ekstra takk til den nordnorske komponist og cellist bosatt i England, Maja Bugge og den islandske gitaristen Svanur Vilbergsson, for deres samarbeid og musikalske avtrykk i arbeidet med utstillingen. Ikke minst vil vi også takke ArtistDevelopers for sitt utrettelige arbeid i denne prosessen. Vi vil gjerne takke alle som har deltatt i prosjektet, lokalt og regionalt og selvsagt våre støttespillere Norsk kulturråd og Nordland fylkeskommune. En ekstra takk til Audhild Dahlstrøm som initierte prosjektet for Nordland Akademi for Kunst og Vitenskap og Museum Nord. Utstillingen er ytterligere støttet av Fritt Ord, Nordland fylkeskommune, Arts Council England, British Council, The University of The West of England og University of Roehampton.
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IN RESIDENCY
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“Artists//Developers” consists of 6 collaborators; Dr Dave Meckin (UK), Dr Keir Williams (UK), Joe Fairweather Hole (UK), Alice Helps (UK), Clara Durán (ESP) and Rhiannon Evans (UK). The collective attempt to achieve engagement with the communities in which they are a part of through experimentation in the fields of performance and technology. The collective wishes to engage with the complexities of Melbu and Neptun within wider geo-political shift asking “How did we get here and where do we go now?” Through a collaboration with Camberwell College of Arts, the collective brought 2 students from the Fine Art Digital MA programme, and during the residency they became full members of the group. Franck Dubois (FR) develops work around recurring questions covering interrelated issues such as: attention, time, space and their relationship to the sound that unified them. He began working with the question of temporality through photography in 1992, and gradually the questions turned towards the sound space. Having already developed a relationships to Vesterålen, Franck Dubois will At Neptun Art/Science Lab explore contextualisation of time; listening to the past - hearing the future through the creation of an acoustic rendition, in-situ and in real time, of the spatial and temporal landscape within a Museum setting. “The Center for Genomic Gastronomy” consists of 5 collaborators; Cathrine Kramer (NO), Zackery Denfeld (USA), Emma Conley (USA), Nicola Twilley (USA/UK) and Dr Wendy Russel (SCO). The Center for Genomic Gastronomy is an artist-led collective that examines the biotechnologies and biodiversity of human food systems. The mission is to map food controversies, to prototype alternative culinary futures and to imagine a more just, biodiverse & beautiful food system. The Center collaborate with scientists, chefs, hackers and farmers. At Neptun Art/Science Lab The Center for Genomic Gastronomy wishes to explore themes relevant to the north of Norway, with the intention of creating an experimental meal and a publication based on the research conducted during the stay.
ARTIST// DEVELOPERS Contact Pages:
keir.williams@uwe.ac.uk 8-19
FRANCK DUBOIS Website Contact Pages:
fkdub.free.fr/about.html fkdub@free.fr 20-23
THE CENTER FOR GENOMIC GASTRONOMY Website Contact Pages:
genomicgastronomy.com/about/ info@genomicgastronomy.com 24-37
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Artist//Developers How did we get here and where do we go now?
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As a collective, we are interested in the intersection of performance and technology and more specifically the staging of performance. As practitioners, we have a range of skills as scenographers, academic researchers, curators, and performers. What we offer is the ability to create engaging staged settings within which audiences and artists work and experiment together. Underpinning our approach is a philosophy that recognises the potential for art and artists to make and take on practical and effective roles in wider society and culture. We achieve this through experimentation and an exploration of the worlds we place ourselves within. In this project, we see the site of Neptun as a meeting point where we can work with the cultures and histories of the surrounding rural environment through dynamic and creative approaches to the geographic setting and its population. The Neptun Herring processing factory represents a revolution in the way the world caught and processed herring through the application of new technological tools. This in turn, led to unforeseen economic and cultural changes for the local population and the wider world. Climate change and radical shifts in the geopolitical landscape over the past two decades is seeing a shift of focus to the resources and technological advances of the North. Neptun and its surrounding community present an opportunity for us to engage with the complexities of a small rural community setting within wider geo-political shifts. In this project we will ask, how did we get here and where do we go now?
