Arctic Indigenous peoples film projects and co-productions

• Chair: Liisa Holmberg (FI/NO)
• Host: International Sámi Film Institution
  
• ROUND TABLE

Arctic Indigenous round table discussion is about how to create a platform to the indigenous peoples of the Arctic to tell their own stories with films, tv-programs and new digital tecnologies.  The aim of Arctic Indigenous Film Fund is to promote high quality Arctic Indigenous peoples film projects and co-productions.  The questions are: How indigenous film industry will give work and hope to the indigenous youth in the arctic communities? How indigenous film industry of the Arctic will shape the future of the local peoples life and communities? How Indigenous film makers contributes and strengthens the film industry in the world?

Culture, politics & cultural politics

• Chair: Hanna Lempinen (FI)
• Host Arctic Centre, University of Lapland
• ROUND TABLE

The rapid economic, ecological and social changes shaping the Arctic region and its environments and communities are also impacting cultures and cultural life in the circumpolar north. Amidst these processes of change, cultural policies and programmes have a pivotal role in promoting cultural diversity and activity and cultural sustainability in the region. Meanwhile, policies from other sectors of the society also create, enable and constrain the conditions for culture, cultural activities and cultural sustainability without even specifically aiming to do so. For this session focusing on the interplay of culture, politics and cultural policies and politics in the Arctic, we invite presentations focusing on but not limited to Arctic and cultural policies of Arctic states, the European Union or UNESCO; cultural diversity and cultural sustainability in the Arctic region; the interplay between the creative sector and local, regional and state policies; and creating models for art and cultural policy that promote circumpolar cooperation, cultural sustainability and sustainable development. Contributions from researchers, funding bodies and other (cultural) policy practitioners focusing on or touching upon the Arctic region or parts of it are equally welcome.

Agencies of art and artists in the Arctic

• Chair: Svein Aamold (NO)
• ROUNDTABLE

This session focuses on the diverse agencies of artists, art projects and their beholders or participants with regard to the Arctic. In recent years we have witnessed a substantial widening of artistic activities in the Arctic. The impacts of climate change, extractivism, national state politics and regional interests are issues at stake here. Indigenous as well as Non-indigenous artists working in different visual media have created works of art ranging from, say, representations of peoples, settlements, and landscapes; to abstractions, objects, installations, and participatory projects. Some artists insist on controlling the production of their works in a studio or a workshop, alone or in collaboration with others. Others engage in open-ended art projects in which the role of the audience is mandatory. In what ways is the Arctic – in the sense of nature, region, or culture – put at work in recent art? What are the roles of the artists themselves? How do ideas concerning the artists’ backgrounds, traditionally referred to as identity, influence Arctic art projects, if at all? Is there a difference between ‘Arctic art’ created or activated by artists who have their background in the Arctic areas and that created by those coming from other areas? How may we talk about identity – or belonging – in circumstances regarding such as the above-mentioned global issues of climate change and extractivism?

Creative & Tourism Collaboration 

• Chair: Suzanne de la Barre (CA)
• Host: Vancouver Island University
• PANEL DISCUSSION

The arts and culture-based economies have garnered significant attention in the Arctic during the last 10 years. Florida’s seminal propositions (2004; 2005) initiated broad-based discussions and stimulated noteworthy challenges based on geographies of difference and diverse ideologies on purpose. This panel discussion aims to uncover the particular manifestations of the creative sector in the circumpolar north, and examine the way it engages (or not) with tourism. It is motivated to identify and learn from the specific similarities and differences that exist across the region – laterally across the northern pole, from East to West. A key question used to prompt reflective discussion is: How are arts and cultural makers engaging with expectations for tourism-based economies, and what characterizes their (in)ability to support economic diversification through tourism? Related questions include: What new opportunities are emerging due to the increasing cultural diversity and enhanced intercultural encounters present in the Arctic? How do the arts and culture support Indigenous empowerment, self-determination, and mutual learning? What role do/can arts and culture have in revitalizing the peripheral communities of the Arctic? Are there specific manifestations of innovation and entrepreneurial activity tied to arts and culture in circumpolar geographies?

