Guided tour

Welcome to a guided tour in English:

09.07.23; 14:00-14:30

16.07.23; 14:00-14:30

23.07.23; 14:00-14:30

30.07.23; 14:00-14:30

Artist and kittiwake carer Irene Kaltenborn, also participating with artworks in the exhibition, will be your host. The tour takes 30 minutes, after which you are encouraged to experience the exhibition on your own as it includes film, sound and interactive works.

In 2016, Tromsø Kunstforening got some new cohabitants out of the blue – a flock of seagulls occupied the façade of the old museum building in Muségata 2. We learned that these were kittiwakes. A species of seagull that normally nest in the steep cliff walls of enormous mountains far out at sea. The kittiwake is, like several other seagulls and species of seabirds, highly endangered. Huge colonies of nesting grounds along the coast are not merely on the verge of extinction anymore – they have gone completely quiet.

In the following years, the colony on our façade and in the rest of the city has grown, and the same is happening in other populated and urban areas along the coast. The reactions from people and news media in Tromsø have been characterized by a wish to – as quickly as possible – get rid of the problem that this poses for us humans. But other voices have also made themselves heard. Scientists and artists have said: Hey, listen! The kittiwake has important things to tell us. The kittiwake is a climate refugee – they bring with them a message about an ecosystem in imbalance, which needs our attention. It is the actions of humans that have caused these birds to seek shelter among us.

We are proud to present an exhibition that collects artistic, activistic, and science-based practices that have actively related to these issues since a long time before we and the city of Tromsø got to know the kittiwakes. From different angles of approach, the artworks dream of a better coexistence between people and birds, in poetical, practical, and long-term ways.