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Interior/ Exterior Credit Joe Fairweather-Hole Medium Digital Prints Dimensions Various
Collated photos of the interior world of the Royal Neptun Concert Hall and the exterior world outside its door, the photos describe experiments using photography, projection and multimedia sculpture in different environments.
Handsel Bells 10
Credit Dave Meckin Medium Field Recordings, Multichannel Audio Dimensions Various Description: When traveling to Hadsel Kirke, the eight sided church, we were all struck by the beauty of the building, its acoustic qualities and the surroundings. In response, this pieces uses the bells of the church, recorded during the visit, as the only source material. It was played in the Royal Neptun Hall, a large tank with a 20 second reverb, to explore the trans-location of space and place on Hadseløya. The bells are slowly transformed and manipulated using modern digital techniques. It begins with the larger bell, moves through exploring the textures of both bells together, then ends with the smaller bell.
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Leviathan’s Eye Medium Length Credit
Video projection, soundscape 03:46 Keir Williams, Joe Fairweather-Hole
An eye watches from the unseen depths of the arctic. The work was originally projected on the ceiling of the Royal Neptune Concert Hall, a giant fish oil tank in the Neptune processing plant.
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Sild flocking Credit Dave Meckin Medium Projection, audio, C++ and SuperCollider code Dimensions Various The ideas regarding the lack of herring in the fjord and the concept of dugnad fed into creating a sketch using a flocking algorithm. This sketch consists of particles moving in a flock, which then change colour and emit sound when they move and flow together.
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The waters will bring you home Credit Clara Durán Medium Projection mapping, soundscape and recited poem. Dimensions Various This poetic performance and video installation explores water’s capacity of holding memory. It comes from the hydrological perspective, from underneath the surface and it’s born from the feeling of absence of the herring and the will to renew its life.
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Experiments in Light Credit Medium Dimensions
Joe Fairweather-Hole Digital Prints Various
Collated photos of experiments with found materials, corporeal movement, light and long exposure photography in the interior of the Royal Neptun Concert Hall.
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Finally installing the pinhole cameras Martin made them in Mid-Wales reservoirs lush, green valleys Static, tracking the sun for the time I am here As it rises and falls with the moon and the tide as I walk up and down
Solargrams, Neptun Factory Credit Rhiannon Evans 4 x single print pin hole camera image Medium Dimensions Various Dimensions
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Sketches in clay Alice Helps Credit Clay, paper, salt Medium Dimensions Various
Experimental works in progress exploring the interpretation and exchange between landscape and people, each forming part of the other. The shadow projections plays with how this research could translate into large scale installation works.
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Melbu & Neptun Research Credit Rhiannon Evans Medium Participation, performance, live video feeds Dimensions Various I asked Mustafa how he came to Melbu. He listed 10 countries. The messages are very personal; full of thanks, joy and hope. Veronika would like to place wild flowers on the memorial.
FRANCK DUBOIS 20
It was not the first time I came to Neptun. I did a performance last year that was part of a collaborative project I created during my winter in Nyksund : .WAV | Correspondences (Winter 2015-2016). It was also at that time I met Audhild Dahlstrøm at Nordland Akademi and we discussed the possibility of me becoming Artist in Residence here the next winter. When I arrived early February this year, the winter seemed already gone. Because of the short time residency, I did not come with an established project. The main idea was based on a sound research which required below zero temperature. The cold weather came back quickly at least. I knew I would work a lot on the sound environment, including buildings, structures, closed spaces and their resonances but also the direct surroudings from the water in the harbor freezing and unfreezing. I started at first to collect sounds within the tanks recording their resonances, without making any disturbances on my side : an attempt of «field recording» as objective as possible. Only the weather interfered when it was stormy, shaking the whole structure providing heavy industrial sounds. Then I decided to provide feed- backs in the tank, produced by the resonance of the tank in real time. French concept is «mise en abyme» which literally would be translate by : «placed in the abyss». To send the sound of the room into the room itself, and so the interaction between the source (microphone) and the speaker produce a feedback (also known as Larsen effect).