Equal Access to Art: A Possibility, or a Problem?

• Chair: Eeva Anttila
  
• Host: Finnish Observatory for Arts and Cultural Education
• PANNEL DISCUSSION
• Panelists: Anniina Suominen, Mirja Hiltunen & international guest (TBA)

This panel focuses on questions of accessibility, inclusion and equality especially in the context of arts and cultural education. We approach these questions first by investigating educational and cultural policies, most of which claim that these are widely accepted aims that regulate the providing of services in the field of arts and cultural education education. Then, we present different cases that depict the reality that is often far from the policy documents aim for. The constant struggle for decreasing resources, short term projects, changing circumstances make the practice of arts and cultural education short-termed, and unpredictable.

Finnish Observatory for Arts and Cultural Education, the Founded in 201, seeks to reinforce the equal accessibility and effectiveness of arts and cultural education and to improve the social status and appreciation of the field. Its top priority is children’s and young people’s arts and cultural education. Another objective is to promote lifelong learning and arts and cultural education intended for various age and target groups. The Observatory collects, analyses, interprets and disseminates information on the practices and policies in the field of arts and cultural education in Finland. Contributing to the knowledge base, facilitating connections between research and practical work, the Finnish Observatory is a member of the European Network of Observatories in the Field of Arts and Cultural Education (ENO). The focus of this presentation is to introduce the strategic mission of the network and in particular, how the members of the network have aligned their projects with the notion of accessibility. The aim is that high quality arts education is accessible to everyone as a foundational value of a democratic society.

Artists, designers and education: For and with the Arctic?

• Chair: Glen Coutts (Scotland)
• Hots: Universityf of Lapland

Significant social, cultural, economic, ecological and climatic changes are taking place around the world, but the pace of change may well be faster, and the impact more keenly felt, in the Arctic than many other areas. The panel will discuss how artists and designers are responding to changing circumstances in the Arctic. For example, many engage with social, political and environmental issues as part of their work. If contemporary artists and designers are tackling such issues, what might be the implications for art education and education more generally? Members of the panel will present short case studies of their work in these areas. In doing so, the aim will be to discuss key questions relating to the interrelationship of art, design and education: How are artists and designers tackling difficult social, cultural or environmental issues? What might be the educational potential of artists’ and designers’ work in the Arctic? What should art education look like in the early years of the 21st century? What should be taught in university art and design schools?

Indigenous artistic expressions

• Gunvor Guttorm (NO)
• Professor in duodji (Sámi arts and crafts, traditional art, applied art) at the Sámi University College in Guovdageaidnu/Kautokeino in Norway. 
• PANEL DISCUSSION

Indigenous art or Indigenous artistic expressions in the past and contemporary context covers both practical artistic and theoretical approaches to artistic practices. The aim is to discuss indigenous artistic expressions from a multidisciplinary perspective and in indigenous context.

Artistic research in the North

• Chair: Asthildur Jonsdottir (IS)
• Host: Iceland Academy of the Arts
• ACADEMIC PAPERS

Global communities are constantly in flux. As the world’s population continues to grow, artists are increasingly engaging in the international dialogue on sustainability and the intricately-connected, if not overlapping, issues— environmental, economic, cultural, and social—that surround it. In the Arctic region where we strive for sustainability, it is important to observe and value different forms of knowledge. Creating art is not a meaningless exercise. Instead, one might say that works of art serve as a window that interprets the world. Sustainability is becoming an issue where artistic involvement and creative approaches in education and research could be crucial in creating much needed awareness of our place in the world and the context of our existence and behavior. The participants in this session will be offered to introduce their artistic research/ art-based research, artistic activities or pedagogy that have the potential of opening up diverse understanding and experiences of the Arctic.

