What Is Unseen and Missing in the Circumpolar North: Contemporary Art and Indigenous and Collaborative Approaches (original) (raw)
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Bridging science, art, and community in the new Arctic
The Polar Journal, 2020
Although an increasing number of researchers focus on environmental, infrastructural and cultural dimensions of the Arctic, few efforts have been made to address how these various dimensions coalesce and may be changing in concert. 1 Transdisciplinary models of research are critical to address the complexity and magnitude of issues many Arctic communities face-especially due to the impacts of climate change, urbanisation and economic transformation-that a single discipline alone cannot solve. 2 Additionally, the various disciplinary or cultural contexts in which research is undertaken value different ways of knowing. 3 Therefore, recognising and communicating the 'epistemological plurality' inherent in any collective, community-based research is an important first step towards the study and management of socio-ecological systems in the Arctic. 4 In order to further the development of convergent research practice frameworks that can mutually benefit Arctic communities and scholars conducting transdisciplinary research, a three-day symposium entitled Bridging Science, Art, and Community in the New Arctic was held in September 2019 at the University of Virginia (Figure 1). 5 The symposium aimed to develop a network for Arctic residents and researchers pursuing similar goals, facilitate knowledge exchange, and outline research practices that can generate mutual understanding and benefit. It further aimed to catalyse creative forms of communicating knowledge across multiple sectors and disciplines by integrating diverse voices and presentation formats into the symposium structure such as storytelling by Alaskan and indigenous youths, recommended in recent Arctic-focused gatherings. 6 Organised by the University of Virginia (UVA) Arctic Collaboration Lab (Arctic CoLab), within the UVA Environmental Resilience Institute, the symposium convened twenty
Climate Change and the New Polar Aesthetics: Artists Reimagine the Arctic and Antarctic, 2022
I’m excited to announce that the introduction to my new book 'Climate Change and the New Polar Aesthetics: Artists Reimagine the Arctic and Antarctic' is now available online for free to download from Duke University Press. The ebook will be available in October and the paperback version of the book will be out one month later in mid November 2022. Two of the book’s chapters were written with Elena Glasberg, who is the author of 'Antarctica as Cultural Critique: The Gendered Politics of Scientific Exploration and Climate Change.' In 'Climate Change and the New Polar Aesthetics,' Lisa E. Bloom considers the ways artists, filmmakers, and activists engaged with the Arctic and Antarctic to represent our current environmental crises and reconstruct public understandings of them. Bloom engages feminist, Black, Indigenous, and non-Western perspectives to address the exigencies of the experience of the Anthropocene and its attendant ecosystem failures, rising sea levels, and climate-led migrations. As opposed to mainstream media depictions of climate change that feature apocalyptic spectacles of distant melting ice and desperate polar bears, artists such as Katja Aglert, Subhankar Banerjee, Joyce Campbell, Judit Hersko, Roni Horn, Isaac Julien, Zacharias Kunuk, Connie Samaras, and activist art collectives take a more complex poetic and political approach. In their films and visual and conceptual art, these artists link climate change to its social roots in colonialism and capitalism while challenging the suppression of information about environmental destruction and critiquing Western art institutions for their complicity. Bloom’s examination and contextualization of new polar aesthetics makes environmental degradation more legible while demonstrating that our own political agency is central to imagining and constructing a better world.
Journal of Ecohumanism , 2023
This review critically examines Lisa E. Bloom's Climate Change and the New Polar Aesthetics (2022) by studying the book’s key methodological and analytical approaches to contemporary visual art on the poles. I locate Bloom's work as part of a larger discourse on Ice Humanities and highlight her own contribution to the field by focusing on the book's reconfiguration of critical environmentalism through intersectional feminist, indigenous, and transnational frameworks. The review also discusses the dual role of aesthetics in both shaping hegemonic perceptions of the poles and in articulating strategies for their subversion.
