My Eyes Are Going Crazy, I Am Trying to See Something but There’s Nothing Here (2015)

Sound installation, stereo audio, duration: 13min 36sec

During their arctic residency at Spitsbergen, Sten Saarits recorded several conversations with artist Erika Stöckel in the tunnels and cravices of the countless glaciers of Svalbard. All these recording were done in absolute darkness and in extreme minus temperatures that the polar night had to offer. This sound installation reestablishes the scene in a gallery environment. The distance between the two speakers is nearly the same as the time the actual recordings took place under approximately 5-8 meters of ice.


Introduction to the exhibition My Eyes Are Going Crazy, I am Trying to See Something But There's Nothing Here with Erika Stöckel (SE)

In November 2014, Sten Saarits and Erika Stöckel arrived to the arctic island Spitsbergen to begin a month long research project revolving around the preconceptions and field analysis of the Arctic. The work in their polar residency began on the time where the sun had set for a long lasting polar night giving way to a very specific sense of surroundings. The investigation was focused on societies responsibilty for fragile eco systems, unraveling the environment and self-positioning in the chain of events.