Artist talk together with Qi Tan
Velferden Winter Residency
Avgang/Deponi [Waste/Deposit] Programme
10 January 2025, 18:00
Velferden: Sokndal Scene for Samtidskunst
Sokndal, Norway
As part of my artist residency at Velferden in Sokndal, Norway, I will be participating in an artist talk together with Qi Tan. We will be talking about our past work, what we are currently working on while at Velferden, and more!
From the Velferden website
We are starting the year by inviting you to a conversation with the guests who are currently on a production residency at Velferden.
Come to Velferden and meet Emma Arnold & Qi Tan, Monday, February 10th at 6:00 p.m.
There will be light refreshments, and everyone is welcome. The event will be held in English.
VELFERDEN PRESENTS is a series of events where artists and researchers present themselves and their work, creating a space for joint dialogue.
Time and place: the Velferden building at Sandbekk, February 10th at 6pm! Welcome!
Emma Arnold, PhD (b. Montréal, Canada) is an interdisciplinary artist, researcher, and writer working at the intersection of art and environment. She leads the Institute for Art & Environment, an independent research platform conducting projects with environmental, social, and urban themes. She blends academic research with artistic practice and is concerned with how environmental crisis can be understood through art. Her current research focuses on contemporary art and extractivism in industrial and post-industrial landscapes.
Emma’s work centres on photography as an immersive and investigative tool for place- and sense-making. Inspired by the setting of Velferden and the presence of tailings and landfill sites, Emma will use this opportunity to research, write, and create in a place deeply affected by mining activities. Emma plans to explore the otherworldly landscape of Sokndal through image-making, publish an article drawing on this research, and develop a series of photographs, illustrations, and prints that reflect the area’s unique geology and history.
Institute for Art & Environment
Qi Tan (b. 1994, China) is an artist based in Oslo. In her work, Qi delves into nature’s mystique and the imaginative potential of digital world-building, bringing extraordinary creatures and complex mythologies to life. A graduate of the Oslo Academy of Fine Arts, she has recently exhibited at Atelier Nord (Oslo), Forum Box (Helsinki), Galleri Ask (Horten), Tegnerforbundet (Oslo), Studio 17 (Stavanger), Bærum Kunsthall, Østlandsutstillingen 2023, and Høstutstillingen 2022.
Qi's goal is to create sculptural installations that respond directly to the residency’s surroundings, incorporating found materials and video projections.
About Velferden
Velferden is an artist-run arena for the social and artistic investigation of man's relationship with nature, based in Norway's largest mining municipality Sokndal.
Velferden’s facilities are located in Titania's old mining facility at Sandbekk in Sokndal, in the historic buildings where Titania invented how to turn black iron ore into titanium dioxide and thus help color the world white. Velferden is surrounded by an exciting landscape characterized by over 100 years of mining activity.
About Avgang/Deponi [Waste/Deposit]
The theme of Velferden’s programme in the period 2023-2026 is WASTE / DEPOSIT. Through this theme, Velferden takes a critical and solution-oriented look at current issues related to the disposal and management of mining waste as an artistic material and social resource. The programme is curated by Velferden; visual artists Maiken Stene and Hans Edward Hammonds.
This about text has been adapted from text written by Velferden. All images included here are the copyright of Velferden and are taken from the Velferden website. For more information , please refer to the Velferden website.
