An artist’s view of the race for Greenland’s minerals
It is nothing new that there exist different narratives about the Arctic — what it holds and what it promises. Thus, it must not come to anyone’s surprise that the various narratives intersect, contradict and in some cases appear delusional.
For a decade, I have tried to makes sense of the so-called Mineral Adventure in Greenland to understand how the underground resources in some of the most remote and inaccessible areas have become a geopolitical concern and obsession.
Greenland holds all of the elements from the periodic system, so of course the Arctic is not spared as an “exception” from other parts of the burning globe. The Arctic has always been of geopolitical and military interest due to its geographical location and its natural resources. The attention on the region and Greenland during recent years in particular must be seen through the lens of the current global resource race, energy race, military race and space race which the exhibition If in a hole, keep digging unfolds.
With the means of a customised sensor device that have gathered data of the environmental changes near extractive industries, along with hours of video footage, field recordings and and countless interviews, I have investigated the mining sector in Greenland with an attempt to give a broad perspective on the growing geopolitical interest that is visualised in a larger installation. The data and recordings were primarily collected during the period 2025–2026 and illustrate the social, political, economic, and environmental opportunities and consequences of resource extraction in the region.
The exhibition consists of a seven-screen video installation (duration: 185 minutes), installed within a simulated radar station; visualisations of data from various research institutions alongside my own observations presented in the form of a map; a textile translation of the potential of the resource race; a sensor object — the protagonist in the video installation — that collects environmental data; and five minerals and metals extracted in Greenland. They are essential to the future production and future consumption of energy, weapons, and new technologies.
If in a hole, keep digging represents an experimental approach to design and information design as an art form and highlights socially relevant and current discussions, giving the floor to researchers, miners, investment companies, mineral hunters, and policymakers, while the audience follows the journey of an activist and wannabe polar explorer through Greenland’s mining sector — an industry that is inextricably linked to design itself.
If in a hole, keep digging is on show until August 29 at Officinet in Bredgade 66, Copenhagen, and portrays the tension of interests in Greenland, and how it is linked to the development of the supply chains in relation to the green transition, Europe’s rearmament, and Big Tech’s fantasies to reach other planets.
Gudrun Havsteen-Mikkelsen is a research-based designer and visual journalist working in Denmark, Iceland, Lithuania and Greenland. Her practice investigates the social, political and environmental narratives of the Arctic through film, text, radio and data visualisation. Using investigative and design-driven methods, she explores the mechanisms behind mineral exploration, territorial claims and the collective memory.
