Gudrun Havsteen-Mikkelsen (DK, 1992) is a research-based designer and visual journalist working between Denmark, Iceland, and Greenland. Her work navigates social, political, and environmental narratives, with a particular focus on the Arctic region and its potential futures. Her practice engages with themes of mineral exploration in the Arctic, geopolitics, data visualization, Nordic colonialism, and archival research. Through investigative and design-driven methodologies, she examines the mechanisms of mineral adventures, territorial narratives, and collective memories.
Beyond her multidisciplinary design practice, she works as a freelance researcher, designer, educator, and self-taught cartograph. Her role as a guest tutor and external lecturer at Iceland University of the Arts has expanded to include talks and workshops at various institutions and venues in and outside the Arctic region. Recent collaborations include producing podcasts through Radio Arctic for Polar Journal, guest tutoring at Testrup Højskole, and publishing research for The Arctic Institute, publishing the book, ‘Snowblindness - Let’s talk about storytelling, colonialism, Netflix and my great grandfather’ through Onomatopee and more.
She holds a Master of Arts (MA) at the new established master program GEO-Design at Design Academy Eindhoven (2020-2022), and a one-year residency in the Design Department from Sandberg Instituut (2019-2020), a BA from Product Design at Iceland Academy of the Arts (2015-2017) and Industrial Design & Ceramic Form at The Royal Danish Academy, Design School (2014-2015).
Gudrun have been selected for several residencies, at Nuuk Art Museum (Aug.-Nov. 2024) in Nuuk, Greenland; Art Production Residency at Danish Workshops for the Arts - Textile Workshop (Apr.-Jun. 2024), in Copenhagen, Denmark; SÍM Residency (Apr. and again in Aug.-Oct. 2023) in Reykjavik, Iceland; and finally at a Work Desk Residency at Art Hub Copenhagen (Aug. 2018) in Copenhagen, Denmark.
Her practice has been supported by a range of grants and funding bodies, including the Danish Arts Foundation's career program for emerging talents, The Young Art Elite (2024).
More at Vimeo, LinkedIn, and Radio Arctic’s Instagram. 
More information about the works Archive in the Mist, Promises For Business, Snowblindness, Radio Arctic.
Portfolio available upon request.
Contact: gudrun_eriksen@hotmail.com