A Litter Bit of Heaven: Arctic Marine Litter Exhibition

Post author:Barbara Jóźwiak
Post published:15 May 2025
Reading time:3 mins read

Although the end of winter and Longyearbyen’s transition from a snowy wonderland to a full-blown mud fest is something not many locals or visitors look forward to, this year it came with a treat – the opening of A Litter Bit of Heaven: Arctic Marine Litter Exhibition, a creative spin-off from the ongoing marine litter work conducted by the forScience team.

The exhibition is a brainchild of Dominika Saikkonen-Dąbrowska and Niko Saikkonen from Spitsbergen Artists Centre, who made us realise that the marine litter we’ve been collecting, analysing, discussing, writing about and worrying over for years also holds artistic value that should be exploited before it is reduced to ash in a waste incinerator.

And so together we set out to use the universal language of art to shine a light on the knotty issue of marine litter pollution, which affects even the most remote corners of the planet. The exhibition was created around some of the litter collected by the forScience team under project ICEBERG. A mere fraction of the total haul, but hey, it isn’t about quantity. What is it about then? About sparking reflection, discussion and action. It is an open invitation to care a little more deeply about the world around us: to reduce waste, live more sustainably, and help clean up the mess we have all contributed to.

A Litter Bit of Heaven: Arctic Marine Litter Exhibition© Barbara Jóźwiak, Fundacja forScience — A Litter Bit of Heaven: Arctic Marine Litter Exhibition
© Barbara Jóźwiak, forScience Foundation

A Litter Bit of Heaven: Arctic Marine Litter Exhibition© Adam Nawrot, Fundacja forScience — A Litter Bit of Heaven: Arctic Marine Litter Exhibition
© Adam Nawrot, forScience Foundation

Marine litter on display is accompanied by a series of photographs documenting the everyday challenges faced by the forScience team during fieldwork and setting things in broader context. There are also two posters for the most inquisitive – one about the forScience litter work in Svalbard, and the other about project ICEBERG, which we’re in. The exhibition, including the wall paintings, was curated by Niko Saikkonen, Director of the Spitsbergen Artists Centre.

The exhibition opened on 29 April 2025 and the even couldn’t have gone better. There was wine and cookies for the body, live music for the senses, and inspiring conversations for the soul. Huge thanks to everyone who helped to make it such a memorable evening. And if you missed it – no worries. The exhibition runs until the end of October 2025, so there’s still plenty of time to add it to your Longyearbyen bucket list.

Tags: Arctic, education, environment, exhibition, marine litter, plastic, pollution, Svalbard, synthetic material

Adam Nawrot

geomorphologist, hydrologist

A keen DIYer, wilderness enthusiast, Doctor of Earth Sciences. He took his first steps in science at the Faculty of Geographical and Geological Sciences of Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań. Later on, he also spent several months at the University of Luxembourg, the University Centre in Svalbard (UNIS) and the University of Oslo. Currently, he works at the Department of Polar and Marine Research of the Institute of Geophysics, Polish Academy of Sciences.

The activity that gives him more professional satisfaction than anything else is fieldwork, and his taste for harsh conditions means that he gladly does research and gets involved in projects carried out in mountainous regions and in the Far North, mainly in Spitsbergen. His love affair with this part of the world started in 2005. Since then, he has taken part in numerous fieldwork expeditions to the Arctic and twice overwintered at the Polish Polar Station Hornsund, including once as the expedition leader. He is also responsible for the programme of environmental monitoring conducted by the Station.

He enjoys new challenges, as a result of which in 2015 he spent a few months in India, where he gained personal experience of decidedly non-polar conditions while working at a local school as an IT teacher. Since 2017, he has actively participated in the efforts aimed at reviving the A.B. Dobrowolski Polish Antarctic Station. What usually helps him get out of trouble is his unshakeable faith in dynamic planning and a bright personality.

As the founder and president of forScience Foundation, he is responsible for formalities, reports and budgets. He is also a gold mine of ideas for new projects, which we hope will soon see the light of day.

Barbara Jóźwiak

educator, educational manager, translator

A free spirit, plant lover, great fan of high mountains and long-distance walking trails, demon for work. Her practical skills and outdoor experience, as well as deep cultural sensitivity and respect for broadly-understood diversity developed during numerous, often self-organised travels, which offered a whole new perspective on the places she visited and people she met on the way.

As a philologist by training, she spent several years working in education. Soon after receiving a degree, she went abroad, which marked the beginning of a terrific adventure and gave rise to a lasting fascination with the countries and cultures of Central Asia. For several years she worked as a teacher of English and educational manager at International House schools in Russia and Kazakhstan, and as a volunteer teacher in remote corners of India, spending breaks between contracts roaming the roads, routes and paths of Asia. The experience played a major part in shaping her current outlook on education and life in general.

In 2013, she first visited Svalbard and two years later spent a month at the Polish Polar Station Hornsund, trying her hand at project fieldwork. Afterwards, she returned to Poland, where she got temporarily involved with the British Council. She also worked as a freelance translator, cooperating, among others, with the Institute of Geophysics, Polish Academy of Sciences, and the Faculty of Earth Sciences of the University of Silesia.

Nowadays, she devotes the majority of her time to the forScience Foundation, where she gets involved in initiatives combining science and education with environmental protection and the preservation of cultural heritage. Apart from taking active part in project preparation and execution, she handles everything that qualifies as the written word, from project proposals, through everyday e-mails, to posts which you can read on this website and the Foundation’s Facebook page.

Sørkappøya Marine Litter Cleanup

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Sørkapp Marine Litter Cleanup