For ten years, Artica Svalbard has invited artists and writers from around the world to live and work in Longyearbyen - creating space for research, experimentation, conversation and new perspectives on Svalbard.

This anniversary film looks back at Artica’s first decade through the voices of artists, collaborators, founders and members of the local community. Together, they reflect on what it means to arrive in this extraordinary place, to spend time here, and to make work in a landscape and community undergoing profound change.

Recorded at Litteraturhuset, Oslo – 5 March 2026

This event brought together researchers, journalists and other key voices for a timely conversation. Opening with short presentations by explorer and expedition leader Børge Ousland, who brought a first-hand perspective on the Arctic as a lived and changing environment, and Kari Aga Myklebost, Professor at UiT The Arctic University of Norway, who placed these developments in a broader historical and geopolitical context.

In the summer of 2022 we welcomed Spanish artist Inma Herrera to the Artica residency. In this new film Herrera, a visual artist living and working in Helsinki since 2014 shares her reflections on the residency experience, her practice and the meditative process of making. 

In November 2021 Artica resident Jessica MacMillan presented Time Line, a one-of-a-kind short term public project which took place for the first time in Longyearbyen.

In October 2021, Artica hosted the project: The Slow Adventure, a collaborative between artist Floortje Zonneveld and the students of the Svalbard Folkehøgskole.

For Artica Listens 2021 Ignas Krunglevičius, created HARD BODY DYSPRAXIA, a sonic installation inside a disused coal power plant in Longyearbyen, Svalbard.

In April 2021 during Maja Lunde’s residency, Artica and Longyearbyen Library hosted an in conversation with Longyearbyen based writer and journalist Line Nagell Ylvisåker.

Norges selvbilde bygger i stor grad på at myndighetene anser seg selv som en «humanitær stormakt» og fredsmegler. Dette var sentralt i markedsføringen da Norge i sommer vant konkurransen om en plass i FNs sikkerhetsråd.

What should the future of Longyearbyen and Svalbard look like? And what will it take to get there? In the final part of Artica Listens 2020, we invited people to join us for a live conversation that linked the topics of the previous three parts.

When the Covid-19 crisis hit, foreigners truly experienced that they have different social rights in Svalbard than Norwegians.

Longyearbyen is an old coal mining community. Mining is now being phased out, while tourism is promoted as a replacement for lost jobs and to maintain the island’s population.

What is the actual impact of tourism on Svalbard's nature?

The first part of Artica Listens 2020 addressed the role of art in communicating the climate crisis. Can art help reduce CO2 emissions?

Studier av Kina har tradisjonelt gått ut på å lære å forstå landets historie, kultur og samfunn. I de siste 30-40 åra er det blitt mer presserende å forstå hvordan Kina forestår verden. Det skyldes at landet, særlig etter at det ble medlem av WTO i 2001, har rykket fram på den internasjonale arenaen på bred front.

De første europeiske ferdene mot Arktis på slutten av 1500-tallet og ut på 1600-tallet hadde som mål å finne en nordlig – og helst kortere - sjøvei til Kina. Wilhelm Barents, med livet som innsats, kom langt nok til å kunne konstatere at det ville bli mer enn vanskelig.