Antarktikos

About




Antarktikos is a printed journal, published once a year. This annual journal combines artistic and scientific exploration within the awe-inspiring and thought-provoking context of Antarctica.

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The vast continent of Antarctica is an isolated location whose harsh conditions and heavenly natural serenity have long appealed to the imagination. However, the remaining opportunities for this practically untouched no man’s land are not without responsibility. Since the signing of the 1959 Antarctic Treaty, Antarctica has been a scientific reserve for peaceful purposes, scientific investigation and environmental protection. The continent covers 14 million square km (5.4 million square miles). It has no native human population or weapons and remains under no right of ownership. Despite this, Antarctica plays a significant role at many levels on the world stage. Antarctica could be seen as the main protagonist in the issues and challenges facing the contemporary world.


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Antarktikos1 will use an open call to solicit contributions by scientists2 and artists3 working with Antarctica. The content will be collected through networks concerning science, art and Antarctica.

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Antarktikos is the first and only independent and international magazine entirely dedicated to Antarctica. The first printed issue is published in 2021.

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Antarktikos is founded by Esther Kokmeijer in 2021 . 
In her work as an artist, explorer and designer, she mainly focus on the ‘Global Commons’. A term typically used to describe international and global resource domains. Global commons include the earth’s shared natural resources, such as the high oceans, the atmosphere and outer space and the Antarctic in particular.

“I founded Antarktikos because I believe in the power of combining art and science. Both science and art are human attempts to understand and describe the world. Art is mostly associated with emotions and starts with the question ‘why?’, while science is rooted in the question ‘how?’. Where scientists are often bound by methods and frameworks, artists excel at limitlessness.
In many respects, scientists and artists share immaterial and mental ownership of Antarctica. They are not interested in conquering or controlling. Instead, they temporarily engage with the continent to bring knowledge, ideas, inspiration, confusion, beauty, and acutely urgent questions to the world. I love to create a platform for a broad range of artistic and scientific perspectives that can reinforce one another, with the intention to reach the mind through the heart.” 
Esther Kokmeijer

www.estherkokmeijer.nl



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1. Over 2000 years ago, Greek philosophers imagined the existence of a continent at the South Pole. The ancient Greeks wrote about a large landmass at the globe’s southern tip, assuming it existed despite having never seen it. Aristotle theorized that this southern land allowed the spherical Earth to maintain a geophysical balance with the northern lands, so he called it Antarktikos. Arktikos is ancient Greek for ”near the bear”, referring to the Great Bear constellation in the northern celestial hemisphere. Thus Antarktikos means across from the Bear or opposite the north. 2.Antarktikos magazine intends “science” as all forms of scientific research: natural sciences, social sciences, formal sciences and applied sciences. 3. Antarktikos magazine intends “art” as all visual arts, performing arts and applied arts, such as photography, painting, sculpture, music, literature, design, film, and architecture.



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