Now I will do nothing but listen... I hear all sounds running together, combined fused or following. Sounds of the city and sounds out of the city, sounds of the day and night... Walt Whitman, Song of Myself
DARK MATTERS Medium Credit
Circular 8 Channels sound installation Franck Dubois fkdub.free.fr/neptun.html
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Later I’ve also attached specific contact microphones to the buildings and started to record under different weather conditions the sound of the metal frame. During the week, the water in the harbor wich surround Neptun started to freeze and produced tiny cracking sounds made from ice forming. Like a man of the north when he is tired of staying warm inside, I decided to go fishing and «launched a line» with a hydrophone (waterproof microphone) between the ice plates. The hydrophone was slowly frozen into the ice and then recorded the sound from underwater with all its pressure, compression and water freezing. Another world potentially scary, however very alive ! Last but not least, I could not resist to act inside the tanks using the strong reverb. I used a small very old «Guide de Chant» (portable military organ) that was used during the first world war to support french soldiers before battle. I have been carrying this instrument for years as it’s very easy to spread some proper notes into a space and make it last long. Using the limits of the instrument on different harmonics and the resonance of the tank, it produced amazing long frequencies that resembles a string instrument. All these recordings done during the residence were used as the only material for the DARK MATTERS composition (43’30” in loop) on an in situ sound device. This sound installation is configured as a multi-channel listening device specially created for this tank: a circular octophony (8 loudspeakers) playing the composition adjusted to the resonances of the room. Franck Dubois, June 2017
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The Centre for Genomic Gastronomy THE RESIDENCY 24
Our host was Nordland Akademy for Art and Science, where Maria and Johan helped organise our itinerary so we could meet a range of interesting local food producers. We spent most of the week visiting a variety of farms and a fish processing factory and discussing the questions that arose. These questions were compiled and discussed with locals during the Planetary Sculpture Supperclub: Arctic Circle Edition that was prepared by chef Neumann and served at his restaurant Neptunn Bar and Grill at the historic fish oil factory in Melbu.
FIELD TRIPS In May 2017 we set up an outpost for the Center in the north of Norway. We invited the food writer Nicola Twilley and our previous scientific collaborator Dr. Wendy Russell to join us on this adventure. We spent a week together based in a cottage on the outskirts of Melbu, exploring both local and global food systems. Melbu is on the island Hadseløya which is part of the cluster of islands that make up Versterülen and Lofoten. This was our homebase, and the map right shows the sites we visited.
OUR VISITS AROUND VESTERÅLEN 1
SKAVLI BRYGGHUS
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IVAR UTBJØR AND HIS BOER GOATS
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NEPTUN HERRING OIL FACTORY, MUSEUM NORD
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TAEN BEACH (SEAWEED FORAGING)
ANDØYA
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NØISOMHED FARM
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NORWAY SEAFOOD, FISH PROCESSING FACTORY
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NORDTUN FARM
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INGA SAMI SIIDA
SKOGSØYA
MELBU, HADSELØYA
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LANGØYA 8
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HADSELØYA 2 4 3 6
HINNØYA
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TJELDØYA AUSTVÅGSØYA
VESTVÅGSØYA
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1. Skavli Brygghus We visited Liss Mari who runs her micro brewery 10 minutes away from the Evenes Airport. Before we arrived, we talked with Nordland Akademy and Chef Neumann about making a seaweed beer for the Planetary Sculpture Supperclub. Maria and Johan harvested bladder wack seaweed, Neumann dried it, and Liss Mari brewed it! We went to pick up the beer on our first day and also got a tour of the brewery and a delicious meal.
2. Ivar Utbjør and his boer goats On the second day, our first visit was to Ivar the boer goat farmer. He told us about this unique breed of goat that originated in South Africa, but is very well suited to the climate. in the north of Norway. He raises the goats mainly for meat, but they also perform useful ecosystem services, by eating their way through fields of the highly invasive Persian hogweed (Tromsø Palme). Like most livestock in this area, they are kept in barns over winter, and then allowed to graze free in the mountains in the summer months. The goats are particularly well suited for climbing the steep mountains right behind this little farm.
