Failure, Understanding, Care ( & Kunst)

In this episode of the Failure, Understanding, Care (& Kunst) podcast, we speak with artist Stuart McAdam. Stuart visited us here in Tromsø in 2019 (our first ever "F.U.C(&K)" project!). He cycled for 40 days and 41 nights to reach Tromsø from Scotland on bike alone. one can read more about it here: http://www.stuartmcadam.com/tothebears.html   We talk, of course, about our main topic of failure, as well as reflecting on this trip to Tromsø, and how he combines his roles as an educator with being an artist.   We have experimented with a footnote format in this episode. There were many obscure abbreviations of English words in this episode, as well as some very specific references to people and places in Scotland which we felt required some explanation, particularly to audiences who are unfamiliar with the U.K., and the Scottish art scene.   This episode features three people with often thick Scottish accents talking in a dialect, so please bear with it, if you are struggling- your ears will tune in!   http://www.stuartmcadam.com/   On Failure: What is failure? It is something that most of us automatically recoil from, but is it really so terrible? What does it mean to fail? Is failure bad and is success good? Why does failure make us feel bad? Can art ever fail? Ruth and James from F.U.C.(&K) talk to a variety of artists about their art practice, failure, art and beyond. We try to answer some of these questions and then some, and generally have a nice time chatting to some lovely people. The music in this episode was by Background Music Four House Parties. One can listen to more by visiting www.soundcloud.com/backgroundmuzak, or searching Background Music For House Parties on all major streaming platforms. This podcast series was funded by Norsk Kulturrådet and made possible with the help of Nicholas Horne and Tromsø Academy of Arts. thearcticagency.com

Two podcasts, launching at once!!?? To give a better overview of what this series is, we have released two podcasts at the same time. Having failed to meet up in Stockholm, we met Malin Nordstrøm in Tromsø in September. She was in the city for Open Out Festival, and we caught up with her a couple days before she "unveiled" a new performance in the city. malinlinnordstrom.com   On Failure: What is failure? It is something that most of us automatically recoil from, but is it really so terrible? What does it mean to fail? Is failure bad and is success good? Why does failure make us feel bad? Can art ever fail? Ruth and James from F.U.C.(&K) talk to a variety of artists about their art practice, failure, art and beyond. We try to answer some of these questions and then some, and generally have a nice time chatting to some lovely people. Including sounds and music created from the failures, errors, glitches and outtakes from our conversation recordings. This podcast series was funded by Norsk Kulturrådet and made possible with the help of Nicholas Horne and Tromsø Academy of Arts. thearcticagency.com

Our first episode! Whilst travelling back to our home city of Tromsø from Stockholm via the overnight train this August, we stopped off in Umeå, a city in the north of Sweden. Umeå is also the home city of artist Simon Gran Danielsson, an artist who we as "F.U.C(&K)" collaborated with in 2020. We caught up with Simon in his studio in the centre of Umeå whilst in town. www.grandanielsson.com   On Failure: What is failure? It is something that most of us automatically recoil from, but is it really so terrible? What does it mean to fail? Is failure bad and is success good? Why does failure make us feel bad? Can art ever fail? Ruth and James from F.U.C.(&K) talk to a variety of artists about their art practice, failure, art and beyond. We try to answer some of these questions and then some, and generally have a nice time chatting to some lovely people. Including sounds and music created from the failures, errors, glitches and outtakes from our conversation recordings. This podcast series was funded by Norsk Kulturrådet and made possible with the help of Nicholas Horne and Tromsø Academy of Arts. thearcticagency.com

Hello, we are back! We are launching a new "series" of podcasts on Thursday 27th October with the first two episodes available for your listening pleasure, across all major streaming platforms. The series will be interviews and conversations with artists we have worked with as part of "F.U.C(&K)", and a few we have not worked with, but thought it would make for an interesting conversation regardless.  We release podcasts every Thursday now until the 9th December. Apologies for the poor quality audio of this trailer - the audio quality in the episodes proper is a vast improvement of this!   On Failure: What is failure? It is something that most of us automatically recoil from, but is it really so terrible? What does it mean to fail? Is failure bad and is success good? Why does failure make us feel bad? Can art ever fail? Ruth and James from F.U.C.(&K) talk to a variety of artists about their art practice, failure, art and beyond. We try to answer some of these questions and then some, and generally have a nice time chatting to some lovely people. Including sounds and music created from the failures, errors, glitches and outtakes from our conversation recordings. This podcast series was funded by Norsk Kulturrådet and made possible with the help of Nicholas Horne and Tromsø Academy of Arts. thearcticagency.com

Part two of the conversation with  Laurie Lax of Aerial. In this conversation, we have a discussion on the consequences on mental health as a result of climate change, moving eventually on the topic of "how to stop climate change", and what the role of Failure, Understanding, Care (& Kunst) is in the context of «greening» the arts, especially in Norway. This is the final episode on this series of conversation from the Failure, Understanding, Care (& Kunst) residency at Aerial.    

