Nymark

Nymark (Norwegian: "new ground") was the name that artist Alex Hartley gave to a small island he discovered in the arctic archipelago of Svalbard, a Norwegian territory, in 2004. It is officially named Nyskjæret by the Name Committee for Norwegian Polar Regions (skjer = skerry). It is a small island in the Barents Sea, 500 miles off the coast of Norway. It emerged from the now melted portion of a retreating glacier and is around the size of a football field.

As part of the London 2012 Cultural Olympaid, Hartley will tour a scaled version of Nyskjæret round the South West coast of England as nowhereisland. It will provide a platform to engage with issues raised by the project, exploring a sense of place through an epic, nomadic sculpture and how we can respond to the issue of global warming. The island was discovered during a Cape Farewell expedition of scientists and artists, collaborating on a cultural response to global warming and the retreating Arctic ice pack. A large wall exhibit made from framed rock samples, letters, maps, photographs, and other documentation materials forms part of Cape Farewell - Art and Climate Change, and appeared in the National Conservation Centre in Liverpool as part of the 2006 biennial[1].

References

• Artists taking the lead - Alex Hartley
• nowhereisland project website
• Alex Hartley
• Britânico quer criar uma república no Ártico (Agence France-Presse, in Portuguese)
• Englishman claims sovereignty over Norwegian island (Reuters, May 12 2006)
• Briton claims new Svalbard island (PhysOrg.com, May 10 2006)