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Our contribution is based on the method of dramatic assemblage (Klok and Haselmann 2019). Encountering two autoethnographic literary sources – The Doctor's Family in the Far North (Gjems Selmer 1905) and A Woman in the Polar Night (Ritter 1938) we move between different temporal and disciplinary thinking practices. In our respective roles as cultural scientist and biologist we enter a research dialogue about experiences, representations, and meanings of ‘the north’. Our focus is on modes in which the north is expressed in both memory-based literary memoirs and current academic perceptions. The dramatic assemblage shows that the north gains concrete meaning in the multimodal interplay of rhythms, sounds, light, temperatures, smells, and colours of landscapes, people, animals, plants, and the relations between these. By approaching the north through an interdisciplinary and co-creative approach, newly gained knowledge becomes both relevant and accessible to a variety of academic fields., Unser Beitrag basiert auf der Methode der dramatischen Montage (Klok & Haselmann 2019). In der Begegnung mit zwei autoethnografischen literarischen Quellen, „Die Doktorsfamilie im hohen Norden“ (Gjems Selmer 1905) und „Eine Frau erlebt die Polarnacht“ (Ritter 1938), bewegen wir uns im Zwischenraum zeitlich und disziplinär getrennter Denkwelten. In unserer jeweiligen Rolle als Kulturwissenschaftlerin und Biologin treten wir in einen wissenschaftlichen Dialog über Erleben, Repräsentationen und Bedeutungen des Nordens. Ein Fokus liegt dabei auf den vielfältigen Modi, in denen der Norden sowohl in auf Erinnerungen basierenden literarischen Zeugnissen, als auch in der aktuellen Wahrnehmung zum Ausdruck kommt. Die Montage macht deutlich, dass der Norden für uns im multimodalen Zusammenspiel von Rhythmen, Klängen, Licht, Temperaturen, Gerüchen und Farben von Landschaften, Menschen, Tieren, Pflanzen und den Relationen zwischen ihnen an konkreter Bedeutung gewinnt. Indem wir uns dem Norden durch einen interdisziplinären und zugleich künstlerisch-kreativen Zugangs nähern, wird das neugewonnene Wissen relevant und anschlussfähig für zahlreiche akademische Fachgebiete.

Master i estetiske fag Denne avhandlingen presenterer et kunstbasert forskningsprosjekt fra Svalbard. Som kunstner og forsker har jeg hatt en økosofisk inngang til generering av et feltmateriale som jeg har brukt som base for en devising-prosess om den østerrikske kvinnen Christiane Ritter. I boken Kvinne i Polarnatten skriver hun om en overvintring på Spitsbergen i 1934. Visuell-etnografiske studier, intervjuer og Ritters overvintring er det sammensatte materialet som devisingen bygger på, og som utgjør forskningsmaterialet i denne skriftlige avhandlingen. Devisingen ender i en performance som iscenesettes etter at skriveprosessen med avhandlingen er over. I avhandlingen er utdrag fra empirien analysert med utgangspunkt i økosofi og performativ estetikk for å kunne se hvordan Ritters kamp mot omgivelsene transformeres til et samspill i og med omgivelsene. Bruk av visuell etnografi og kvalitative forskningsintervjuer inn i det performative uttrykket er et bindemiddel mellom det performative rommet og Svalbard. Forskningsprosjektet befinner seg i et krysningspunkt mellom teori og praksis eller vitenskap og kunst. Men det praktiske og kunstneriske er den ledende part i dette samspillet, slik at det teoretiske og vitenskapelige arbeidet har hjulpet meg videre i det sceniske arbeidet. De kunstneriske og vitenskapelige resultatene er både avhandlingen og performancen, hvor sistnevnte fremdeles er inne i devisingprosessen. This thesis presents an artistic research project from Svalbard. As an artist and a researcher I have had an ecosophic entrance to the generation of a field material that I have used as a base in a devising process about the Austrian woman Christiane Ritter. In her book A Woman in the Polar Night she writes about her year of living in the Arctic in 1934. Visual ethnographical studies, interviews and Ritter’s stay are the combined material, which the devising is built upon, and what constitutes the research material in this written thesis. The devising will end up as a performance that will be staged after the process of writing this thesis.In the thesis excerpts from the empirical data is analysed from an ecosophical- and performance aesthetic point of view. This is to see how Ritter’s battle against the environments turns in to an interaction in, and with, the environments. The use of the visual ethnographical material and interviews is a bond between the performative space and Svalbard. The research project lies in the cross roads between theory and practical work, or science and art. The artistic and scientific results are both the thesis and the performance, where the latter is still an on-going process.