Half Hidden

Anne Haaning

This exposition conveys the final results of Anne Haaning's artistic research project Half Hidden, which she has been conducting as a PhD Candidate with Oslo National Academy of the Arts in collaboration with the Academy of Arts, UiT The Arctic University of Norway and the Norwegian Artistic Research Programme. Through the prism of the mineral cryolite, extracted from Greenland by Denmark in the years 1857–1985, the project seeks to uncover hidden structures and histories imbedded in technology. It has done so by exploring analogical correspondences at a specific intersection of technology, myth and colonialism; the method it employs to this end is an investigation of the ontological context of digital image production. Denmark extracted the rare mineral cryolite in Greenland between the mid nineteenth and the late twentieth centuries. Essential to the mass production of aluminium, cryolite proved critical for the shipbuilding and aviation industries during World Wars I and II. The mineral was so important that the cryolite mine was put under US administration during the German occupation of Denmark in World War II. But this history has been virtually erased from the collective memory and consciousness of the Danes. Today, the flooded mine is a scar in the Greenlandic landscape covered by a pervasive mirroring water plane concealing a significant part of the Danish-Greenlandic colonial history.

The final presentation in Tromsø Kunstforening comprises a body of work that can be grouped into 4 sections – as outlined on the floor plan. These groups are collections of individual works that are related. The following is a list of those groups of works.

1 – Archive of Uncertainties is a group of works: a series of 14 photograms: Imperial Cabinet Card on MacBook Pro and 4 archive boxes: Orsugiaq, Kryolith, Mine- og Handels-Selskabet, The Fidgety Ones Were Here, and Polar Bear and Pick Axes.

2 – Blueprints: Cryolite Deposits (1857-2020), Limits of Movement for Women under Greenlandic Law (1934), Payload on Fire (1929).

3 – Polarizer is a large sculpture, which is part of the video installation Half Hidden.

4 – Half Hidden is a two channel video installation, incl. epoxy puddles, subtitles on LED panel, a robot mop and the large sculpture Polarizer.

On this page documentation of the video installation Half Hidden is included in the form of two recordings of the videos installed in Tromsø Kunstforening – one cycle with subtitles in English and one with subtitles in Greenlandic (they alternate: two English cycles and one Greenlandic pr hour).

The exhibition handout is available as a pdf.

(click image to the right)

LIMITS OF MOVEMENT FOR WOMEN UNDER GREENLANDIC LAW (1934)

cyanotype on 160 gr. seawhite. Dimensions: 594 x 841 mm, folded to fit A3

POLAR BEAR AND PICK AXES

Seawhite archival box w. hole and first Greenlandic currency by Kryolith, Mine- og handels- Selskabet, purchased on Ebay, USA. Dimensions: 35 x 25 x 115 cm

FINAL PRESENTATION – TROMSØ KUNSTFORENING, 2020

KRYOLITH, MINE- OG HANDELS-SELSKABET

Seawhite archival box w. cast of 3d-printed replica of brass sign from Ivittuut auctioned on lauritz.com. Dimensions: 35 x 25 x 25 cm

IMPERIAL CABINET CARD ON MACBOOK PRO

Series of 14 photograms. Photographic exposure by LCD screen on Fujicolor DP2 Lustre paper. Dimensions: 33,1 x 20,8 cm

HALF HIDDEN (THE VIDEO INSTALLATION)

2 channel video installation. Duration: 18 min on loop. Epoxy, LED panel w subtitles in English and Greenlandic, robot mop.

THE FIDGETY ONES WERE HERE

Seawhite archival box w. polarising thin films and traces of Nakasuk's account of stone spirits. Dimensions: 50 x 25 x 40 cm

POLARIZER

reclaimed hand carved wooden beams, bespoke steel brackets, sheets of acrylic, polarising filtre. Dimensions: 4 x 6 x 2 m

ARCHIVE OF UNCERTAINTIES

plywood, epoxy, LCD screens, cables, 14 photograms, 4 archive boxes. Dimensions: 500 x 100 x 130 cm

ORSUGIAQ

Seawhite archival box w. pillow and cryolite, water spray. Dimensions: 35 x 25 x 25 cm

INSTALL, GREENLANDIC SUBLTITLES

PAYLOAD ON FIRE (1929)

cyanotype on 160 gr. seawhite. Dimensions: 13000 x 841 mm, folded to fit A3

CRYOLITE DEPOSITS (1857-2020)