Trond Ansten
b. 1984

I grew up in Bamble at the coastline of Telemark and quickly adapted to the ocean as our summer vacations where spent in the family boat by the shores of southern Norway and Sweden. I would spend all my time catching, drawing, studying, dissecting and slaughtering everything from shrimps, crabs and fish. This interest evolved into a passion for harvesting and expeditions.

First I studied Nature Conservation and parallel to my artistic practice I have been working within the field of biological mapping and public management. Later in life I studied art in Germany, at Karlsruhe Academy of Fine Arts and I was struck by the continental gap in people's relation to nature. This dualism formed the basis of my artistic platform. At the end of my studies I choose to move to Tromsø because of the density of nature qualities in the north. The Arctic is already of great importance when it comes to dealing with natural resources and I do believe we are right to call it a foundational site of our time.

When it comes to science and art I see more similarities than differences. The starting point is your hypotheses or topic of questioning - you investigate this through research and tests - you gather results and then you form your work. The finished report or artwork will refer to the hypotheses, but most likely raise new questions to the topic of investigation. This is important to me, it is about forming new question.

The expressions of an artwork or a scientific report differs, but the approach and the outcome are only slightly different. Neither scientists or artists are supposed to make conclusions, that should be for the politics. Keeping this in mind, I see art as a form of science.

In my practice I can't really distinguish between the harvester, the biologist and the artist in me. I work with fish, algae, snow, wood, plants and microorganisms. I am most interested in traditional processing and the transformation through new science and technology. The expression can be film, installation, sculpture or performance art. It all goes back to the core of the relation between man and nature that I feel has become alienated.

From this critical platform I have chosen to focus on possibilities rather than criticism. I imagine this focus is shared with the scientists at the ARCTOS expedition. I am very curious to get to know their specific field of research for the expedition as I will form my project due to the given possibilities. The major challenge in the PolArt project I believe will be the communication between fields of profession, but this has possibilities. One field cannot solely display all aspects of a topic and I believe interdisciplinary approach is the great value of the PolArt project.

Devil´s Apron
(A Collaboration with Kåre Grundvåg)
-A Journey in seaweed, punk and brewing culture in the north.

The artist duo Devils Apron is thorough in it´s ecological and social experimentation around the use of seaweed and sea resources.

They are searching for the lost knowledge of brewing with seaweed. Inspired by a rumor that the Inuitene in Kamchatka brewed an alcoholic drink from red algae, they decided to find the recipe.


On the journey, they explore traditional refining processes in conjunction with new science, poetry and good conversations.

The artists work in a remix of traditional, knowledge, coastal culture and recent research.

For PolArt it remains to be seen if they will work as a duo or with their individual practices.