Polar Lab

Polar Lab

Polar Lab is a long-term artist residency program of the Anchorage Museum that supports creative research exploring our relationships with the natural world and the Circumpolar North.

Through extended residencies, artists investigate northern environments, histories, and futures—often working at the intersection of art, observation, and fieldwork.

Anchorage Museum staff help artists connect with both traditional and non-traditional researchers, including scientists, scholars, community knowledge holders, naturalists, and local experts. Residents have access to museum collections, archives, and exhibition spaces as tools for inquiry and experimentation.

Polar Lab Collective
Polar Lab Collective is a subset of Polar Lab that invites emerging artists to study in the Anchorage Museum’s collections and the Smithsonian Arctic Studies Center’s Living Our Cultures exhibition. The program provides space and support for artists to find inspiration, insight, and technical knowledge through close-up engagement with materials, craftsmanship, and cultural belongings.

Image by Tim Remick