Jeg hater måser (I hate seagulls), 14 min, 2022
[ 00 – 24 ]
01.07. – 01.10.23
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In our new kiosk-kino in Havneterminal, to coincide with their exhibition ‘I Love Seagulls! An exhibition about living together’, we collaborated with Tromsø Kunstforening to screen a work from the exhibition.
“I hate seagulls!” shows a selection of national and international news headlines concerning seagulls, published in the timespan 2014–2022. The work highlights the xenophobia that characterises both the mediation and handling of the urban coexistence between seagulls and people globally.
The exhibition at Tromsø Kunstforening presented artist’s work dealing directly with birds. Using sound, film, sculpture and research practices, the artworks considered how we live in coexistence with other species, in particular with seagulls and the endangered kittiwake that has taken up roost on the Kunstforening building over the last 9 years. Irene Kaltenborn’s film work, “I hate seagulls!”, inspired the title of the exhibition, and captures the ways in which we talk about the complex relationship between humans and birds.
Irene Kaltenborn (b. 1997) grew up in Honningsvåg and works between Tromsø and Malmö. She has a BA in Fine Art from the Malmö Art Academy (2022) and is currently in the MA programme, working mainly with film, installation, photography and text. Within the possibilities and limitations of the mediums, she explores topics related to home and belonging and our relationship to nature, investigating how we interact with our co-species, deeply inspired by environmental philosophy and ecofeminism. For the past few years, she has been engaged with the politics and care of Kittiwake birds, particularly in the north of Norway.
Kaltenborn has participated in the Annual Exhibition at Malmö Art Academy, exhibited at the artist-run gallery Dops Gate 4 (Oslo), in Østlandsutstilling and Høstutstilling (2021), in addition to exhibiting with Failure, Understanding, Care (& Kunst) in Tromsø.