I’ll be exhibiting a new work entitled “Shunyatan Flow” as part of the COLLISION17:transformer group exhibit at Axiom Gallery in Boston, MA, March 2 – April 7.  This is actually an animation comprised of 3D scans of Arctic sea ice acquired during my recent Svalbard residency, as well as scans of my body.

Opening Reception: Friday, March 2 : 6-9 pm

Other exhibiting artists include:  Natalie Andrew, Ryan Boatright, Sophia Brueckner, Alicia Eggert, Juan Escudero, Joseph Farbrook, Antony Flackett, Ben K. Foley, Dave Gordon, Rob Gonsalves, Lori Hepner, Wei-Ming Ho, Faith Holland, Annette Isham, Arnold Koroshegyi, Victor Liu, Andrew Neumann, Bob Kephart, Jean-Michel Rolland, Mark Stock, Wayne Strattman, and Topp & Dubio.

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Axiom Gallery address and hours:

141 Green Street (The Green St. T-stop on the Orange Line)
Jamaica Plain, MA

Wed 6:00 pm – 9:00 pm
Thurs 6:00 – 9:00 pm
Fri 6:00 – 9:00 pm
Sat 2:00 pm – 5:00 pm
and by appointment

I walked up and down that street over four days, either to meet a few colleagues who were performing in the 2011 Insomnia Festival, or to wander and enjoy my last days in the Arctic. I had arrived in Norway in late-September, met a few people in Oslo, and then the main contingent of 20 in Longyearbyen. For two weeks, we sailed up and down the west and north coasts of the Svalbard archipelago, as artists-in-residence exploring the hyperboreal land and ocean. When we returned to Longyearbyen, we dispersed over several days, and it was eventually in Tromsø that I was alone again.

Had I exhaled too much over the past month, left without enough oxygen to remember those resonant spaces in the past that I used be nostalgic for? As I walked down the cold, dark, damp street towards the bridge leading to the Arctic Cathedral, I wasn’t holding on to anything, having crossed a boundary, and beyond the grasp of any conclusions I had methodically composed before this vacation in Norway. Perhaps this boundary was crossed earlier, in Oslo, or during the voyage. I remember looking ahead, down the street and seeing no one. Sometimes, I would see someone in an illuminating store (e.g. the apoteks). Tromsø is known for its nightlife, but that’s not the nightlife I’m referring to.

Tromsø Bridge was the longest cantilever bridge I had ever crossed at night. There wasn’t room on either side for more than two people to pass, and the outer railing was high enough to prevent people from accidentally falling off. I passed at least two people going the opposite direction during each crossing. On the return trip back to my hotel, looking off towards what seemed to be the south, I witnessed the twinkling tips of planes descending through the clear night. I couldn’t see the lights of the airport, however, since it was situated on the opposite side of a mountain.

New works exhibited in Mediating Place are now available online, along with a gallery of photos taken during my residency in the Arctic Circle :

“Arctic Water Column” (2011)

“Three Tahitians at the Boundary to the Polar Eternities” (2011)

Photo Gallery – Arctic Circle Residency

New works resulting from my Arctic Circle residency are now on display at the Harbor Art Gallery at UMass-Boston, through Oct. 25, as part of the group exhibition “Mediating Place”.

Other exhibiting artists include:  John Craig Freeman, Dyllan Nguyen, Ann Torke, Jane Prophet, Miriam Dym, EcoArtTech, and Richard Bertman

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Harbor Art Gallery address and hours:
Monday – Thursday: 12:00 – 7:00 P.M.Friday: 12:00 – 4:00 P.M.
Harbor Art Gallery, c/o Meredith Hoy or Kevin Benisvy
McCormack Building
University of Massachusetts, Boston
100 Morrissey Blvd. Boston, MA 02125

You wouldn’t expect someone walking alone down the main highway of Pyramiden, Spitsbergen, in October 2011 to be pondering the significance of his arrival at the terminus of a lifelong trajectory.   But what began as a childhood curiosity in Texas about the northern US has resulted in a series of unrelated opportunities tracking across northeastern coasts, and ultimately to a road covered in spilled coal, detritus from what turned-out to be yet another Soviet folly towards cultural expansion further into the Arctic.  I’ve never seen such an expensive “false-start” of a town before – the years of opening advertised prominently on the front of each building seemed to imply that they foresaw a century or more of prosperity, even in the shadow of centuries of failure by tropical (“Tahitian”) culture at developing into the Polar Eternities.

