Northern Norway Art Museum is proud to present this year’s first exhibition in our Arctic satellite, Kunsthall Svalbard in Longyearbyen, Svalbard (Spitsbergen), A K Dolven: ahead.

Anne Katrine Dolven (b. 1953) is considered one of Norway leading contemporary artists and works with sculpture, sound, video, photography, painting and performance. She has a significant position in the international artworld and divides her time between London and Lofoten. She is represented in several public collections and has exhibited at many museums and galleries, among others, Kunsthalle Bern, Philadephia Museum of Art, Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin, IKON Gallery, Birmingham, Platform China, Beijing, The National Museum of Norway and Northern Norway Art Museum in Tromsø.

ahead is a monumental video installation shot in the mountainous nature of the Lofoten islands in Northern Norway. The work was commissioned by Northern Norway Art Museum in connection with the institution’s monographic A K Dolven show in 2009, and belongs to the museum’s own collection.

Knut Ljøgodt, director of Northern Norway Art Museum and Kunsthall Svalbard, is excited about Dolven’s exhibition: “Kunsthall Svalbard opened only a year ago. We think it’s fantastic that we can begin the 2016 programme with an artist as distinguished as A K Dolven, whose work is so relevant for the Arctic region.”

A K Dolven says: “My art, regardless of the technique, is about finding balance in the world we live in, politically, socially and personally. The Arctic landscape is a type of space that makes critical issues clearer, unhidden. It’s in this space that I most often produce my works, even though they are exhibited internationally. That there will now be an exhibition in Svalbard – a place even farther north, with a sharp reality that affects the everyday life of those who live there – is something I look forward to.”