Laure Lax, artist and one of the founding members of Aerial in Bergen, joins James S. Lee and Ruth Aitken part one of this two part conversation, centered primarily on sustainability. Laure Lax is a Bergen based artist (originally from Bath, England) who also works as part of Prøverommet in Bergen in addition to being part of the curation at Aerial. In this episode, they reflect on sustainable populations, Malthus, the rights and wrongs of having babies and contemporary "caring" culture.

A follow up conversation from the last episode. This episode features Eleni Ieremia, as well as Bergen based D.J & musician Inish.  Inish Sofia Hedén Næss, known simply as Inish, also runs the record label Spirals based in Bergen.  Inish was a participant in the F.U.C (& K) workshop , a workshop initiated by artist Elind Rui Blix which took place in Bergen in spring 2021. The conversation starts with a "re-cap" of the previous episode's ideas and subject matter, followed by a discussion of safe creative environments; a workshop Ruth participated in with Thomas Hirschhorn once; a rant against contemporary trends in Shakespeare adaptions by James ( sure to trigger many a literature enthusiast) as well as a discussion on the 2021 Disney film Cruella.            

The second conversation from the "Failure, Understanding, Care (& Kunst)" residency at Aerial in Bergen in summer 2021. This time around, James S. Lee and Ruth Aitken from "Failure, Understanding, Care (& Kunst)" were joined by Greek/ Swedish artist Eleni Ieremia.   Eleni is an artist based in Bergen, graduating from KHiB this year. in this episode, they talk primarily about concepts of "success" and "failure", and what these mean in the context of making art.

The very first conversation that happened in "Aerial", Bergen, Norway, between James S. Lee and Ruth Aitken, the artists and curators behind "Failure, Understanding, Care ( & Kunst)", a project based in Tromsø, Norway.   In this conversation they talk on the impact of Facebook on the climate, the extractive economy of social media sites and what a future landscape of social media could look like.

It's us again (not Jon Ronson)! In Part 2 of our most navel gazing podcast yet, we talk about failure and F.U.C.(&K).   We recommend nobody listen to this podcast episode due to its low quality and terrible jokes.   This episode was recorded in November 2022, at least 4 month after Part 1.    FYI, this will be the second last episode in our series "On Failure".

It's us (not Jon Ronson)! In our most navel gazing podcast yet, we talk about failure and F.U.C.(&K).   We recommend nobody listen to this podcast episode due to its low quality and terrible jokes.   Ruth & James talk a little bit about their own art practices, the failures of F.U.C.(&K) and what success means. This is part 1, recorded early on in our exploration of failure, in August 2022. Part 2 continues this conversation at the conclusion of our podcast recording, in November 2022.   In the podcast we say that part 2 will be released concurrently, however due to a delay (we blame the snow...) it will be released soon.

In this episode of the Failure, Understanding, Care (& Kunst) podcast, we speak with musician Theta. Theta is someone we worked with as part of out outdoor exhibition "To Live as a Mayfly" in 2021. He presented a sculpture/ musical instrument in the woods area near Tromsø Museum. One can see documentation of this here: https://thearcticagency.com/gallery/   We wanted to talk to Theta as he could give us insights into how an experimental musician would deal with failure, as well as from his life as a researcher, as someone who has found a way to combine art with life.   He is almost certainly the most famous person we have interviewed so far as part of this series as he has his own wikipedia page.   https://thetasounds.org/events/   On Failure: What is failure? It is something that most of us automatically recoil from, but is it really so terrible? What does it mean to fail? Is failure bad and is success good? Why does failure make us feel bad? Can art ever fail? Ruth and James from F.U.C.(&K) talk to a variety of artists about their art practice, failure, art and beyond. We try to answer some of these questions and then some, and generally have a nice time chatting to some lovely people. The music in this episode was by Background Music For House Parties. This podcast series was funded by Norsk Kulturrådet and made possible with the help of Nicholas Horne and Tromsø Academy of Arts. thearcticagency.com

