Að Hvala: Becoming-with Whales through Artistic Research

Lýsing

To parse the long-running relationship between Icelandic human populations and their interactions with the ocean‘s largest mammals, I turn to toponymy. Human-cetacean interactions are encoded within Icelandic toponymy, with over 200 geographic formations—bays, peninsulas, and even a fjord—featuring the Icelandic word for whale (hval) within their place names. How does the word hval conjure a sense of the grandiose, of the mythic, of the monstrous, of the imponderable, of the sustainable, of the unknowable within its attachment to place? How might the creation of a new verb (að hvala, to whale) offer the opportunity for humans to explore becoming-with whales during climate chaos and biodiversity loss?

Að Hvala uses multilingual entanglement as its springboard for artistic practice-as-research. This talk presents two years of Dr. Angela Rawlings’ postdoctoral research into becoming-with whales through contemporary and speculative-future global north contexts. Informed by Earth Systems Science and the necessity of cross-disciplinary sharing, Rawlings’ creative output acknowledges becoming-with whales in locational and ecosystemic intertanglements ranging from the North Atlantic’s deep ocean, Icelandic foreshores, Danish bogs, and the sonosphere. Rawlings will discuss their postdoctoral research exhibitions in Austria, Canada, Denmark, and Iceland featuring collaborations with composer José Luis Anderson, the Canadian Museum of Nature, and Canada’s National Arts Centre Symphony Orchestra.

Tímabil	30 mar. 2023
Haldið að	Stofnun rannsóknasetra
Viðurkenning	Alþjóðlegt