Stein Henningsen | Artist

Stein Henningsen

I pick up a wooden beam of driftwood found on the beach. I hold it in front of me and create a short timeline in nature. On top of the beam I make a small ﬁre burning the length of the beam from the right to the left.

Artist: Stein Henningsen/ 2019/ Svalbard/ 1 min 11 seconds Video filmed by Sarah Gerats

Stein Henningsen 9170 Longyearbyen, Svalbard, Norway 7. oktober 2020
Short Biography Short Artist Biography of Stein Henningsen
Stein Henningsen (1962), is a performance artist living in the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard. He has presented his work at various biennials, festivals and events in Scandinavia, Europe, North America and Asia since 2005. Henningsen is inﬂuenced by photo as traditional media, often thinking of his performances as vivid images or visual poetry. His work addresses political, social, ﬁnancial and climate issues in a contemporary context.
Henningsen creates provocative images that resonate with audiences over time. He is currently working on several new major projects that will continue to address issues that focus on the current state of our planet.
Henningsen has a great desire to raise awareness of how rapidly Arctic now is changing. To that end he has created the Arctic Action founded in 2015 (www.arcticaction.info). He has curated ﬁve series in Svalbard, one each year, inviting performance artists to create works that are inspired by its landscape.
6-General artist statement (maximum 150 words)

Stein Henningsen 9170 Longyearbyen, Svalbard, Norway 7. oktober 2020
Artist Statement
I am a performance artist who grew up on Svalbard. Growing up in the high Arctic does something to you! Today, ﬁfty years later, Svalbard is the place where the climate changes are happening faster than anywhere else in the world. The wilderness is changing right in front of me and I need to ﬁght this change the way I can, through art. I do many of my performances in nature where I feel vulnerable and insigniﬁcant, where the scale is right and the risk is a key factor. These performance works are done only with the wilderness as a witness. It is important for me to document my work on photographs and videos for later presentations and to have a voice in the public debate. We need to make the right choices and lay the foundation for future generations today!