Arctic Circle

Frank Horvat’s Arctic Circle Expedition/Residency to the top of the Earth was a life-changing experience. With 29 other artists, he journeyed from Longyearbyen around the Svalbard Archipelago in the Arctic Circle on a climate odyssey aboard the tall-ship, Antigua. The deep feelings from this journey are etched into his heart and soul forever. This experience has spawned many creative projects including the choral work, I Am Ice, plus several sound installations presented at the Venice Biennale; the Museo Novecento in Florence, Italy; a traditional haveli in Jodhpur, India; and as part of the Emerging Dialogues in the Midnight Sun exhibition in the United States.

Life on board the Antigua was quite routine-oriented on a daily basis. One to two zodiac-powered landings per day to remote shores for project work, contemplation, or hikes. Presentations and discussions. Constant daylight 24 hours each day and choppy seas on a couple of occasions made the adventure quite queasy, but otherwise, smooth sailing, sometimes literally as engines would be shut off and we would traverse fjords and open seas by the power of wind only. Read a recap of the experience.

The Arctic Circle Artist Residency off the coast of Svalbard.

The Arctic Circle Artist Residency off the coast of Svalbard.

The Arctic Circle Artist Residency off the coast of Svalbard.

Composer Frank Horvat at the Arctic Circle Artist Residency off the coast of Svalbard.

The Arctic Circle Artist Residency off the coast of Svalbard.

The Arctic Circle Artist Residency off the coast of Svalbard.

Arctic Projects

Venice Biennale Sound Installation

Visual art and sound installation exhibit at the 2024 Venice Biennale of Art took root when visual artist Parul Thacker and composer Frank Horvat shared in an expedition, north of the Arctic Circle, in the Svalbard Archipelago, in June 2023, aboard the tall ship, Antigua. The final product is an installation called, The Book of the Time-Travellers of the Worlds – a Fathomless Zero, which premiered at a historic Palazzo in Venice as part of a collateral event at the Biennale.

This installation then traveled to a traditional haveli in Jodhpur, India and to the Museo Novecento in Florence, Italy.

Museo Novecento Sound InstallationS

After the success of visual artist Parul Thacker and composer Frank Horvat‘s installation exhibit at the 2024 Venice Biennale of Art, expanding the concept took root. The sound installation for chapter 2 of The Book of the Time-Travellers of the Worlds – a Fathomless Zero was created by Horvat on a 2-week creation residency of the Museo Novecento in Florence, Italy in February and March 2025. The exhibition ran from March 8 to June 8, 2025 and also included the first chapter, which was originally created for the Venice Biennale.

This new chapter continues to incorporate sounds recorded during their Arctic residency in 2023, and both feature spiritual texts by Sri Aurobindo, recited by Parul. However, the energy and pacing of Chapter 2 diverge significantly. While Chapter 1 is meditative, calm, and soothing, Chapter 2 adopts a more hypnotic, frenetic, and uneasy atmosphere. It evokes the raw, unrestrained quality of places like the Arctic, where our disconnection from nature becomes palpable. Chapter 2 becomes a more intense and introspective experience, with the sound of howling winds and the thunderous calving of ice, as if nature’s raw forces are booming through the space, uncontrollably asserting their presence.

I Am Ice Choral Work

A passionate lament for the state of our world, I Am Ice reflects on how, as humans, we have increasingly marginalized our natural world. The video below helped inspired the composition, which was premiered in concert by the Annex Singers. An art video, by Lisa Horvat, was then created to accompany the composition and had its premiere installation at the Emerging Dialogues in the Midnight Sun exhibition at Central Connecticut State University