cultural paths
Discovering
Inputs
September 26 / 2020
Discovering Inputs was a focused group meeting with our network partners and invited practitioners. We will be looking at specific merging points that can ignite
meaningful collaborations according to situation, place and resource availability.
The Symposium had two main sections and thematics: Villages, traditions and the times to come, and The transformative agency of experimentation, both following an overall framework around the following three keynotes:
- Scoping meaningful interventions
respecting local knowledge
- Sense making frameworks shaped
into realities
- Activating legacy for cultural resilience
Introduction
The Symposium was held both online and physically at Hyrvas, Rovaniemi, with a morning session of presentations – a dedicated time to hear individual cases and stories – that gave us the ground to expand into afternoon group work sessions.
Common threads, connectivity and scope for collaborations & exchanges were the sole aim in order to draft sense-making and realistic steps ahead to materialise pilot programs in the year ahead.
Villages,traditions
& the times to come
Totto Ry / Heritage Museum Rovaniemi
Established back in 1951 with the intention to foster the cohesiveness, wellbeing and cultural spirit of the local region. The goals of the association include the preservation and dissemination of local cultural heritage history. Toto Ry is the body responsible for running the Heritage and Cultural museum in Pöykkölä, Rovaniemi.
Presently the museum is being developed into a dynamic centre for the learning and revitalisation of traditional culture. Events and programmes are generated in cooperation with local residents, village associations and rural tourism entrepreneurs.
MSL: Association for Rural Culture and Education
An organisation advocating sustainable cultural development in villages across Finland.
It supports pedagogic planning of educational activities and takes part in the execution of training and art projects, facilitates networking among rural entrepreneurs and stakeholders, cross-municipal collaboration and civic engagement, encouraging carbon smartness and sustainable development in rural areas.
MSL provides expertise and resources for those interested in the rural domain and the benefit of their communities.
Since 2019 Nick has been leading a cultural and touristic project Rovdina Gora: With the help from locals and Arkhangelsk creative community they’ve developed a volunteer center, art residence and hold a cultural festival. Next year they plan to start a guest house and “alive boats” museum — a collection of traditional northern boats that will be restored with the help of experienced craftsmen.
Among developing plans, the restoration of a historical windmill at Rovdina Gora village will take place. From summer 2020 Nick also works as the director of the memorial museum of the Russian scientist Michael Lomonosov.
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Irina Volkova and A.N.O Centre of Initiative Support.
ANO “Centre of initiatives support” has been working with local cultural expert, Irina Volkova who established the festival of Pomor Kozulya and culture with 10 annual editions fulfilling its original purpose: To celebrate, validate and bring far reaching attention to the local village and its cultural wealth.
Presently they are looking to develop a new project/festival around fishing traditions in the Nordic region and the historic relationship with Tersky area.
A.N.O - Centre of initiatives support is an independent organisation dedicated to promote cultural projects and sustainable tourism in the city of Murmansk and the rural municipalities of the region.They organise the International Cultural Festival BARENTS BIRDS, an annual platform that provides artists and cultural practitioners from the Nordic countries to meet, exchange ideas and showcase work.
Silvia Colombo
Norrbotten is a vast region located in Northern Sweden that, nowadays, preserves a cultural heritage which is both tangible and intangible. Spread in the whole geographic area, it lays not just in ´official´ museums and institutions and its cultural interest is not systematically recognised.
A lot of ´non-institutional´ places and collections are actually contributing to shape the cultural identity (identities) of the region, preserving and sharing its history and traditions. Given this context, the project aims to focus on alternative cultural circuits based on ´pop-up´ museums and exhibition places, founded by common (non-professional) people interested in collecting ´typical´ objects. Overall, they preserve habits, crafts and local stories able to depict the personal interests of their founders, but also to transmit collective stories and document cultural processes mainly pertaining to the past.
Silvia Colombo is art historian and museum specialist with research interests lying in the fields of the arts, museum and memory studies within a historical-political perspective. She holds a PhD in Conservation of Architectural Heritage at Politecnico di Milano, where she has also been a guest lecturer. Currently, she works at Norrbottens Museum and at the Konsthallen in Luleå
The transformative agency of experimentation
Lunga School is an established independent artist-led institution located in the village of Seyðisfjörður. A fertile initiative where contemporary art practice amalgamates in positive synergy with village community life and culture. Lunga strives to give the students an experimental educational experience as a foundation for further artistic practice and studies, work life and life in general
Born out of an artl performance in Seyðisfjörður, the project developed into an established experimental school and influencer of Iceland educational policy, with Lunga becoming the first Højskole ( Folk High School ) in the country.
Venø Gård KUNST is an initiative aiming to provide a platform for artists to explore, experiment and play in tandem with nature and the community.
A space for dialogue and action away from mainstream culture in the small island of Venøy. The 400 acres Farm ‘Venø Gård’ has been in the Venø family for more than 400 years. Farming on such a small scale is barely sustainable, therefore it is important to find new ways for the land to give sustenance to the community. Their answer is art, which in Norwegian meaning ‘kunst’, one can Kindle, Unite, Nurture and Stimulate Thought.
After a 5 year hiatus, Bjorn and his family are developing the new face of their cherished project.
With inspiration from Norrbotten and with queer perspectives, Ida Isak Westerberg creates tactile sculptural textiles and creations that meets human needs.
By using traditional textile techniques and sustainable materials, Ida seeks for new expressions that go beyond what is expected, how a technique should be used and looked as, and in this way raise questions within the spectator who might not have been there before. As a teacher in arts and crafts Ida is also very interested in having workshops exploring the textile world.
Norrakollektivet
The Northern Collective is an ongoing collaboration between Tomas Örn, Anja Örn and Fanny Carinasdotter
Their work looks at the relationship between industrial activity and nature, especially the changing landscapes ignited by the mining industry.
Since 2016, they have worked together on a project around the Aitik mine, outside Gällivare. The mine and its surrounding landscape have become a projection surface for them to investigate, understand and illuminate mineral extraction and its consequences for man and nature.
Parts of the work have been shown at the Moderna museet, in Stockholm, Kunsthall Trondheim and in the Swedish Arts Council's exhibition Extractions. In 2020, parts of the project is shown in the exhibitions Kiruna Forever, which are shown in parallel at ArkDes, Stockholm and the Art Museum in the North, Kiruna and Human Nature at Sune Jonsson Center for Documentary Photography, Umeå.