80° N – The Artist Book as Environment
Annique Goldenberg (QCA)
Abstract: A book can be considered a medium in which to record a narrative of knowledge, information, and experience. The artist book to be examined in this presentation embodies these qualities through both its materiality and a serial process of collaborative and affective transformations by the artist and the environment. Commencing in 2017 in the High Arctic, the artist experienced first-hand the unique and fragile polar wilderness. In the remote Archipelago of Svalbard, she witnessed the shrinking of the glaciers and polar ice cap alongside shocking evidence of human consumption, found as flotsam and jetsam upon the shore. Fast forward two years to the ‘completed’ artist book - 80° North, a book formed through the actions of water, recycling, beating, drawing, destruction, and dehydration, culminating in its present dry husk, a repository of place, experience, and memory.
About: British and NZ artist Annique Goldenberg has been based in the Northern Rivers of NSW for the last 14 years. A life living beside or sailing on oceans has steered her to a process-led art practice, where the transformational and interconnected properties of water are the central motif, material, and metaphor to her work. Currently researching an eco-focused Doctor of Visual Art at Queensland College of Art, Griffith University, Annique creates large-scale participatory and multi-media installations, often using handmade paper as a unifying and experiential material. At the other end of the scale, her artist book practice allows her to experiment with a more intimate expression of her thoughts and ideas.
A 2017 Residency in the High Arctic archipelago of Svalbard has been a central impetus behind many of her projects, as well as inspiring a number of artist books. Her most recent collaboration - LIVING WATER: Birrarung/Yarra speaks – was created on Wurundjeri land with the Birrarung/Yarra River and the community of St Paul’s Cathedral, Melbourne. Launched early in 2020, the installation quietly waits behind closed doors for the day the Cathedral is once again allowed to welcome visitors. The artist book which emerged out of this project will also be on display at the abbe Artists Book Fair.
Two of Annique’s earlier artist books are held in the SLQ artist book collection.
