In 2022, I participated in The Academy of Rythmorphology #1 (ARm) at Slettnes, an artist-initiated study of rhythm and form that operates at the intersection of art, science, philosophy, and ecology. Conceived as both a residency and a transdisciplinary laboratory, ARm gathers artists, researchers, musicians, and thinkers in site-specific environments to explore rhythm as a connective force across different modes of knowledge and perception. The program provides space, dialogue, and fieldwork-based study where participants engage directly with the local environment, investigating how natural and human rhythms shape our sense of time, movement, and transformation.
The first edition, held at Slettnes on the northern coast of Norway, took its starting point in the tidal zone and the recurring cycles of the sea. The residency unfolded through a series of shared and individual explorations of movement, sound, light, and material, culminating in a collective montage that reflected each participant’s encounter with tidal rhythms. The group work included contributions by Marte Aas, Marielle van Dop, Miriam Jakob, Peeter Laurits, Ina Otzko, Margrethe Pettersen, Sakib Saboor, Torgeir Vassvik, Izabela Żółcińska, Signe Lidén, Hilde Methi, and Arjen Mulder.
At Slettnes, the coastline is characterized by slate bedrock carved by the waves into deep vertical grooves and beaches that lead directly into the polar tundra. The tidal zone hosts a rich diversity of seaweed and kelp despite the growing presence of sea urchins, and the rocky shore provides conditions for tidal pools that invite close observation of micro-ecologies and their rhythms. ARm, initiated by Signe Lidén, Arjen Mulder, and Hilde Methi, functions as a nomadic and field-based residency model that bridges artistic practice, ecological research, and embodied study of place.
Having previously participated in ARm #1, I was later invited as a contributor to ARm #2 in 2023, a public program of lectures, workshops, performances, and local studies at Oslo Fjordskole on Ormøya Island in Oslo. Drawing on my experiences from the first study and my observations of tidal energies and rhythms, I gathered seaweed, sand, plant debris, and other materials carried by the water’s forces. These became the foundation for a series of lumen prints made without fixing the photo paper, allowing the images to slowly fade under light exposure. In this way, the works became performative, evolving in rhythm with the surrounding environment, mirroring the core of ARm’s inquiry into change, temporality, and transformation.
