Petter Buhagen
Photo by: Petter Buhagen
During my work days in the printmaking studio I like to listen to podcasts, audiobooks and music. One of my favourite ongoing podcast series is Your Undivided Attention produced by Center for Humane Technology, where they host discussions about different aspects and effects of internet culture. When it comes to reflections on new technology, I am also following the online writing of several authors. Nicholas Carr, Shoshana Zuboff and Adam Greenfield being three of whom I keep coming back to. The latter has recently moved his activity from his blog to a newsletter which I recommend subscribing to. The main book I have been reading during my stay at Svalbard is Lost Connections by Johann Hari, where he challenges the way the western world deals with depression by relying too heavily on medication. Another book I have been enjoying recently is Jon Fosse´s novel The Other Name, which is a slow-paced story about multiple possible ways to live a life. The rhythm and form of the text is slowly evolving through continuous repetitions and subtle gradual changes. The last tv-series I watched was a brilliant set of short films called Small Axe directed by Steve McQueen. It is beautifully shot, and pictures different aspects of West-Indian immigration culture in London from the 60s to the 80s. As well as giving insight to the struggles people had to deal with, the series portrays sparks of resistance against the oppressive status quo with hopes for a more just and equal future.
1. Tristan Harris & Aza Raskin: Your Undivided Attention. Podcast (https://www.humanetech.com/podcast)
2. Adam Greenfield: The Dispatch from London (Further notes on clean living under difficult circumstances). Newsletter which you can sign up here. Nicholas Carr: Rough Type (http://www.roughtype.com/) and Shoshana Zuboff (https://shoshanazuboff.com/book/recent-work/).
3. Johann Hari, Lost Connections, Published by Bloomsbury USA, 2018
4. Jon Fosse, The Other Name, Published by Transit Books, 2020
5. Steve McQueen: Small Axe. Anthology film series.
Petter Buhagen has been nominated for a residency at Artica by the Queen Sonja Print Award. You can read more about Petter here.