My solo ascent to the forecastle comprised the final steps of this artist residency – written in the striated condensations spanning the amber, high-latitude afternoon, and accompanied by the white coffins floating peacefully past the ship as we left the bay towards the open Arctic sea. I was at the boundary to the Polar Eternities – witnessing the white, icey death.  Since August, I had been preparing as continuously for this voyage as methodically as I had for any previous years’ future unknowns.  When I walked outside, however, the wrinkles in my cheeks harmoniously resolved the radials emanating from my eyes, no longer a symptom of any negligent indulgence, and I breathed the first air of my Second Adventure.  Even as tight as we were squeezed, sleeping in shared cocoons, and eating as a large families, we were all on solo voyages, starting from different places within a place, mine leading to an ending within an ending.

New work created during and after my Arctic Circle Residency will appear alongside “Expanding Tahiti” at the Harbor Art Gallery at UMass-Boston.  The exhibit, entitled “Mediating Place”, will run Oct 5 – 25, and starting around the 17th, I’ll augment maps and notes already posted with digital projected work composed from Longyearbyen and Norway.

Other exhibiting artists include:  John Craig Freeman, Dyllan Nguyen, Ann Torke, Jane Prophet, Miriam Dym, EcoArtTech, and Richard Bertman

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Harbor Art Gallery address and hours:
Monday – Thursday: 12:00 – 7:00 P.M.Friday: 12:00 – 4:00 P.M.
Harbor Art Gallery, c/o Meredith Hoy or Kevin Benisvy
McCormack Building
University of Massachusetts, Boston
100 Morrissey Blvd.Boston, MA 02125

Greetings friends,

The Arctic Circle Residency will begin in roughly two weeks. I would like to sincerely thank all of my current supporters (see below), and provide a final update before I leave.

My trip will begin Sept 26, and include a week of traveling to Longyearbyen and prep work, two weeks of sailing and exploring, and then about a week of compiling observations and wandering around southern Norway, before returning to the US on Oct 26. Our cruise will consist of 1-2 days of onshore work for each 1-2 days of sailing around the western and northern regions of the Svalbard archipelago. Since September is actually the month of minimum sea ice in the Arctic, sailing conditions should be ideal and allow for maximum flexibility in our itinerary.

To summarize my current artist statement regarding the expedition, I’ll collect 3D scans of ice chunks and surfaces, record sounds of electrical waves propagating through the atmosphere from the tropics, talk with other members of the expedition about why they are exploring the archipelago, study the geopolitical forces affecting the Svalbard region, and take photographs. We will not have internet access during the cruise, so I won’t be blogging, unfortunately.

To donate in exchange for “rewards”, visit:  http://www.benbray.com/payment.php . The underwater ROV I had mentioned previously will not be making the trip, so I’ll have to substitute some other interesting artifact for underwater video as part of the reward set.  If you have any suggestions, please send me an email, or include a note in the process of making a donation.

Special thanks to:
Aimee Ash
Andreas Randow
Dan Nissenbaum
David Bryant
Don Bray
Georgina Lewis
John Pound
Kitt Hodsden
Marcela Rodriguez
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Michael Soroka
Nancy Adams
Yuka Otani

The 2011 Arctic Circle Residency that I’m preparing for has a new partner: the Council for the Arts at MIT.  With the help of their $2000 grant, I’ll be able to begin development of a remotely-operated underwater vehicle (ROV) for exploring in and around Arctic ice formations, while recording cool video, taking pictures, measuring water quality, spying on the other participants etc.  Thank you, MIT!

This still leaves about $7K that I’ll need to cover via additional grants, donations, and personal savings. The Kickstarter.com project I began two weeks ago is still very much open for new contributions, so please spread the word, and help me close the gap.

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Listen to “Arctic Inspiration” , a Studio360 broadcast by 2009 participant Matt Holzman.

photo credit: Janet Biggs