Nymark (
Norwegian: "new ground") was the name that artist
Alex Hartley gave to a small island he discovered in the
arctic archipelago of
Svalbard
Svalbard ( , ), also known as Spitsbergen, or Spitzbergen, is a Norwegian archipelago in the Arctic Ocean. North of mainland Europe, it is about midway between the northern coast of Norway and the North Pole. The islands of the group range ...
, a Norwegian territory, in 2004. It is officially named Nyskjeret by the Name Committee for Norwegian Polar Regions (skjer = skerry). It is a small island in the
Barents Sea, 500 miles off the coast of
Norway. It emerged from the now melted portion of a retreating glacier and is around the size of a football field.
As part of the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad, Hartley toured a scaled version of Nyskjæret round the South West coast of England a
''nowhereisland'' According to its website, it provided a platform to engage with issues raised by the project, exploring a sense of place through an epic, nomadic sculpture and how we can respond to the issue of
global warming. The island was discovered during a Cape Farewell expedition of scientists and artists, collaborating on a cultural response to global warming and the retreating Arctic ice pack. A large wall exhibit made from framed rock samples, letters, maps, photographs, and other documentation materials forms part of Cape Farewell - Art and Climate Change,
and appeared in the National Conservation Centre in Liverpool as part of the 2006 biennia
Nymark is also an area of the city Bergen in Norway. One of the leading soccer clubs in the country, Brann, has its stadium in Nymark, and the area also has many other sports facilities (such as soccer fields, handball and basketball stadiums).
References
Links
Artists taking the lead - Alex Hartley''nowhereisland'' project website
Alex HartleyBritânico quer criar uma república no Ártico(Agence France-Presse, in Portuguese)
Englishman claims sovereignty over Norwegian island(Reuters, May 12, 2006)
(
PhysOrg.com
Phys.org is an online science, research and technology news aggregator offering briefs from press releases and reports from news agencies (a form of journalism sometimes pejoratively called churnalism). The website also produces its own science jo ...
, May 10, 2006)
Islands of Svalbard
Islands of the Barents Sea
2012 Cultural Olympiad
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