Art Up Here

Art Up Here expands perspectives of the North

Polar Lab

This series of programs and exhibitions explores the contemporary and future North and investigations into the Arctic. Polar Lab includes film, artist residencies, conversations, lectures, tours, research, outdoor programs, after-hours programs, international artists, and local perspective. The museum curates and creates conversations as we curate objects and exhibitions, to raise awareness and to advocate for a genuine voice of the North at a time when it is endlessly and erroneously portrayed on reality TV.

Performances and conversations

Through artist residencies, temporary installations, performance works and pop-up programs with artists from Alaska and around the world, the Anchorage Museum provides and presents an inside look at the complexity of the North and its issues. For example, in summer 2015, Alaska Native artists and culture bearers responded to an exhibition about Captain Cook with “Out of the Box,” a performance on the commodification of culture.

Artists in the Arctic

The Anchorage Museum invites international artists to engage the North through short and long-term projects and non-traditional residencies. Artists enter the museum and the North to present insider views of relevant issues impacting northern people and places. Some residencies expand over multiple years and are research-based. Others offer audience engagement within or beyond museum walls.

Arctic Food Forest

Food Forests are human-made ecosystems. They are known for sustainable plant-based food production and are created through companion planting. Arguably the world’s oldest form of land use and most resilient agro-ecosystem, Food Forests are a significant source of food security. Edible plants are transplanted from southern Alaska regions as needed due to global warming. The Arctic Food Forest is developed through a process of co-ownership with local stakeholders and artist Mary Mattingly.