Exploring the Intersection of Art and Environmental Advocacy

2024 is the fourth edition of the art festival Greenlight, from now on a triennial. Greenlight puts the spotlight on topical issues related to climate, environment, nature and growth, often referred to as the Green Shift. With exhibition venues located in Grenland – an area historically known as a bastion of industry – the region’s connection to the global climate collapse was an obvious choice for the festival’s long-term topic. There is a steady stream of important contemporary issues, right here in our own back yard. We feel that there is a need for greater and broader commitment in how we meet the climate crisis, and wish to contribute with the art field’s oblique look at the topic.

Greenlight 2024 thematizes earth, and in more concrete terms the establishment of a new mine for the extraction of rare earth elements (REE) at Fensfeltet in Ulefoss, a few kilometers north of Grenland. Geologists have concluded that this occurrence of REE is the largest known in Europe, and the EU is pushing to fast-track the commencement of extraction. Because China controls over 90% of the world’s REE deposits, it is argued that extraction at Fen will become an important part of Western independence during the Green Shift, as the metals are used in the production of batteries for e.g electric cars, and are vital to the digitization of society. They are also used in military technology, which makes the find strategically important in terms of security policy. However, none of this changes the fact that mining is the extraction of non-renewable resources, and is hugely polluting. There is every reason to question how green the establishment of the mine actually is, and whether bypassing normal proceedings and a thorough assessment could ever be a good idea.
 
As the topic is on the major political agenda in the EU, and mining on Fen is also on the agenda of the municipal council in Nome, Greenlight has enlisted the experienced and internationally recognized curator Power Ekroth. With her network of hand-picked artists and artist groups from all over the world, we get a healthy view from the outside. The result is an ambitious, experimental and hyper-current programme, which has all the prerequisites to reach a broad and engaged audience far beyond Telemark’s borders. The aim of Greenlight is to open up for conversations, commitment, better comprehension of complex issues, and awareness of potential paths to a fairer and greener world for future generations, through the visual arts. Our conviction is that, if the climate collapse to be halted, it can only happen through openness, the sharing of knowledge, and dialogue across professional disciplines, generations, and also across the neighbour’s fence. In this multitude of voices and expressions, art and artists play a central part.

Welcome to The Curse of an Unstoppable Appetite!

Andreas Rishovd, Kunsthall Grenland
Hilde Tørdal, Telemark kunstsenter
Rikke Sanni Nikolaisen, Skiens kunstforening
Tom-Erik Lønnerød, Spriten kunsthall