Artist-in-residence Ashley Middleton leads a participatory workshop in Adventdalen exploring the transformation of light through two conceptual frameworks — the Grid and the Matrix.
Focusing on coal as fossilised sunlight, the workshop reflects on how light became matter and how that matter shaped human systems of power and progress. The Grid (from gridiron) represents structure and control — translating movement into stillness and light into order. The Matrix (from mātrix, meaning mother or source) embodies the generative ground where light energy gathers and renews.
Moving between these two ideas, participants will return to the coal mine as both wound and archive, reflecting on how deep time was burned to sustain modern life. Through gentle movement, walking, drawing, and conversation, the workshop invites a renewed sense of connection between body and environment.
Participants: max 5
Date/Time: Wednesday, 29 October, 2025, 17:00 - 20:00
Location: Meet at the last bridge in Endalen. Coordinates 517449 x 8679212 (78.18574, 15.76344)
What to Bring: Warm Clothes, Boots, Headlamp, Water, Art Supplies of your choice (there will be supplies provided, but if you have something you want to bring please do so)
To book: workshops@articasvalbard.no
What to Expect
The workshop will last around three hours and include a warm shared meal. We will meet at coordinates 517449 x 8679212 (78.18574, 15.76344) and walk together to our space of shelter, where we’ll share food and introduce the ideas guiding our exploration.
After outlining the structure, we will begin the first cycle with a five-minute visual meditation to tune into the body, followed by a slow 15-minute walk guided by our polar safety leader. Returning to shelter, we’ll move into a ten-minute silent creative session and a brief five-minute sharing.
These cycles will repeat three times, creating a rhythm of reflection and renewal. The workshop will close with a simple collective reflection, bringing awareness to the shared field of thought and connection we’ve created.
Series Context
Reimagining Arctic Landscapes: Innovative Mapping for Embodied Ecological Awareness
This seven-part workshop series explores how mapping can unfold through light, matter, and embodied experience — tracing new connections between body, landscape, and environment.
The series looks at how our understanding of light has changed over time. Once felt as a living presence, light gradually became something to measure, control, and use. The sun — an ancient symbol bridging heaven and earth — was transformed into a tool for navigation and progress. Through mapping, mathematics, and the grid, its energy was organised into systems of order and power.
During the Industrial Revolution, coal — sunlight stored in the Earth over millions of years — became the main driver of industry, redefining energy as a commodity. These workshops ask what comes next: how we might renew our relationship with light and the land, and experience them again as a living continuum connecting body and landscape.
Future workshops will be announced via the Artica Svalbard website and social media channels.