Julie Edel Hardenberg, Ivínguak Stork Høegh, Inuk Silis Høegh and Asmund Havsteen-Mikkelsen all occupy central positions within contemporary art practices that critically examine Inuit Kalaallit history and cultural heritage. Working across a range of media—from photo collage, video and installation to sculpture and found objects—the artists share a common concern with how past, present and future are inextricably intertwined. Through diverse artistic strategies that insist on Kalaallit Nunaat (Greenland) as an active agent in the making of its own history, Memory in Motion represents experiences of loss and oppression, while also articulating resistance, agency and visions of alternative futures.

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Opening at a time of heightened geopolitical tension, the works acquire particular urgency. As questions of territory, strategic interests and global power dynamics dominate international news, the exhibition invites audiences to reflect on how social and structural conditions shape Kalaallit Nunaat’s ability to define its own future. At once confronting and generative, Memory in Motion reveals how colonialism has sought to overwrite, control and render Inuit Kalaallit culture and identity invisible, while simultaneously pointing toward ways in which cultural expressions may be reclaimed and articulated on their own terms.

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Operating at the intersection of art, activism and research, Julie Edel Hardenberg (b. 1971, Nuuk) has become a distinct voice within contemporary Inuit Kalaallit art, challenging stereotypes and continually questioning the status quo.  White Cross (1721–) is a powerful reminder of how the effects of the Danish-Norwegian colonial project continue to shape Inuit Kalaallit society today. Inscribed with “1721 –” and no end date, the work refers to the arrival of the Norwegian missionary Hans Egede in Kalaallit Nunaat. Egede’s arrival marked a societal rupture, initiating colonial and religious systems that reorganized social, cultural and economic life according to European norms and Christian values. While the history of Kalaallit Nunaat long predates colonization, this moment represents a profound break with lasting consequences for identity, culture and social organization. At the same time, the work suggests that this shared history cannot be denied, but must be examined in order to understand how it continues to shape the present.

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In My Siblings and I, a reflective series of self- and sibling portraits, Hardenberg works in close collaboration with her Inuit Kalaallit and Danish relatives. The project approaches identity as relational—shaped through familial ties, difference and proximity—while foregrounding the uneven yet interconnected experiences produced by the Danish colonization of Kalaallit Nunaat. By positioning the family as a metaphor for the nation, the work probes the tension between inclusion and estrangement, asking what it means to belong while never fully aligning.

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In the autobiographical video essay My First Coin (2022), Hardenberg connects historical and political structures with lived experience, inviting reflection on how colonial legacies continue to inform identity and belonging. Without offering simplistic conclusions, the film articulates a nuanced understanding of Inuit Kalaallit identity, also explored in the photographic series Den stille mangfoldighed (The Silent Diversity, 2005).

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The artist duo Inuk Silis Høegh (b. 1972, Qaqortoq) and Asmund Havsteen-Mikkelsen (b. 1977, Ærø) initiated the long-term project Melting Barricades in 2004. Originally developed in connection with the 25th anniversary of Inuit Kalaallit Home Rule, the installation presents a fictive Inuit Kalaallit army, complete with propaganda material, drafting ceremonies and a military headquarters. In an alternative historical timeline, Kalaallit Nunaat is attributed military ambitions toward Denmark, and further toward the United States. The project emerged from contemporary debates on Inuit Kalaallit independence and posed fundamental questions about which values a fully sovereign Kalaallit Nunaat might seek to protect—and which it might contribute to a globalized world.

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The invention of an Inuit Kalaallit army originally functioned as a conceptual framework for exploring questions of cultural visibility and values in relation to societal change shaped by rapid globalization. In light of recent geopolitical developments, however, what was conceived as a satirical and humorous project has gained new meanings. Addressing issues of self-determination, national identity and sovereignty, the work may now be understood as an early warning system. Within an increasingly tense political climate, in which questions of territorial expansion, national security and increased military presence in the Arctic dominate international discourse, Melting Barricades functions as a critical reflection on contemporary global power structures.

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New Independence is a new work produced specifically for the exhibition at Kunsthall 3,14. It visualizes the area in East Greenland occupied by Norway in 1931, then known as Eirik Raudes Land. Grønlandssaken, which concluded in 1933 when the Permanent Court of International Justice in The Hague ruled in Denmark’s favor, underscores Kalaallit Nunaat’s long-standing strategic and geopolitical significance to multiple nations. In a Norwegian context, the work serves as a reminder of Norway’s own colonial legacy; much like recent American claims to the territory, Norway has not only challenged Denmark’s sovereignty, but also systematically ignored the political agency and right to self-determination of the Kalaallit. At the same time, the work raises more fundamental questions about land ownership itself, and about the very idea that territory can be claimed, possessed or controlled through legal, political and symbolic means.

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Ivínguak Stork Høegh (b. 1982, Aasiaat) works from a practice rooted in contemporary realities in Kalaallit Nunaat, while simultaneously addressing external perceptions of Inuit culture and society. Through digital photo collages, she confronts colonial representations of Kalaallit Nunaat and investigates what it means to be Kalaallit today. Combining archival photographs, her own images and other graphic elements, Stork Høegh creates visual montages that are at once visually striking and critically confrontational. For centuries, Europeans have produced exotifying images that frame Arctic peoples as other, and in series such as Arctic Exotic, she juxtaposes Kalaallit motifs with tropical animals or places Kalaallit figures in displaced and unexpected contexts. Nature and environment are ever-present in her imagery, revealing how tradition, climate change and globalization are closely intertwined, while humor and absurdity—such as a dog sled pulled by zebras—both disarm and sharpen the viewer’s attention.

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At a moment when economic, military and strategic interests increasingly converge in the Arctic, Memory in Motioninvites reflection on how vulnerable small Indigenous communities, such as those in Kalaallit Nunaat, can become within global power struggles. While external forces threaten to reduce places, people and cultures to resources or matters of “security,” the exhibition offers a space for contemplation in which conflicting perspectives may coexist, and where questions of representation, self-determination and historical responsibility can be explored without a demand for definitive answers.

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Curated by Malin Barth and Tuva Mossin