Next into the field: Maggie Coblentz and Tennessee Watson head to Tarandus
Maggie Coblentz and Tennessee Watson left Longyearbyen yesterday and headed into the field for the next chapter of the Tarandus Field-Based Residency.
They are travelling with Tarandus Project Lead Samantha P. H. Huset Dwinnell, an ecologist and conservationist whose work explores how human activity shapes relationships between wildlife and their environments. With a strong background in science communication and visual storytelling, Samantha is particularly interested in how art–science collaboration can create new ways of understanding the natural world.
Developed in collaboration with the University Centre in Svalbard (UNIS), Tarandus places residents alongside ongoing research on Svalbard reindeer. As Project Lead, Samantha hosts and guides the residents during their time in the field, helping to create connections between scientific research, artistic practice and the experience of living and working in the High Arctic landscape.
The group will spend time at Tarandus, a remote field cabin approximately 40 km south of Longyearbyen, living and working alongside scientists, students and field assistants studying Svalbard reindeer and their changing environment.
Joining this month are:
Maggie Coblentz is a Canadian resident based in Brooklyn whose practice brings together photography, writing and cooking. Through experimental and often playful approaches, her work explores the intersections of food, science, landscape and storytelling. Previous projects have included fermenting in outer space, running a food truck at a solar observatory and experimental baking on a glacier.
During her Tarandus residency, Maggie will develop visual dreamscapes and stories that bring together magic, science and the imagination. Drawing inspiration from Svalbard’s landscapes, wildlife and histories, she will explore how observation and imagination can intertwine, using her time in the field to give colour, texture and character to the worlds she is creating.
Tennessee Watson is an award-winning journalist and documentary maker based in Wyoming, USA. Her work spans print, radio, video and public installations, using storytelling and inquiry to explore people, places and the world around us.
During her Tarandus residency, Tennessee will gather interviews and field recordings for an episode of Terrestrials about Svalbard reindeer. Produced by Radiolab, Terrestrials introduces listeners to creatures and earthly phenomena that challenge expectations of how nature is supposed to work.
Working alongside researchers in the field, Tennessee will explore the distinctive lives of Svalbard’s reindeer, the landscape they inhabit and what their adaptations can tell us about life in a changing Arctic.
Art and science on the High Arctic tundra
The Tarandus Field-Based Residency creates a space where different forms of inquiry can unfold side by side. Rather than simply placing residents within a scientific setting, the project encourages shared observation, dialogue and experience in the field.
Through sustained time in the landscape, residents and researchers exchange perspectives on environmental change, ecological processes and relationships between humans and non-human species.
We wish Maggie, Tennessee and Samantha a great trip into the field and look forward to following what emerges from their time together at Tarandus.