Artwork of the month - video (59 sec).

Stranded

Year	2024
Size	7.5 cm × 13.0 cm × 1.8 cm
Materials	Laser-cut aluminium and 3D-printed screws in stainless steel
Location	60°59'46.4"N 25°36'51.6"E
Edition	1/50
For Sale	Yes
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If you ever find yourself utterly lost in the Arctic, you might notice something glinting in the sun on a rock by a frozen lake. On closer inspection, you might discover, screwed down tight to the rock, a small aluminium palm tree and a matching figure with hands held aloft. If you look even closer, you may discover that the screws are personalised Frank&Robbert screws. This work, titled Stranded, is itself stranded here. No geolocation tags, no plaque, no path and no signposts.

The artists purposefully left this installation in ‘the middle of nowhere’ as a gift to the world, a detail for whomever might notice the tiny intervention. To the potential finder it presents itself as an anomaly, a glitch, an error.

Stranded proposes a striking metaphor for the human condition. We are stranded on our lonely planet that encircles the Sun, somewhere in a relatively minor spiral arm of the Milky Way galaxy. While this may be a daunting notion, the idea can also be empowering: we are alone together, after all.

As is often the case in the work of Robbert&Frank, the work is not without a touch of dry humour. With the climate crisis threatening to devastate ecosystems and change the face of our planet forever, Frank&Robbert bring the the first palm tree to the Arctic.

However, the ambiguity of the figure’s pose may betray a more hopeful attitude toward the future. Is the figure surrendering? Begging for a deus ex machina? Or do the outstretched arms signal a readiness to accept responsibility and take action?

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