VELFERDEN PRESENTS #1 2025
We are starting the year by inviting you to a conversation with the guests who are currently on a production residency at Velferden.
Come to Velferden and meet Emma Arnold & Qi Tan, Monday, February 10th at 6:00 p.m.
There will be light refreshments, and everyone is welcome. The event will be held in English.
VELFERDEN PRESENTS is a series of events where artists and researchers present themselves and their work, creating a space for joint dialogue.
Time and place: the Velferden building at Sandbekk, February 10th at 6pm! Welcome!
Emma Arnold, PhD (b. Montréal, Canada) is an interdisciplinary artist, researcher, and writer working at the intersection of art and environment. She leads the Institute for Art & Environment, an independent research platform conducting projects with environmental, social, and urban themes. She blends academic research with artistic practice and is concerned with how environmental crisis can be understood through art. Her current research focuses on contemporary art and extractivism in industrial and post-industrial landscapes.
Emma’s work centres on photography as an immersive and investigative tool for place- and sense-making. Inspired by the setting of Velferden and the presence of tailings and landfill sites, Emma will use this opportunity to research, write, and create in a place deeply affected by mining activities. Emma plans to explore the otherworldly landscape of Sokndal through image-making, publish an article drawing on this research, and develop a series of photographs, illustrations, and prints that reflect the area’s unique geology and history.
Institute for Art & Environment
Qi Tan (b. 1994, China) is an artist based in Oslo. In her work, Qi delves into nature’s mystique and the imaginative potential of digital world-building, bringing extraordinary creatures and complex mythologies to life. A graduate of the Oslo Academy of Fine Arts, she has recently exhibited at Atelier Nord (Oslo), Forum Box (Helsinki), Galleri Ask (Horten), Tegnerforbundet (Oslo), Studio 17 (Stavanger), Bærum Kunsthall, Østlandsutstillingen 2023, and Høstutstillingen 2022.
Qi's goal is to create sculptural installations that respond directly to the residency’s surroundings, incorporating found materials and video projections.