Arctic Hysteria: Pia Arke's First Solo Exhibition Outside the Nordic Countries

KW Institute for Contemporary Art, in collaboration with John Hansard Gallery, presents the first international solo exhibition of pioneering Greenlandic-Danish artist Pia Arke, showcasing her influential works that explore colonial relations and identity with sharp humour and poignant critique.

Events Exhibitions Kalaallit Nunaat Artistic Legacies International Collaboration

In a landmark event for circumpolar art, Berlin’s KW Institute for Contemporary Art hosts Arctic Hysteria, the first solo exhibition of works by the late Greenlandic Inuit and Danish artist Pia Arke (1958-2007) to be shown outside of Kalaallit Nunaat (Greenland) and the Nordic countries. This groundbreaking exhibition, running from July 6 to October 20, 2024, offers a unique opportunity to engage with the work of a pioneering voice in decolonial discourses in the Nordic and Arctic regions.

Pia Arke: Mapping Memory and Identity

From the late 1980s until the early 2000s, Pia Arke dedicated her artistic practice to mapping the intricate relations between time, memory, space, identity, and myth in pictures of and from Greenland. Born to a Greenlandic Inuk mother and a Danish father, Arke wove biographical components of her own complex history into her work. Her images, in her own words, are about the silence that envelopes the ties between Greenland and Denmark, and how she herself was born into that silence.

Pia Arke, “Legend III” (1999), collage; Collection Louisiana Museum of Modern Art

Exhibition Highlights: A Multidisciplinary Approach

Arctic Hysteria brings together Arke’s diverse body of work, offering a comprehensive view of her artistic practice. The exhibition features her photographic, sculptural, performative, and written work, as well as her works on paper. It takes its title from an influential work series by Arke, highlighting the artist’s significant contribution to the field. The exhibition aims to shed light on the narratives enclosing the colonial relations between Greenland and Denmark, as seen through Arke’s works, and to open up a discussion of continuing colonial structures at large.

Artistic Methodology: Between Artist, Ethnographer, and Explorer

Arke’s practice is characterized by her conscious slipping between the roles of artist, ethnographer, and explorer. She draws on various historical, vernacular, and archival sources to create her work. The exhibition “Arctic Hysteria” revolves around her methods as projected through the body, particularly focusing on Arke’s use of performative strategies such as montage, staging, and re-enactment. Through these techniques, Arke attempted to create a sense of belonging and critical self-reflection, while her practice unfolds as a structural feminist critique.

Pia Arke, “De tre gratier” (The Three Graces) (1993), photography; Collection Kunstmuseum Brandts

Exhibition Context and Accompanying Publication

This exhibition marks a significant step in bringing Arke’s work to a broader international audience. It is accompanied by an extensive publication featuring newly commissioned texts by contemporary feminist scholars. These texts discuss different aspects of Arke’s practice within an international discourse, with an emphasis on voices of contemporary feminist researchers. This publication will contribute to the ongoing influence of Arke’s work in decolonial discourses in the Nordic and Arctic regions.

Pia Arke, “Wonderland” (1996), photography; Collection Kunstmuseum Brandts