Isachsen

Isachsen, an Arctic weather station in the far reaches of the Canadian North, operated on Ellef Ringnes Island from 1948-1978. In 1974, Doug Munson, a 19-year-old farm boy from Southern Ontario, was stationed at Isachsen for 12 months as a weather observation technician with Environment Canada. The nearest settlement is over 300 miles south, and the only connection to the outside world was a monthly air-supply drop and the occasional radio transmission. In winter, the sun fails to rise for three months, and the temperature can drop below -50C; Isachsen is a test of endurance.

Over 40 years after his father left Isachsen, aAron munson hauled eight pieces of luggage over four flights to reach the abandoned station, which was decommissioned in 1978. After being dropped off by a chartered Twin Otter ski plane, aAron and his guide Mark set up camp in an old garage to escape the violent Arctic winds. He spent the next seven days capturing the frozen state of the ghost station and surrounding area.

Isachsen presents Doug and aAron’s experience of being at the station through a multimedia exhibition of photography, video installation, sculpture and sound. Contributing artists aAron munson, David Hoffos, Dara Humniski and Gary James Joynes present work that offers an intimate perspective into the impact of isolation in the high-Arctic.

aAron Munson is a Canadian filmmaker, cinematographer, and multimedia artist. His work has taken him from his personal studio to war zones, high-Arctic weather stations, reindeer nomad camps in Siberia, and the Arabian Desert. But aAron’s projects also tackle extreme human experiences closer to home, in documentary and dramatic form.

David Hoffos received his Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Lethbridge in 1994. Since 1992 Hoffos has maintained a full-time practice with over 50 group shows, dozens of school and community collaborations, a few works for the stage and over 40 solo exhibitions, including a recent survey at the National Gallery of Canada. After launching at the Southern Alberta Art Gallery in 2008, in 2010 his touring 6-year installation series, Scenes from the House Dream, was showcased at the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, Halifax, and the Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art, Toronto. In 2014 Hoffos completed permanent public sculpture projects in Grande Prairie and Lethbridge.

Dara Humniski is a multi-instrumentalist with a diverse background encompassing fine art, industrial design and carpentry. Using the natural world as a starting point, Dara experiments with scale and media to assemble fictional worlds with open-ended narratives that express things about the human condition. She completed a Bachelor of Design from the University of Alberta and is a founding member of the Loyal Loot Collective. Dara has shown in solo/group shows since 2005, most recently at the Art Gallery of Alberta with Sergio Serrano in the show Monument.

Gary James Joynes is a sound and visual artist who blends the physicality of the auditory and visual elements of sound through live performance, installation and photographic works. His large-scale installation Broken Sound premiered at dc3 Art Projects in May 2015 and was awarded the 2016 Eldon & Anne Foote Edmonton Visual Arts Prize. Joynes’ work Ouroboros was presented in its largest version to date for the inaugural Nuit Blanche Edmonton in Fall 2015 and his work was included in the 2013 Alberta Biennial of Contemporary Art at the Art Gallery of Alberta. In addition to his visual arts practice, Joynes performs at international music events around the world as Clinker.

Works