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3. Neptun Herring Oil Factory, Museum Nord 28
We were given a tour of the old factory and learned about the history of Melbu’s fish oil industry. Modernised in 1910 by Christian Frederiksen, this factory invested in cutting edge technologies to produce vast amounts of fish oil by literally screwing the local herring population (in a screw press system). During his lifetime the factory was very successful. However, in the 60s there was a decline in the fish oil business due to a collapse in the herring population, a reduction in demand for fish oil and overproduction of product. This eventually caused the factory to shut down in 1987. The adverse effects on the local community partly due to the overfishing of herring in the 1960s, is one of many stories worldwide that serve as poignant reminders that no matter how industrious humans are, we are always relient on larger ecosystem flows.
4. Taen Beach There’s a growing global trend of harvesting seaweed, both for eating and for other products (for example organic vegan lube). There is a great diversity of seaweed available around Melbu, so we were interested in foraging a few different varieties and taste testing them. We visited the beach where Nordland Akademi harvested the bladderwack seaweed for the beer that Skavli brewed. Seaweed is still an unusual ingredient for the locals, but it is available in abundance, and chef Neumann uses it at his restaurant occasionally. Will we see the trend growing in Melbu?
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5. Nøisomhed Farm We visited Renee at his farm and learned about his biodynamic farming practices. We talked about his wonderful smelling compost that is at the center of his work, working with animals and growing vegetables, creating an ecological balance and providing delicious, local food. Choosing resiliency over efficiency, he was definitely an anomaly in the regional countryside, but hopefully his passion and success can inspire others to farm in ways that leave the earth replenished rather than exhausted.
6. Norway Seafood, Fish processing factory Norway Seafood is a fish factory that can process up to 6000kg of fish an hour. We were given a tour of their facilities. They receive fish from small 100kg catches by local fishermen to 100,000kg catches from trawlers in the area. These fish are then processed - cleaned, filleted, frozen and packaged - and shipped all around the world for consumption. Every part of the fish is used, even the scraps are collected, frozen into large blocks, and sold as food to a mink farm in Finland. This state of the art facility is one of the factories that makes Norway the largest worldwide exporter of fish.
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7. Nordtun Farm Nordtun is a small-scale dairy producer in Andøya, housing 20 cows. Instead of selling exclusively to Tine (Norway’s largest producer of dairy products) Nordtun farm’s owners make a variety of delicious hard and soft cheeses that they sell in a small shop at the farm. In addition to cows and chickens, Nordtun is home to a gregarious group of llamas that provide great farm entertainment.
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8. Inga Sami Siida We also spent a few hours with a Sami reindeer herder to learn about her animals and the history of reindeer in the region. The reindeer are essentially free-range in the warmer months, spending their days searching for food. Herders use GPS to keep track of their herd. Before departing we were able to taste reindeer heart and also feed the human-friendly reindeer some tasty lichen clumps.
The Planetary Sculpture Club: Arctic Edition 34
How do we sculpt the planet through our food choices? What is the relationship between taste & place within a globalized food network? The Planetary Sculpture Supper Club: Arctic Circle Edition at the Neptun Restaurant in Melbu looks at how a community at the periphery of the global food network takes advantage of its regional resources, and where it bumps up against the limits of seasonal eating and government policy. Does geographical remoteness and an extreme environment create conditions for re-localizing a food culture or necessitate a reliance on exchange in order to eat well? Working with Chef Neumann of the Neptun Restaurant, we co-present a meal which embodies the challenges and joys of eating at the edge of the Earth. The Planetary Sculpture Supper Club is a collection of foods, recipes and stories that typify some of the ways humans unconsciously sculpt the planet’s biosphere through eating habits, flavour preferences and food technologies. We hold this semi-regular Supper Club in order to explore and document the co-evolution of gastronomy and larger ecological, technological and political systems. They have been held in India, UK, Ireland, Germany, Netherlands, Portugal, Norway and the United States.
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36 The Planetary Sculpture Supper Club is a collection of foods, recipes and stories that typify some of the ways humans unconsciously sculpt the planet’s biosphere through eating habits, flavour preferences and food technologies. As a conclusion to our residency we hosted a planetary sculpture supper club at the Neptune restaurant, serving food from the producers we have visited and cooked by Chef Neumann. Each course was served with a few questions that served as prompts for conversations with the diners about the local and global food system. For example, should we eat less fish or should we eat farmed fish?
| catalogue design: keirwilliams.com
| all rights reserved by their respective owners (2017)
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