Recipients 2018

Mette Henriette is a Sámi-Norwegian interdisciplinary composer, saxophonist and performing artist whose work has shown around the world. In 2017, she premiered the solo performance ‘In Between’ at documenta14, a piece reflecting on nomadic lifestyles which took place inside Athens Concert Hall. Later the same year, she performed at the opening show for the Indigenous festival Riddu Riddu celebrating the 100th anniversary of the first Sámi political assembly of 1917. In 2015, she released her debut double album on the renowned German record label ECM Records to worldwide acclaim. In addition to her solo work, she has collaborated on projects with artists and groups such as Marina Abramović, Anton Corbijn, Manfred Eicher, OMA, Nicolas Jaar, Darkside, Valgeir Sigurðsson and CocoRosie.

Oswaldo Maciá creates olfactory-acoustic sculptures that have been exhibited all over the world. His work is held in international collections, including Tate Britain and Daros Latinamerica.

His sculptures have been included in numerous large-scale periodic exhibitions and solo presentations across four continents. As he states in his manifesto, Maciá seeks to stimulate questions and counter received opinion. In 2015 Maciá won a major public commission for the city of Bogotá selected by an international jury. Scenario in Construction is the first public sound sculpture of in the southern hemisphere. In 1976 he attended the School of Fine Arts in Cartagena at the age of 16, graduating in 1980.

In 1982 he moved to the capital Bogotá to study advertising at Jorge Tadeo Lozano University, and left after five semesters to become a full-time artist. Maciá taught Fine Art at Jorge Tadeo Lozano University from 1985 before moving to Barcelona in 1989, where he studied Mural Painting at Llotja School of Fine Art. In 1990 Maciá moved to London, where he continues to run a studio.

He studied BA in Sculpture between 1990 and 1993 at Guildhall University followed in 1994 by Masters in Fine Art at Goldsmiths College, University of London. In the 1990s his work featured in solo exhibitions in London venues at the forefront of defining installation art, including the Museum of Installation and Clove Gallery, and group exhibitions such as Ideal Standard Summertime at Lisson Gallery.

Lars Paalgard studied at the Trondheim Academy of Fine Art, Trondheim, Norway (1978–82) and the Jan van Eyck Academie, Maastricht, The Netherlands (1983–85). He has participated in exhibitions in Norway and abroad, and his works feature in public collections such as those of the Arts Council Norway and Trondheim Municipality. Paalgard was one of the initiators of G.U.N (Galleri Uten Navn / Unnamed Gallery) and Sound Of Mu in Oslo. Recently his work has been presented in solo exhibitions at Vestfossen Kunstlaboratorium, Vestfossen (2014) and Galleri 69, Oslo (2016), and was part of the group exhibition Silent Revolt at The National Museum of Contemporary Art, Oslo (2016).

During their residency Oddvar I.N. Daren and Lars Paalgard invited local residents on a Situare Walk, a presentation of Ars Situare and the Humus Line Project. This art project reached its conclusion on Svalbard in 2019.

Oddvar I.N. Daren is an artist who works across genres with paintings, objects, sculptures and land art. He trained at the Trondheim Academy of Fine Art, Norway (1977–81) and the Jan van Eyck Academie, Maastricht, The Netherlands (1982–84). He has held solo exhibitions at Bodø Kunstforening, Norway (2015); Trondheims Kunstforening, Trondheim (2013); Galleri F15, Moss, Norway (1986) and Henie Onstad Kunstsenter, Bærum, Norway (1985). His work has recently been presented in group exhibitions at The National Museum of Contemporary Art, Oslo (2016) and Trondheim Kunstmuseum (2007, 2017).

During their residency Oddvar I.N. Daren and Lars Paalgard invited local residents on a Situare Walk, a presentation of Ars Situare and the Humus Line Project. This art project reached its conclusion on Svalbard in 2019.

Carlos Casas is a filmmaker working across documentary filmmaking, cinema, and contemporary visual and sound arts. His work has been exhibited in a number of venues and festivals including Hangar Bicocca, Milan; Netmage, Bologna; Documenta, Madrid; and the Fondation Cartier, Paris. A modern-day explorer, Casas’s works deal with the idea of survival, death and the archaic. He has just concluded a trilogy of work dedicated to the most extreme environments on the planet: Patagonia, the Aral Sea and Siberia. He is currently working on a film about a cemetery of elephants on the borders between India and Nepal, and he is part of the ongoing exhibition ‘Ten Days Six Nights’ at Tate Modern, London.

During his residency Casas hosted a screening event at Longyearbyen Kulturhus of his film “Hunters since the beginning of time”.