Alex Hartley
Encyclopedia
Alex Hartley is a British
artist whose work addresses complicated and sometimes contradictory attitudes toward the built environments.
nowhereisland is Hartley's winning Artists taking the lead 2012 Cultural Olympiad project for the South West of England. In 2004, whilst participating in a Cape Farewell Arctic expedition, Hartley discovered Nyskjæret, an island about the size of a football field, in the archipelago of Svalbard
, a Norwegian
territory in the Arctic Ocean
. The island had been revealed from within the melting ice of a retreating glacier and Hartley was the first human to stand on it. He originally designed it Nymark
(meaning 'new land') but the Norwegian Polar Institute
has since recognised the island as Nyskjæret and included it on all maps and charts subsequent to its discovery.
As part of the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad, Hartley will tour a scaled version of Nyskjæret along the ports and harbours of the South cast of England as nowhereisland. The journey will begin in June 2012 to coincide with the sailing events of the Olympic Games.
Hartley's artwork was exhibited in Charles Saatchi
's groundbreaking Sensation (exhibition). He has exhibited and is collected widely throughout Europe, Japan and America. He is represented by the Victoria Miro Gallery
in London.
With Black Dog Publishing, Hartley produced the cult architecture/climbing crossover book L.A Climbs in 2004, and the Fruitmarket Gallery in Edinburgh published a monograph, Not Part of Your World to coincide with his solo festival exhibition in 2008.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
artist whose work addresses complicated and sometimes contradictory attitudes toward the built environments.
nowhereisland is Hartley's winning Artists taking the lead 2012 Cultural Olympiad project for the South West of England. In 2004, whilst participating in a Cape Farewell Arctic expedition, Hartley discovered Nyskjæret, an island about the size of a football field, in the archipelago of Svalbard
Svalbard
Svalbard is an archipelago in the Arctic, constituting the northernmost part of Norway. It is located north of mainland Europe, midway between mainland Norway and the North Pole. The group of islands range from 74° to 81° north latitude , and from 10° to 35° east longitude. Spitsbergen is the...
, a Norwegian
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
territory in the Arctic Ocean
Arctic Ocean
The Arctic Ocean, located in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Arctic north polar region, is the smallest and shallowest of the world's five major oceanic divisions...
. The island had been revealed from within the melting ice of a retreating glacier and Hartley was the first human to stand on it. He originally designed it Nymark
Nymark
Nymark 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 . It is a small island in the Barents Sea, 500 miles off the coast of Norway...
(meaning 'new land') but the Norwegian Polar Institute
Norwegian Polar Institute
The Norwegian Polar Institute is Norway's national institution for polar research. It is run under the auspices of the Norwegian Ministry of Environment. The institute organizes expeditions to the Arctic and Antarctic regions and runs a research station at Ny-Ålesund...
has since recognised the island as Nyskjæret and included it on all maps and charts subsequent to its discovery.
As part of the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad, Hartley will tour a scaled version of Nyskjæret along the ports and harbours of the South cast of England as nowhereisland. The journey will begin in June 2012 to coincide with the sailing events of the Olympic Games.
Hartley's artwork was exhibited in Charles Saatchi
Charles Saatchi
Charles Saatchi is the co-founder with his brother Maurice of the global advertising agency Saatchi & Saatchi, and led that business - the world's largest advertising agency in the 1980s - until they were forced out in 1995. In the same year the Saatchi brothers formed a new agency called M&C...
's groundbreaking Sensation (exhibition). He has exhibited and is collected widely throughout Europe, Japan and America. He is represented by the Victoria Miro Gallery
Victoria Miro Gallery
The Victoria Miro Gallery is a leading British contemporary art gallery in London, with an international reputation, run by Victoria Miro, one of the "grandes dames of the Britart scene", who first exhibited Chris Ofili and the Chapman Brothers...
in London.
With Black Dog Publishing, Hartley produced the cult architecture/climbing crossover book L.A Climbs in 2004, and the Fruitmarket Gallery in Edinburgh published a monograph, Not Part of Your World to coincide with his solo festival exhibition in 2008.
External links
- Alex Hartley's website
- Alex Hartley at sculpture.org.uk
- Artists taking the lead - Alex Hartley