Arctic Art and Climate Change: Lena von Goedeke's GROUND TRUTH

Interdisciplinary artist Lena von Goedeke’s GROUND TRUTH exhibition at TU Dresden’s Schaufler Lab merges art with scientific research from Svalbard, Norway, offering a visualization of Arctic environmental transformations.

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The Schaufler Lab@TU Dresden presents GROUND TRUTH, a solo exhibition by Lena von Goedeke. This  exhibition culminates von Goedeke’s residency, blending artistic vision with scientific collaboration to offer a unique perspective on the changing Arctic landscape. It draws from the artist’s extensive research in Longyearbyen, Svalbard, Norway.

About the Exhibition
GROUND TRUTH is the culmination of Lena von Goedeke‘s residency at TU Dresden and her research in Longyearbyen, Svalbard, Norway. The exhibition explores Arctic transformations through a blend of artistic vision and scientific collaboration, showcasing von Goedeke’s innovative approach to visualizing climate change and environmental shifts in this crucial Arctic region.

Artist’s Background
Lena von Goedeke, who divides her time between Berlin and Longyearbyen, Spitsbergen, is known for her conceptual work that bridges art and science. For GROUND TRUTH, she collaborated with experts in humanities, geology, and information science, as well as engaging with research collections from TU Dresden and the Senckenberg Natural History Collections.

Exhibition Highlights
The exhibition will feature approximately 15 artworks, including photographs, sculptures, and videos, created over the past four years. A centerpiece of the show is Trümmer/Debris, an installation featuring artistic soil samples made from permafrost. This work dramatically illustrates the Arctic’s instability through a refrigerator setup that alternates between freezing and melting the ground material.

Thematic Exploration
GROUND TRUTH, the exhibition’s title, carries dual significance in the context of Arctic research. It references both the concept of immutable truth and the scientific practice of validating remote data with on-the-ground observations. Von Goedeke’s work examines the fragility of material data storage in the Arctic, contrasting digital representations with physical realities.

Institutional Context
This exhibition is part of Schaufler Lab@TU Dresden’s second funding phase, which began in April 2024. The Lab focuses on integrating art, science, and society, exploring the theme “Data–Worlds.” Von Goedeke is the first artist-in-residence for this new phase, following successful collaborations with artists like Christian Kosmas Mayer and Rosa Barba.

Event Details
GROUND TRUTH runs from September 30, 2024, to January 24, 2025, at the University Gallery of TUD Dresden University of Technology. For more information and updates, please visit the TU Dresden website.