Starfish and seaweed on technical porcelain brick. From experiments at NIVA research station Solbergstrand by Elin T. Sørensen. Photo: Annike Flo
HAV means Ocean in Norwegian, and is an exhibition with the works of artist, landscape architect and PhD candidate Elin T. Sørensen.
Living together along the urban shore
Across the planet, marine ecosystems are under pressure. What’s at stake is the diversity of species and the essential roles they have within their ecosystems. We must also remember that these species are just as important for us here on land! When our cities meet the ocean, the teeming life underwater is destroyed or threatened. Humans are becoming increasingly distant from the sea, forgetting the needs of the ocean during urban development. How can we find ways to live together with others along the urban shore?
Creating with care
To create better living conditions in the urban maritime areas you must spend time with and understand those who live under the surface. This is exactly what artist and landscape architect Elin T. Sørensen has been practicing in her PhD work, which you are about to witness. She has literally gone underwater, discovering a world that is vastly different than the one on land. Here is a world with enormous powers, teeming with life from the shallow waters of the shore to the darkest, deepest trenches of the world. To find ways to create with care for life as diverse as mussels, fish and seaweed, the artist has been exploring the sea through one-on-one meetings with marine life, inspired by what famous author and environmentalist Rachel Carson calls the ethic of wonder.
Originating in the meeting between artistic vision, marine biology, tidal landscapes, and marine life HAV proposes solutions for co-existence of human and marine life at the shore.
Welcome to HAV!
Curated by Annike Flo
HAV is made possible with Support from:
Norsk institutt for vannforskning (NIVA) og NIVA forskningsstasjon Solbergstrand, Drøbak akvarium, Norsk Teknisk Porselen, gipsmaker Jean Waldemar Hoff, NMBU Realtek pilotverksted.
HAV is developed with financial support from:
NMBU Seedfunds for «Sjøplanter og fjærelandskap», a collaboration between BIOVIT og LANDSAM.
NMBUs Idea Development Fund in collaboration with ARD Innovation.
KORO Lokalsamfunnsordninga and Sparebankstiftelsen DNB for artproject «Under/sjø», a collaboration with Fjordtunet, Anne Beate Hovind og Spearos Oslofjord club for freediving, snorkeling and underwater hunting
Norwegian Artistic Research Programme. DIKU (PKU), Art Music Design, University of Bergen (UiB), Global challenges UiB for artproject «Matter, Gesture and Soul», a collaboration with Geir Harald Samuelsen.
PhD Position 2016-2020 Faculty of Landscape and Society (LANDSAM) NMBU, with supervisor Anne Katrine Geelmuyden and co-supervisor composer Christian Blom.
Ås kommune, grant for Childrens workshop “Hus I Havet”
Thank you to:
William Olsson-Tanding; Eli Rinde (NIVA), the PhD’s marine-mentor; Johan Petter Nystuen (UiO) geology-mentor; underwater advice and photo from Hartvig Christie and Pernilla Carlsson (NIVA); 3D-vizualisation and digital fabrication by artist Ivar Kjellmo; 3D-printing by artist and creative technologist Boris Kourtoukov; Klaus Bareksten and Drøbak aquarium for lending of aquarium and marine life from the Oslofjord; Michael Sagen and NMBU Realtek pilotworkshop for system design of Seafloor/Shelf; Noshin Naseri-Lordejani and Jean Waldemar Hoff for crafting Bladderwrack/signal Buoy, Ceramicists Tulla Elieson, Eirik Gjedrem and Ann Beate Tempehlaug for guidance on clay and ceramic production; Kaia Kjølbo Rød and Jorun Pedersen ARD Innovation; Hilde-Gunn Opsahl Sorteberg BIOVIT and Ioaioannis Theodorou Sorbonne/ Station biologique de Roscoff; student of landscapearchitecture Runa Tunheim; Anne Beate Hovind, Tillik Margrete Motzfeldt Haustveit, Karin Beate Nosterud; Spearos Oslofjord og Sergey Gilmiyarov for harvesting of sugar kelp; videoediting by Ivar Kjellmo and Jon Gorospe; exhibition sounddesign by Inspire to Action; risograph print by Camilla Skibrek.