The Museum resides in a North that is pivotal to the world — not a frontier, but a horizon. Polar Lab is a reflection of the cultural, political, commercial, artistic and scientific attraction exerted by the international Arctic and subarctic. The interest in the North that preoccupied the artists of Romanticism and explorers from every corner has returned, greater than ever. But today’s artists, scientists and explorers question the future, rather than depict the grandeur, of the landscape.

Polar Lab looks at the contemporary and future North through exhibitions and programs. The lab connects art, science, and the environment. It connects Anchorage with the globe. Contemporary art, along with traditional and non-traditional research in multiple disciplines, stimulates the activity of the Lab.

The lab is active. It engages audiences at and beyond the Museum. It connects people inside, outside and virtually. We know that what happens up here affects what happens everywhere.

The Lab is a conversation. Poised in the North and at the edge of the Arctic, the Anchorage Museum is the venue for sparking ideas and the Lab is a place of active investigation and dialogue.

UP HERE, we engage ideas and expand the Museum to cross borders and boundaries, to be experimental and experiential. UP HERE, we remain open to issues and dialogue. UP HERE, we know that our extreme environment represents unprecedented change. UP HERE, we know that unprecedented change inspires unprecedented innovation.