In this episode of the Failure, Understanding, Care (& Kunst) podcast, we speak with musician Theta. Theta is someone we worked with as part of out outdoor exhibition "To Live as a Mayfly" in 2021. He presented a sculpture/ musical instrument in the woods near Tromsø Museum. One can see documentation of this here: https://thearcticagency.com/gallery/   We wanted to talk to Theta as he could give us insights into how an experimental musician would deal with failure, as well as from his life as a researcher- as someone who has found a way to combine art with life.   He is almost certainly the most famous person we have interviewed so far as part of this series as he has his own wikipedia page.   https://thetasounds.org/events/   On Failure: What is failure? It is something that most of us automatically recoil from, but is it really so terrible? What does it mean to fail? Is failure bad and is success good? Why does failure make us feel bad? Can art ever fail? Ruth and James from F.U.C.(&K) talk to a variety of artists about their art practice, failure, art and beyond. We try to answer some of these questions and then some, and generally have a nice time chatting to some lovely people. The music in this episode was by Background Music For House Parties. This podcast series was funded by Norsk Kulturrådet and made possible with the help of Nicholas Horne and Tromsø Academy of Arts. thearcticagency.com

In this episode of the Failure, Understanding, Care (& Kunst) podcast, we speak with artist, critic & often time curator Inger Emilie Solheim. Inger Emilie is a friend we have known for some years now since we moved to Tromsø. We have previously worked with her when she presented the solo exhibition "Den skogløs skogen" in Folkeparken, Tromsø, as part of our "F.U.C(&K)" programming in 2020.   We wanted to talk to Inger Emilie as she is someone who could bring multiple unique perspectives to the podcast series, as well as her reflections from working to the manifesto as part of "F.U.C(&K)". She is Norwegian and Sami, from the very, very high north of Norway (Alta), works as a critic and a curator, and - as an artist- has worked on many unique projects that we have seen her involved in, including her taking on the role of a "healer", and, on another occasion, as a sweet maker.   http://www.ingeremilie.com/   On Failure: What is failure? It is something that most of us automatically recoil from, but is it really so terrible? What does it mean to fail? Is failure bad and is success good? Why does failure make us feel bad? Can art ever fail? Ruth and James from F.U.C.(&K) talk to a variety of artists about their art practice, failure, art and beyond. We try to answer some of these questions and then some, and generally have a nice time chatting to some lovely people. The music in this episode was by jacksbrokenhead.  This podcast series was funded by Norsk Kulturrådet and made possible with the help of Nicholas Horne and Tromsø Academy of Arts. thearcticagency.com

In this episode of the Failure, Understanding, Care (& Kunst) podcast, we speak with artist Anne Haaning. Anne is the first guest in this series not to have previously worked on a "F.U.C(&K)" project, or made work to the manifesto rules. We decided to meet up with Anne and talk to her anyway as we thought she would provide really interesting insights into our main topic of conversation, failure, as well as bring perspectives from her time as both an architect and an "artistic researcher", i.e. studying for a Fine Art practice PhD.   So we talk, of course, about our main topic of failure, Anne's transition from architect to artist, and reflecting how art can be a form of knowledge.   annehaaning.com     On Failure: What is failure? It is something that most of us automatically recoil from, but is it really so terrible? What does it mean to fail? Is failure bad and is success good? Why does failure make us feel bad? Can art ever fail? Ruth and James from F.U.C.(&K) talk to a variety of artists about their art practice, failure, art and beyond. We try to answer some of these questions and then some, and generally have a nice time chatting to some lovely people. The music in this episode was by jacksbrokenhead.  This podcast series was funded by Norsk Kulturrådet and made possible with the help of Nicholas Horne and Tromsø Academy of Arts. thearcticagency.com

We met up with Marius Moldvær over Skype- after failing to meet him in person in Oslo due to him contracting Covid.  We collaborated with Marius in 2020 as one of the artists who contributed "at a distance", sending instructions here for us to finalize his work.   https://www.mariusmoldvaer.com/     On Failure: What is failure? It is something that most of us automatically recoil from, but is it really so terrible? What does it mean to fail? Is failure bad and is success good? Why does failure make us feel bad? Can art ever fail? Ruth and James from F.U.C.(&K) talk to a variety of artists about their art practice, failure, art and beyond. We try to answer some of these questions and then some, and generally have a nice time chatting to some lovely people. Including sounds and music created by Jacksbrokenhead from the failures, errors, glitches and outtakes from our conversation here. This podcast series was funded by Norsk Kulturrådet and made possible with the help of Nicholas Horne and Tromsø Academy of Arts. thearcticagency.com