Ars Bioarctica

In their residency blog The Observatory Project  (Ziggy Lever &  Eamon Edmundson-Wells) reflect how the idea of the charged moment became something they actively sought out: It manifested through a sustained attention to process, such as watching for fish scales appearing on a microfiche machine in Fiche Finder, or spending 15 hours carefully cataloguing retired plot markers used in microclimatic vegetation surveys for Stick Survey. We assigned each other roles and developed processes that involved the act of making a measurement. Much of the kit we had assembled and brought with us from Aotearoa New Zealand seemed less useful than what we could borrow from the Station. We found humour in absurd processes of not-measuring, and the shared delirium of processual labour. Having to think on our feet opened up a methodology of lightness that allowed us to be responsive and open to what was going on around us.

Laura Heiss and Laura Benech, as part of Antimatter Studio, spent a few weeks at the Ars Bioarctica residency conducting artistic research for their forthcoming installation “Salt of the Times”, a hybrid project that investigates memory, displacement, and materiality. Investigating salt, ice, and water as both material and metaphor, the project delves into how these elements interact, transform, and hold traces.  

Kelley O'Brien spent two weeks in Ars Bioarctica residency listening to the elders, the voices of our 2.8-billion-year-old ancestors – ancient rocks.

Hele Okkonen had their Ars Bioarctica residency in July 2025. What began as a study of regionally endangered lichens shifted into a broader perspective, as the vastness of the landscape made a deep impression on them. Gilbbesjávri gave them a gift, a reminder to return to the body, the ground of their artistic practice.

Claudio Filho had his Ars Bioarctica residency at the Kilpisjärvi Biological Station in June 2025 where he wrote with places, things, and beings.

Agáta Marzecová spent two weeks in the Rewilding Cultures residency in June 2025. She explored ways to rewild her ecological sensibilities through walking, field notes, and attentive observation of plants.

During their Ars Bioarctica residency in May 2025, Frouke Wiarda and Judith van der Elst delved into the fascinating dynamics of the atmosphere.

Laura Lowe spent a few weeks in May – June 2025, at the Ars Bioarctica residency conducting artistic research for her ongoing body of work "The Strcutural Colour Paintings". Lowe was gathering visual material of melting ice and embedded 'black carbon' pollution through the iridescent colours these materials reveal under polarised microscopy, as well as, by capturing the ice's surface with gelatin prints. She travelled across a thawing landscape of glaciers, tundra lakes, cascading waterfalls, and the Arctic Sea collecting her samples of ice.  

Dancers Gesa Piper and Paula Kramer were in Ars Bioarctica residency in February 2025. They focused on outdoor movement practice in relationship to temperature, cllimate, light and the rotation of panet Earth, partly accompanied by photographer Venla Helenius.

12 transdisciplinary artists and artist groups have been selected fo Ars Bioarctica residency for 2025–2026.

We are happy to announce our yearly open call for Ars Bioarctica residency program at the Kilpisjärvi Biological Station. Deadline for applications is 19th January 2025.

In November 2024 Ellen Bjerborn spent time at Kilpisjärvi Biological station, observing the changing nature of field studies in a new era. Much of the field work at the station is no longer done by human hands but rather by machines, and the staff at the station function to service the machines that monitor and collect samples.