Arctic Discourses And Climate Change In Greenland
2012
Welcome from the Under Secretary of Science, SmithSonian inStitUtion Welcome to Washington, to the U.S. National Mall, to the Smithsonian Institution and to the 18th Inuit Studies Conference-the first ever to be convened in the Lower '48! We have planned an exciting and diverse program under the theme: "Learning From the Top of the World." As you are aware, this meeting is being held at a time when the world is undergoing profound changes in climate, biodiversity, and life systems, and these shifts are having major impacts on the world's political, economic, social, and cultural life. These changing conditions and their interrelationships are the grist that will be considered from an Arctic perspective by a host of specialists over the course of four days from 24-28 October. Central to the program will be daily plenary sessions featuring leading researchers and Inuit leaders, a conference banquet, and a closing panel reviewing findings and road-maps for the future. In addition to scholarly symposia, lectures, and presentations, ISC-18 attendees will experience Arctic exhibitions; tour collection, conservation, and education facilities; take part in a film festival and performing arts programs; and consult with government agencies, foundations, and NGOs. Interactive media will bring many conference activities directly to northern communities. The Arctic Studies Center has engaged a wide sector of Smithsonian institutions and staff in ISC-18. On behalf of the entire Smithsonian family and our conference partners we invite you to be part of the Smithsonian's core mission: "the increase and diffusion of knowledge"-and in this case, I mean Arctic and Inuit knowledge! Welcome from the director of the national mUSeUm of the american indian Dear ISC Conference-goers, It is my great pleasure to welcome the Inuit Studies Conference to the National Museum of the American Indian. Inuit feature strongly in our collections, exhibitions, and public programs, and the opportunity to co-host people and their creations this prestigious conference with so many Inuit participants has been warmly embraced by our staff. In addition to attending the opening festivities and scholarly sessions in our museum, please take some time to visit the special exhibition, "Arctic Voyages / Ancient Memories: the Sculpture of Abraham Anghik Ruben," which we have mounted to coincide with your conference. Not only is the exhibition a spectacular demonstration of the creativity of modern Inuit artists; it highlights new discoveries about Inuit connections with other peoples and cultures, topics which will be explored in depth during your meetings here. Welcome all! And remind your friends to explore the NMAI on their next trip to Washington, D.C. Welcome from chair, department of anthropology It is a great pleasure to welcome you to the 18th biennial Inuit Studies Conference and to the Smithsonian Institution. For over three decades the Inuit Studies Conference has served as an important international forum for engaged and meaningful dialogue between northern communities and scholars. This year's conference program and its theme, "Inuit/Arctic Connections: Learning from the Top of the World" promises to continue this longstanding tradition. I wish you all a very successful and productive conference. Welcome from the director, anthropology collectionS & archiveS program Greetings Colleagues, On behalf of my staff and colleagues in the Anthropology Collections and Archives Program (CAP) at the Smithsonian's Museum Support Center, it is my pleasure to welcome you to the 18th Inuit Studies Conference. We look forward to providing you access to one of the richest and most varied collections of northern anthropological materials assembled anywhere in the world. As many of you know, some of the Smithsonian's oldest and most systematic ethnological and archaeological collections are the product of research in Alaska, Canada and Greenland. This includes important mid-to late-nineteenth century artifact collections made by Edward Nelson, Roderick MacFarlane, and Lucien Turner, among many others. These collections are joined by an array of rich cultural, linguistic, photograph, film, and artwork materials held in the National Anthropological Archives and the Human Studies Film Archives. There researchers can access language materials by ethnographers such as Frederica de Laguna, photographs by Henry Collins and Edward S. Curtis, watercolors of Inuit life scenes by Henry Wood Elliott, and historic moving Inuit life by William van Valin (1919) and Father Bernard Hubbard (1938-42). I trust we will learn from each other as you engage our collections during the conference period or in future research visits.
Making Art in the Land of Polar Bears and Lemmings: Art and Science Expeditions in the Arctic
North as a Meaning in Design and Art. Edited by T. Hautala-Hirvioja, Y. Holt & M. Mäkikalli. Rovaniemi: Lapland University Press, 2019, pp. 182–194., 2019
THE EFFECTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE, AND the resulting societal challenges, culminate in the Arctic, where nature is fragile and communities remote. The premise for this chapter is that all potential means, including the arts, should be used to support Arctic nature and cultures in facing these rapid changes. It is based on a discussion of contemporary art that is both benefit-oriented and considers art’s intrinsic value.1 The focus is on collaborations between art and science. The interaction between art and science can be expected to deliver innovative and creative solutions to problems faced by society. The search for solutions focuses on product and service design, on resolving environmental problems, the popularization of scientific results, and on economic growth.