Location: Slipvillan, Långholmen
 
Exhibition and opening reception

The artists Ida Rödén and professor Ian Brooks exhibit water colors and prints with polar motifs from the  expedition ARTofMELT 2023.

Lecture Sunday

Martin Jakobsson, Professor of Marine Geology and Geophysics at Stockholm University, will present his research on the Arctic and ocean floor mapping. He will also discuss his unique collaborations with artists, bridging science and creativity.

Artwork: Ian Brooks and Ida Rödén

Sea ice

It is often said that those who venture into the polar regions never truly leave. They are seized not just by a need, but more accurately by an obsession – an inexplicable longing to return. The realm of cold is less a place on a map and more a state of mind.

In this icy domain, artists Ida Rödén and Ian Brooks first crossed paths aboard an icebreaker, carving its way through meter-thick ice. Their friendship grew within a miniature world where it took only 30 seconds to walk from the cabin on the second deck to the dining area on the first, 15 seconds to reach the workspace on the fourth deck, and 25 seconds to the gym or the cinema. The sauna was never more than a 10-15 second walk away, depending on your choice. In this self-contained society, where drinking water was drawn from the sea and yesterday’s vegetables were transformed into vegetarian patties for dinner, the icebreaker Oden navigated the Arctic landscape with sensors and probes, constantly measuring and absorbing its surroundings.

In the exhibition "Sea of Ice," Ida Rödén and Ian Brooks reunite on solid ground to convey their experiences of the cold’s vast, ever-changing landscape – a place that remains both ancient and new, though its days are numbered as the polar seas melt. Here, the worlds of art and science merge, bound by a mutual appreciation for the unknown. By looking beyond the constraints of reason, we may uncover new ways to approach the challenges of the future, both in thought and action.

Ida Rödén, based in Stockholm and educated at the Umeå Academy of Fine Arts and California College of the Arts in San Francisco, joined the ARTofMELT expedition at the invitation of the Swedish Polar Research Secretariat. She became the 37th artist to participate in their art program. Carrying four small books of watercolor paper, she painted at least one watercolor each day, documenting the ship, the crew, the scientists, and the ice. These watercolor-diaries form the foundation for her works displayed in the exhibition.

Ian Brooks, a printmaker and atmospheric scientist based in Leeds, UK, has dedicated his academic research to exploring the extreme environments of both the Arctic and Southern Oceans, participating in five expeditions with the icebreaker Oden. The polar landscapes inspired many of the etchings on display in this exhibition. Despite leading one of the larger research projects during the ARTofMELT expedition, Ian Brooks still found time to sketch.

ARTofMELT (Atmospheric Rivers and the Onset of Sea Ice Melt) took place from May 7 to June 15, 2023, in the Arctic Ocean. The expedition aimed to study, among other things, atmospheric rivers – flows of warm, moist air from the south – and examine the changes occurring during the transition from winter to summer in the Arctic. Onboard the icebreaker Oden were 38 scientists, 23 crew members, 12 staff from the Swedish Polar Research Secretariat, and one artist.

The exhibition is supported by the Swedish Arts Council