The 34-year-old Katharina Kneip completed her training as a stonemason and sculptor before studying fine art in Münster and Vienna. Read more about the Round:Motion tour.
Mrs Kneip, do you sail as an art project?
(laughs) The aim is not to turn my circumnavigation into a big product. Of course, I would love to write a book about my experiences after my trip, but I made a conscious decision not to film all the time. I do film a lot, but more like a diary and without storytelling. For example, if I were to always go first to set up the camera and then film the sequence of me going there, I would find that inauthentic. However, I have a small exhibition with another artist in March, for example. Seen from above, my journey is a big performance, a big ring around the earth, a kind of drawing on our planet. My adventure is also intended to inspire people to think about being on the road from a different perspective to that of classic adventure travelling tours.
And why in the north of all places?
The north somehow fascinates me. Also, in recent years, until Trump announced his territorial claims in Greenland, I had the feeling that there was little talk about the North. It usually only happens in the more niche media. Yet the North has been politically highly contested for years, even when no bombs are falling. Russia, for example, has famously been waiting for decades for the ice to melt so that they can establish themselves there.
What's next for you?
I'm currently working on a farm in Iceland. We farm here with 160 sheep, 15 to 20 dairy cows and a few cattle. I really enjoy the work. However, I really want to move on, so I'm looking for a sailing opportunity at the beginning of July.
Where do you want to be travelling?
I actually want to move along the northern border of civilisation. In the end, however, I'm also a pawn in the game of politics. I wouldn't travel to Russia, for example, even if I were allowed to. But that would suddenly make my route more southerly. Or if I only get a temporary visa in Canada, for example, that also restricts me. Although I'm actually only travelling in nature, I still have to obey the rules.
Where do you need to be taken and how does the search for a sailing holiday in the far north work?
I think it's unlikely that someone will give me a lift from Akureyri. I think it's more likely to be from Ísafjörður or Reykjavík in the direction of Halifax. However, it's difficult to find someone to take me on a boat trip. There aren't many boats travelling here anyway, and most of them are going in the opposite direction to my route, but I'm not giving up hope.
