VELFERDEN PRESENTS #01 / 25

We started the year with a conversation with the guests at residency at Velferden for the time being. The audience was invited to Velferden to meet Emma Arnold & Qi Tan, Monday, February 10th at 6:00 PM. Light refreshments were served, and everyone was welcome. The event was 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.

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 revolves around photography as an immersive and investigative tool for place and sense creation. Inspired by Velferden's surroundings and the presence of residual waste heaps and landfill sites, Emma spent her production stay in the winter of 2025 researching, writing and creating in an area deeply affected by mining. She explored the otherworldly landscape of Sokndal through image-making, and plans to publish an article based on this research, and develop a series of photographs, illustrations and prints that reflect the area’s unique geology and history.

emmaarnold.org

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 was to create sculptural installations that respond directly to the production residency's surroundings, and that include found materials and video projections.

qitan.no