Art that surprises and challenges

Aqua Vitae (Water Gives Life / The Water of Life), 2020

Wall installation

Arnold Johansen’s Aqua Vitae invites reflection on the importance of water to people. Light boxes sit behind patterned black Valchromat panels. From a distance, the almost twenty-metre installation looks like a horizontal field of dark panels. As visitors move along the corridor to or from the pools, four portraits of adults and children emerge one after another. These optical surprises connect the work to Johansen’s wider practice and his long-standing interest in patterned images and technical experimentation.

Sjø (Sea), 2020

Window installation

Coastal fishing culture is deeply rooted in many communities. Arnold Johansen began rowing with his fisherman father in Havøysund, western Finnmark, at the age of six. This connection to the sea and fishing can be seen in the transparent work Sjø, where large waves sweep across the windows of the therapy and swimming pools. The pale grey, striped window film changes with the light and the viewer’s position. At times the waves appear powerful and confronting; at others, Sjø seems to blend gently into the landscape beyond the glass.

– inn frå ukjend verd, 2020

Sculpture

Landsend has been fascinated by nature and our place within it since first working with clay as a child. At Tromsøbadet, ptarmigans modelled in stoneware and porcelain rest on grey concrete shelves. Against turquoise water and moss-green tiles, the white birds resemble winter-feathered ptarmigans in a snowless landscape. The contrast explores ecological imbalance and the vulnerability of camouflage as snow conditions change.

The same theme informed Landsend’s first presentation of the ptarmigan sculptures in 2018, under the title De uskyldige. The sculptures have since appeared in different settings under different titles.

At the therapy pool, the installation is titled – inn frå ukjend verd. The words are borrowed from the poem Kvite fuglar by Tor Jonsson and reflect the artist’s interest in poetry and the power of art and nature. The white birds contribute to a contemplative atmosphere for swimmers.

Laguz, 2019

Mural

Outside Tromsøbadet, with views towards the sea and mountains, visitors encounter the mural Laguz. Tegson’s spray paint moves across concrete in blue, turquoise, copper and gold. The flowing colours suggest the water inside the building, the Arctic seabed or northern lights. Norse symbols connect the urban setting, Arctic landscape and mythology.

Hidden codes and symbols are part of graffiti culture. Look closely at the black angular marks in Tegson’s piece: those familiar with the Futhark alphabet may recognise rune-like forms.

Each Futhark rune has a name. The title Laguz comes from a Germanic rune name meaning water. Other runes and signs inspired by Norse mythology can also be discovered in the painting.

Laguz covers the south-facing emergency-stair facade and was the first artwork installed at Tromsøbadet.

Bølge/Bárru/Wave, 2021

Relief

Pine was a deliberate choice for the approximately twelve-square-metre wave-shaped relief in the café. Grundvåg describes pine as a social-democratic material, fitting the idea of a public swimming facility. Its smell also recalls saunas, linking the work to the pools and to sauna traditions in northern regions.

Grundvåg’s work often explores experimental structures, architecture and ecology. For this relief, he used a technique requiring less material than its substantial form might suggest. The work reflects on consumption and resource use while making a more sustainable approach part of the artistic process.