Works by LOUD's Professors to be Exhibited in the United States

For nearly two decades Professor Kramer’s work has explored the complex relationship between humans, ‘landscape,’ and ‘nature’ in the Anthropocene/Capitalocene, and the chance to visit the Arctic, a region that crystallizes many of the changes and challenges climate change, presented the artist with an unprecedented opportunity.   Immersed in its starkly beautiful yet inhospitable (to humans- Spitzbergen never had an indigenous population) environment where the midnight sun distorts temporal markers, she experienced a profound awareness of geological and planetary time. This perspective was deepened during a fossil-collecting excursion, where the group uncovered remnants from roughly 50 million years ago—a time when Svalbard, despite its latitude, was covered in temperate forests.

Upon her return, she began a series of ‘rock books’ and ‘rock fragments’ to express this expanded and embedded temporality, of which Table of Contents is the first.   At first glance, the work appears as an ordinary rock, however the rock can be disassembled into sections. While some of its faces are left “blank,” others reveal fossil remnants or text referencing human resource extraction—particularly coal mining—in the Svalbard region.  This layered object intertwines Earth’s geological history with human history, encouraging contemplation of “Deep Time”—the vast timescales, climates, life forms, and natural cycles that extend far beyond human experience.

Table of Contents Exhibit E, 1.9 x 6.4 x 12 cm, Paper, Paint and Binder, image Fragment from: Robert Fotherby, Journal, Mss folio volumes F, 1613, p 46, digital reproduction of, the original manuscript courtesy of the American Anti-quarian Society, Worcester MA, with special thanks to Laura Haskell.

Table of Contents, Exhibit F, 2 x 7 x 13.2 cm, Graphite Powder and Binder, Text and Diagram Fragment from: Text Fragment from Adolf Hoel’s, The Coal Deposits and Coal Mining of Svalbard (Spitsbergen and Bear Island),(Oslo: The Norwegian Academy of Sciences, 1925), p 35.

Table of Contents Exhibit G, 2.1 x 15.9 x 11.7 cm, Coal Powder and Binder, Text Fragment from: Robert Fotherby, Journal, Mss folio volumes F, 1613, p 30, digital reproduction of the original manuscript courtesy of the American Antiquarian Society, Worcester MA, with special thanks to Laura Haskell.

Table of Contents Exhibit H, 2 x 6 x 11.8 cm, Rust Powder and Binder, Text Fragment from Adolf Hoel’s, The Coal Deposits and Coal Mining of Svalbard (Spitsbergen and Bear Island), (Oslo: The Norwegian Academy of Sciences, 1925) 12.

The exhibition in which Table of Contents will be shown features works across media—including photography, video, film, sound installation, and sculpture—created by the Arctic Circle’s summer 2023 participants. They address various concerns, from exploring the importance and aesthetic qualities of microscopic arctic life forms to highlighting topographical shifts in the landscape through time-lapse photography. Emerging Dialogues in the Midnight Sun seeks to illuminate the multifaceted particularities of Svalbard, fracturing the monolithic visual imaginary of the Arctic as an abstract symbol of human hubris, self-destruction, and species demise. Instead, it grounds the region in dialogues of interdependence and the diverse consciousnesses that shape Svalbard’s social and ‘natural’ ecosystems.

In addition to participation in this exhibition, Professor Kramer is finalizing a syllabus for a new class titled Placemaking: Botany, Site, Climate, which aligns with LOUD’s research direction focus on climate research and facilitating Low-Carbon Cities. This praxis class, also inspired by her Arctic experience, will examine local, global, and planetary experiences of plants and landscapes through the lens of various artists, theorists, and artistic methodologies. In this way, students are invited to cultivate a more knowledgeable and materially embodied connection to their immediate ‘natural’ environment while drawing links to broader ecological systems, social and climate patterns, and the interconnected flows of resources, histories, and cultural narratives.