The aim of the project was to increase knowledge about the multifaceted relationships between animals, humans, and the environment in times of global climate warming and rising sea levels. The focus was on studying the journeys of polar bears to Iceland in both historical and contemporary contexts. The work was approached from the perspectives of contemporary art, art theory, and folklore, examining the boundaries between culture and reality, as well as the interactive effects of climate change on environmental erosion and human migration.
The research involved collecting texts, images, sounds, biological samples, and other materials related to the journeys of polar bears to the country. The methodology included a specific approach to the relationships between the collected sources within cultural and environmental contexts, along with highlighting, interpreting, and communicating the underlying meanings found within visual and written materials.
By foregrounding the animal and highlighting its diverse roles in the world as a living being, cohabitant, guest, environmental indicator, cast, and ornament, the project aimed to deconstruct its "otherness" in human realms. The results also made a significant contribution to the discourse on the objectification of humans and animals, shedding light on questions of ownership in an environmental-political context.
Funding and Partners
The project is funded by the Icelandic Research Fund (Rannís), and the partners are the Iceland University of the Arts, the University of Iceland, the Anchorage Museum in Alaska (US), the Akureyri Art Museum, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (US), the University of Iceland’s Research Center in the Westfjords, the Árni Magnússon Institute for Icelandic Studies, and the National Museum of Iceland.
