Astrid Ardagh

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On Air is a short documentary, both poetic and exploratory, that takes you on a journey through a vast northern landscape, from the radomes on Svalbard, via Svolvær and Tysfjord to the amateur radio club in Tromsø. The film’s main protagonists are ham radio operators who, with their analogue radio transmitters, go on the air under the name ‘Ishavsringen’ (The Arctic Ocean Group). Everyone in the group has a connection to the Arctic Ocean due to having worked as a telegraphist at one Norway’s meteorological stations. After retirement, they have for over 30 years kept in contact via radio and Morse code.

The film’s starting point is a Russian cyberattack that hit Northern Europe in February 2022. The same day as the news of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was covered by the press, it was discovered that satellite connections to the islands of Bjørnøya and Hopen were broken. After the breach was discovered at the Meteorological Institute in Tromsø, radio operators from the group in Tromsø offered to establish an emergency-communication service. They used a radio-based e-mail system to create two-way communication between the islands and mainland Norway. The event, which caused a two-week breach in Hopen’s access to Internet, TV, radio and telephone communications, confirmed Ishavsringen’s conviction that Norway should maintain an analogue radio connection as part of its emergency preparedness. Many today are vitally concerned about our technological vulnerability and fear the consequences of a large collapse of public digital systems. It may seem like the ham radio operators cleave to the past, but in today’s world, with threats of war, extreme weather and solar storms, it could be that they are actually ensuring our future survival.

Astrid Ardagh (b. 1997) is an artist and filmmaker from Engeløya in Northern Norway, with a bachelor’s degree in moving images from Gerrit Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam. Her site-specific works delve into the interconnections between people and their environment in a rapidly changing world. By merging her interest in anthropology with aesthetic storytelling, her films become immersive and sensory experiences that transcend traditional human-centred perspectives. Ardagh's short films have been screened at acclaimed festivals such as Clermont-Ferrand and Kortfilmfestivalen in Grimstad, as well as galleries and art museums such as Kristiansand Kunsthall, the Eye Film Museum and the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam.