NOT A LIFESAVING DEVICE

The photographs and video art for the exhibition NOT A LIFESAVING DEVICE were created during the Arctic Circle Artist Residency in Svalbard in December 2023, aboard the sailing vessel Antigua and were on display at the Goethe-Institut in Los Angeles from May 14-28, 2026.

NOT A LIFESAVING DEVICE operates on several levels. In the context of global warming, non-native species are increasingly moving into fragile ecosystems, symbolized here by the flamingo, an object radically out of place in the Arctic.

At the same time, the inflatable pool float references the rapid growth of tourism in polar regions, where leisure increasingly overlaps with vulnerability. The title, printed directly on the object itself by the manufacturer of the pool float, functions as a literal safety warning and a symbolic statement. In moments of real emergency, this device offers no protection. It reflects the broader condition of the Arctic and, by extension, our globe, an environment under visible distress while the tools we bring with us are insufficient, symbolic, or purely cosmetic. There is no easy rescue, and no single solution.

Boris Schaarschmidt is a German-born, internationally acclaimed filmmaker and professor of Film and Television. Throughout his career, has been drawn to remote, cold, and seemingly inhospitable places. Before NOT A LIFESAVING DEVICE, he extensively worked in Iceland, Greenland, the Faroe Islands, and Lapland. Places where nature reveals both its stark beauty and profound vulnerability fascinate him and inspire his art.

In 2023, he was selected for the highly competitive Arctic Circle Artist Residency, spending nearly three weeks sailing the Arctic aboard the tall ship Antigua. Immersed in a region shaped by ice, silence, and accelerating change, Schaarschmidt confronted a striking contrast: his hometown of Los Angeles - a desert city sustained by imported water, lush lawns, and shimmering pools - set against the fragile reality of melting Arctic glaciers.

It was within this tension that NOT A LIFESAVING DEVICE was conceived, a work born at the intersection of abundance and loss, distance and responsibility, observation and unease.

As AI-generated images increasingly blur the boundaries between reality and fabrication, Schaarschmidt’s works embrace that ambiguity: They may appear artificial, yet are entirely real.

Please also watch this short four-minute film created during the expeditionary residency. 79° North offers an impression of the residency itself and the remoteness and harsh conditions of Svalbard and Jan Mayen.