O´Kane will install a new series of works on paper and a new animation inspired by the term ‘Baum Test’ or ‘Tree Test’, which is a psychological projective test developed by Swiss psychologist Charles Koch in 1952. Some of these drawings of trees are also mirrored which evokes an eerie element that references a more well-known psychoanalytic tool, the Rorschach or ink blot test. There are no trees in Ilulissat but forecasts based on climate change suggest that more certain types of tree will begin to grow and establish themselves in this part of Greenland. Through workshops in 2024 O'Kane will imagine how forests will affect the topography of the surrounding area.
Community events with art exhibits and workshops in collaboration with local schools and organizations in Ilulissat. Marking the culmination of ongoing workshops revolving around the themes: climate, maps, and nature. During the weekend, public workshops will take place in Illu, including an exhibition curated with all the artworks as a backdrop for the Science Forum.
Contributors/Curators: Mathew Stiller-Reeve (ClimateNarratives), Eamon O'Kane (UiB/ClimateNarratives),
Workshop : Mapping, Art and Climate Science by applying the climate-art method to develop working relationships with community members. This method entails that workshop participants, including local community members and project scientists, draw and make artistic impressions of climate issues impacting them. This method has been applied previously to create a level playing field with everyone sharing stories on their own terms, independent of language barriers. The art is then used to motivate further discussion on how to best develop a meaningful collaboration. We will involve map making in the workshop with local children and include a cross-generational element. This is inspired by a previous project where schools in Norway and Bangladesh exchanged climate stories through art. This approach will bring together media drawing, painting, carving, 3d-printing and the spoken word. There will also be contributions related to the fields of earth science, climate and anthropology.
Upcoming Workshop 2024:
Trees, painting and drawing workshop and exhibition run by artist and Professor Eamon O'Kane. He will conduct workshops with local children exploring the tree form and future projections of trees coming to Ilulissat. The children will explore different tree types and seasonality through painting, drawing and animation.
Other exhibitions at ILLU
Gallery 1: Aata
Irene Thor Jeremiassen (KN) was born in 1989, she is a self-taught artist who has painted for more than eleven years, devoting herself principally to portraiture and surrealist works. In 2016 she exhibited some of her works at the Ilulissat Art Museum and in 2023 she exhibited works at the Ocean Stories exhibition at KODE Museum in Bergen, Norway.
In her work, Irene researches her ancestors. In kalaallisut/West Greenlandic, aata means grandfather, and the title of these portraits all starts with aata. With the help of her work, Irene tightens her family connections to her ancestral Inuit and investigates how the inuit share specific behaviours, mimic, a sense of humour, and life approach due to the social bonds they share.
Café Gallery: The story of whaling
In the Café Gallery there will be an exhibit entitled ‘The story of whaling’: trading and climatic change in West Greenland1700-1900 CE seen through a Frisian perspective.
There are many traces found in the landscapes of Qeqertarsuaq, these of which have been settlements going as far back as 5-6000 years back in time. These traces are stories of both cultural meetings, environmental, climate and great abundance surrounding the island which also take us back in time to the whaling period.