Cultural research and research-creation projects in the circumpolar North

• Chair: Daniel Chartier (CA)
• Host: Université du Québec à Montréal

The purpose of this session on “Cultural research and research-creation projects in the circumpolar North” is to bring together artists, writers, curators, organizers of cultural events, professors, researchers and graduate students to enable them to share their expertise, by presenting their projects related to the North and the Arctic. Participants are invited to explain the objectives, interest and assumptions of one of their creation, dissemination or research projects. Projects can address either one of the northern circumpolar cultures, comparative or global aspects of the North, the Arctic or Winter. Whether it is to understand the cultural components of the "Imagined North" or to study particular disciplines (literature, theater, visual arts, design, architecture, cinema, music, or traditional practices), all the projects of study, research-creation, dissemination and research are welcome.The general objective is to review the state of current research, to foster links and contacts between researchers, artists and cultural workers from different cultures of the North and the Arctic, and thus to allow transversal collaboration in cultural studies, and especially between disciplines.

Arctic Design in development and appropriation of the Arctic: Challenges and opportunities

• Chair: Svetlana Usenyuk (RU)
• Host: Ural State University of Architecture and Art
• ACADEMIC PAPERS

One of the main challenges of the present, i.e. sustainable development of the world's regions becomes a truly global issue of a planetary-scale importance in the case of the circumpolar Arctic. In the light of the world trend, i.e. searching for ideas of protecting local ecosystems, creating favorable living conditions and enhancing human wellbeing, the Arctic provides an ideal testing ground for experimenting with the most daring as well as ethically and environmentally friendly solutions with respect to the spatial development of territories, for developing optimal life-support systems, and for protecting and activating the cultural capital of local indigenous communities. It is clear that these tasks are integrative and trans-disciplinary, and, therefore, the key to their successful solution can be found through the creative combination of human- and environmentally oriented attitudes with artistic thinking, based on the methods of technological aesthetics and design. This section invites design researchers to discuss possible contributions into solving topical issues of sustainable development of the Arctic and, in particular, the issue of a strategic transition from the conquest of the Arctic frontiers towards the development of the way of living within these frontiers.

Decolonizing Research Practices in the Arts: Indigenous Methodologies for Engaging Circumpolar Arts Institutions

• Chair: Heather Igloliorte (CA)
• Host: Concordia University Research Chair in Indigenous Art History and Community Engagement
• PANNEL DISCUSSION

Linda Tuhwai Smith argued in her foundational text Decolonizing Methodologies (1999) that although Indigenous researchers—such as curators, professors, museum practitioners, artists and art historians—often train and work in non-Indigenous institutions under specific disciplinary methodologies, they emphasize Indigenous culture and knowledge in their work through a variety of decolonizing strategies. This emphasis is necessary because Western art historical paradigms of pedagogy, research, and exhibition practice are invariably inadequate to describe or present the complexity of Indigenous culture and artistic practices. This discussion will focus on Indigenous strategies for advancing decolonial research and engagement practices within institutions that hold Sami, Inuit, and other circumpolar peoples’ collections, art, and art histories. Affirming the politics of resistance that has sustained Indigenous cultures through to the present day, and acknowledging the critical moment we are in to undertake daring action together to challenge and creatively disrupt the colonial underpinnings of museums, art galleries and universities, this panel invites circumpolar Indigenous arts research-practitioners and their collaborators to share and explore innovative, critical approaches to decolonizing and indigenizing research and engagement in institutional practices. 

Empowering Arctic Women in Industrial Arctic cities

• Chair: Anna Karlsdottìr (IS)
• Host: Nordreggio

The session focuses to discuss young women empowerment in industrial cities in the Arctic through developing cultural and artistic exchange. Mining cities require more men labour than female and are permeated with masculine culture. Gender inequality is rarely problematized and there are only few initiatives supporting women. The session is based on project “Title here” funded by the Swedish Institute and run by Anna Karlsdottìr (IS) with Alla Bolotova (RU). The project will establish network between Swedish artists and Russian who have worked with gender-sensitive art or other creative initiatives. The target group of the project consists of agents of change and opinion-makers who, through culture or the media, work with creative processes to strengthen democratization and human rights. These can be institutions and groups of cultural actors and journalists, other actors within media organisation as well as human rights defenders and political activists, women´s rights groups, youth organisations or other relevant actors who work to increase democratisation and freedom of expression.