Author: HeavyB

In October 2023, I had the pleasure of being a part of the Arctic Circle Artist and Scientist Expeditionary Residency Program, a two-week sail in the Arctic waters around Svalbard, 75-81 degrees north, with the most popular island known as Spitzbergen. My last winter residency was a while back, and this one was pushed a few times due to Covid so I was really excited to finally board this adventure.

My journey began with a few days in Oslo, where I visited the Fram Museum, which tells the story of Norwegian polar exploration. This was the perfect start for my travels as later we sailed past many sites mentioned in the exhibit and crossed paths with the route and relics of legendary Arctic explorer Roald Amundsen on his race to the North Pole back in the late 19th century.

From Oslo, I took a direct flight to Longyearbyen, the largest town on Svalbard and the world’s northernmost settlement. All across the city, you see remnants of its former mining history, but overall it does feel like a modern town. The romantic feeling of a frontier town and Arctic explorers is far gone. At the center of the town is a modern pedestrian zone with a supermarket, restaurants, and fashion boutiques to serve the over 100,000 tourists that visit every year by plane or cruise ship. October was the perfect time as it is at the end of the season, and our sail was one of the very few ships sailing during that time.

We spent the first night in a comfy hotel in Svalbard, where I met my roommate for the cruise and all the fellow artists. After a night of mingling and an introduction to the expedition rules at the Spitzbergen Artists Center, we boarded the Antigua the following day and left Svalbard for the next two weeks.

The Barquentine Antigua is a three-mast sailing ship under the Dutch flag, built back in 1957 as a fishing ship and refitted in the early 1990s into a passenger ship. In 2021, the ship was lengthened by 8 meters, and a deckhouse was created, which was my favorite hangout at night to enjoy the Arctic world passing by. The ship has 16 twin passenger cabins, each with a shower and toilet, occupied by 30 artists. Eight staff cabins were shared by nine crew members and four guides.

The cabins are tight, and although our cabin was one of the more spacious ones, my roomie and I usually gave each other alone time for getting ready and morning routines. Men had bunk beds, ladies side by side on each side of the hall. I admit I preferred the bunk. We all brought a lot of gear and equipment, which we stored in our luggage, a small shelf, and one half of our bed. The big suitcases fit under the bed, but mine barely slid under. Towels, bath tissue and linens were provided.

The food was fantastic across the board. There was always a meat and vegetarian option, as well as alternatives for vegans, etc. Breakfast, lunch, coffee, and dinner were served in the salon, which was also the main hangout besides the deckhouse. The salon was also where we had our presentations about our work. It was great to see the diversity of each other’s practice and process. Artists, guides, and crew each had a ten-minute timeslot over 8 days to share, which really brought us all together as a group. The presentations concluded with a guitar song written and performed by the captain.

The route was loosely sketched and sometimes changed day to day. Every night we came together to discuss our next day as well as reminisce about the day. At breakfast, the day was then locked in as sometimes things changed during the night due to weather or distance traveled. It would be hard to sum up all the impressions and sights we visited, but usually, we made landfall twice a day except for a few days when we wanted to travel further. There were usually three groups for land excursions: a shorter hike, a longer hike, and a group that stayed at the landing site to work. A few times we also took the Zodiac to cruise around the waters between ice floes. The variety of landscapes was amazing. Large glaciers, dark beaches, wide epic vistas, and a lot of wildlife, just to name a few highlights of the trip. We were always accompanied by our fantastic guides who had to carry guns in case of a polar bear attack, but it wasn’t until the end of my trip that I saw one from the deck, eating an elk ashore.

One cannot go on a journey without talking about climate change. We were able to see clearly how the glaciers are slowly receding, and we were told that some of the landing sites were covered with glaciers just last winter, so it is happening fast. In this pristine landscape, I was surprised by how much trash we found. A lot of marine remnants are washed upon shore, like nets and buoys, but also a lot of unrecognizable plastic trash. Also, tourism takes its toll in these waters, and Norway plans to restrict it massively in the near future, with only a few bays open for landing and anchoring. Since we were one of the last ships to sail during the season, we did not see another vessel for ten days, and we truly felt alone and remote in these cold waters.

To go on land, the crew would move the Zodiac as close as possible to a shallow part of the beach or shore, and a guide would pull the boat closer and hold it tight so we could jump into the water and wade to land. As your feet were always a few inches or more underwater, it was crucial to have the recommended Arctic muck boots; otherwise, you get wet feet, which is just bad. Also, wear layered clothing so you can adjust the temperature as much as possible. I must admit my jacket was too warm. It was great for standing in the windy winter night to get the Northern Lights but bad for hiking as I got warm and sweaty very quickly.

Everybody had amazing projects. I personally worked on a photo project called “NOT A LIFESAVING DEVICE” – a rather pop art approach about climate change, species migration, and mass tourism. I also worked on a short drone film “79° NORTH“,  where I also incorporated some of the Aurora Borealis timelapses I was able to capture.One of our last stops of the journey was Ny-Alesund, a permanent Norwegian research facility with a population of 35 to 114, depending on the season. It was the first time the Antigua was able to dock after our 13-day sailing trip. It was strange to see civilization again. The small town even has a museum about Arctic exploration and a souvenir shop they just opened for us for a few hours in the morning of our departure.

On October 17th, we returned to Svalbard. The last two days we toured the town, visited the global seed vault, and had a final farewell party. The crew and guides were amazing, and we were all extremely grateful as they made everything and more possible for us to realize our projects.

I spent a few more days alone in Svalbard after the program. I splurged and rented a car for the remaining days, although the road system is limited, and you have seen it all after a few hours. But it was primarily for shelter as I was planning to return to the seed vault and get some nice shots with the Northern Lights.

I also boarded a ship one more time, the Polargirl, for one last excursion to the nearby Russian town of Pyramiden, an abandoned Soviet coal mining settlement. This short trip was not much like the two weeks on the Antigua. It was much more mainstream but still interesting. In 1927, Sweden sold the town to the Soviets to mine coal, with a population of 1,000 in its heyday, but after mining ceased in 1998, the settlement turned into a famous ghost town and later into a tourist attraction. Currently, mining has started again in small quantities to keep Pyramiden running as well as the nearby Russian town Barentsburg, not only to keep the lights on but to fulfill one of the requirements under which the town was sold. Lately, Pyramiden was in the headlines again because of its importance in the region for Russia, which now flies a giant flag on top of the highest peak. Overall, I don’t regret the short trip and wandering around this town that felt like it was literally frozen in time.

My last four nights I split between a Husky farm with only an outhouse and no running water located right outside Longyearbyen, which was great for clear sky and magnificent howling during the dark night, and a luxury hotel before my departure.

Overall, I truly enjoyed this journey. Although a residency, the trip does come with some hefty costs for gear, fare, etc., but it was truly a once-in-a-lifetime experience. If someone is on the fence about doing this and asks for my advice, I would say, just do it! You will not regret it.

 

Until my next cold adventure,
Boris Schaarschmidt