Relate North
Art, Heritage & Identity
Edited by Timo Jokela & Glen Coutts
2015 © Authors and the copyright holders of the images.
Layout & Design: Anna-Mari Nukarinen
Lapland University Press
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Contents
Timo Jokela & Glen Coutts
Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Tinna Gunnarsdóttir
Product design in arctic terrain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Antti Stöckell
Spring: An artistic process as a narrative project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Gunvor Guttorm
Contemporary Duodji –
a personal experience in understanding traditions . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
Tuija Hautala-Hirvioja
Relections of the past: A meeting between
Sámi cultural heritage and contemporary Finnish Sámi. . . . . . . . . 78
Herminia Din
A discussion of museum education
in the north: An integrated approach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
Timo Jokela & Päivi Tahkokallio
Arctic Design Week: A forum and a catalyst . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
Valerie Triggs, Rita L. Irwin & Carl Leggo
Walking Art: Sustaining ourselves as arts educators . . . . . . . . . . . 140
First published in Visual Inquiry: Learning and Teaching Art 3(1), 21–34.
Maria Huhmarniemi
Cross cultural meetings and learning in an Art Biennale . . . . . . . 160
Contributor Details . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172
Preface
Timo Jokela &
Glen Coutts
University of Lapland, Finland
T
his is the second collection of essays in the Relate North series. As in
the irst volume (Jokela & Coutts, 2014), we are pleased to present this
anthology, which addresses a diverse range of topics and provides illustrations of practice from several countries including Iceland, Canada, Finland,
Norway and the United States. he publication is made possible because of the
Arctic Sustainable Arts and Design (ASAD) network, which was established in
2011. Since the founding of the network, there has been increasing dialogue
and collaboration between members of the network resulting in a number
of exhibitions, research projects, conferences, and publications. In all of the
contributions to this book, particular dimensions of the central themes in the
title, art, heritage and identity are acknowledged and explored.
he rapidly changing political, social, cultural and educational landscape
around the world has led to a shit in the type of skills that are required of
university and art school graduates. Today’s graduates need to be adaptable,
highly skilled, creative and extremely sensitive to the socio-cultural context in
which they work. Art schools, in particular, have been renowned for allowing
students freedom to pursue their own ideas, whilst providing in-depth
training in practical and crat skills. However, what has been missing in many
art programs has been practice-based learning rooted in the ‘real world’ or
practical experience of socially engaged art education. his is not so much the
case in the design disciplines.
Over the past twenty years or so, in many European countries and in the
US there has been something of a narrowing in the scope of educational provision, especially in the secondary (high) school curriculum and an emphasis on
certain subjects, typically the irst language, science, and mathematics. here
are worrying signs that this is extending to the higher education sector. An
unfortunate consequence of this has been the sidelining of some subjects, and
the potential loss of training in certain basic crat skills, for example, the arts
(art and design, drama, dance and music) have oten found themselves on
the edges of the debate about what skills and experience are important and
relevant to society:
7
… the emphasis on practical and crat making skills has been lost,
while schools are too narrowly assessed and regulated on the basis of
qualiications achieved and university places attained rather than the
depth and intensity of the learning experience. (CiC, 2012, p. 17)
While these changes have been taking place, the world of work has not
been standing still; employers are seeking people who are adaptable, creative problem solvers able to work efectively as part of a team. he so-called
‘creative economy’ (Bakhshi, Hargreaves & Mateos-Garcia, 2013, pp. 26–28)
oten characterised by very small, lexible and interdisciplinary companies,
is an increasingly important sector of many national economies. It is not at
all clear that higher education providers have caught up with the changes
in society and current employment requirements, especially in the creative industries. he ASAD network seeks to identify and share contemporary and innovative practices in teaching, learning, research and knowledge exchange in the ields of arts, design and visual culture education. he
network consists of art, design and art education universities across the
circumpolar area. Combining traditional knowledge with modern academic
knowledge and cultural practices at northern academic institutions represents an opportunity unique to the Arctic and northern countries.
None of us are able to predict what jobs will be available in twenty years
time, so why are we still using methods and content that suited our teachers
30 or 40 years ago? How do we encourage young people to engage with real
world issues and learn to think for themselves? How do we prepare people
for the challenges of living in societies with increasingly diverse demographics, multicultural communities and social challenges if we insist on
sticking to a twentieth century model of education? In short, how well do
schools prepare young people to contribute to society? In many countries, at
least in Europe, business leaders have become increasingly critical of university graduates, citing that they may be very well informed in the disciplines
in which they were trained, but that they are hopeless as team workers and
oten lack initiative or creativity. Educational establishments need to look
not only at what is taught but also how it is taught, and that is where arts
techniques might ofer some potential.
One of the key features of the work that ASAD has been encouraging as
an integral part of its work is the collaboration between educational institutions, local groups and business, the aim being to design and deliver ‘innovative productions’ (Jokela, 2012, p. 7) that research, promote and celebrate
art, heritage and culture. Projects have included, for example, snow and ice
sculpture, multimedia community performances, and heritage based art
(See, for example, Jokela, Coutts, Huhmarniemi & Härkönen, 2013; ACE,
2013; ASAD, 2014). As the dividing lines between ‘community’ ‘mainstream’
‘formal’ and ‘informal’ education become increasingly blurred there is scope
for more research into the place and practice of socially engaged arts. here
is also room for consideration of the potential of art techniques to ‘animate’
learning across the intersections of ‘art’ and ‘education’ in schools, universities and the wider community.
he range of socio-cultural contexts in which ASAD operates is vast and
it is outwith the scope of this book to do justice to all of them. Projects and
individual artists have, for example, focused on traditional and indigenous
ways of knowing; environmental issues, sustainability, service design and
the meeting place between contemporary art and traditional cultures. (ACE,
2014; Coutts, 2012).
It could be argued that the events, artworks and design products featured
in this publication ofer examples of sound art practices on the one hand and
potential learning situations on the other. Furthermore, the notions of participation and co-creation are increasingly to the fore in current educational
thinking. he balance between theory and practice and ‘hands on’ thinking
through making that permeates good practice in art and design, may also ofer
alternative approaches to education (Eisner, 2004). he following collection of
essays, we believe, provide insights to ways of thinking through making from
Sámi contemporary duodji to developing the concept of ‘Arctic design’.
In the opening chapter, Gunnarsdóttir reports on a product design
project conducted in Iceland that sought to investigate, explore and possibly
9
enhance the experience of living in what she refers to as Iceland’s ‘wild’ terrain.
A series of small-scale design interventions were constructed and tested which
related to the notion of ‘being’ or ‘dwelling’. As a product design exercise, three
products were made on the site of an abandoned farm, located in a remote
and sparsely populated area; two could be described as markers and the other
was a drinking vessel. Gunnarsdóttir argues that product design has potential
beyond the utilitarian to enrich the experience of wild places.
he second chapter is also place-speciic and features drinking vessels
and reports on interventions in remote and sparsely populated places, but,
in this case, the perspective is that of an artist. he essay provides a fascinating insight to the work of Antti Stöckell, an artist and academic working
in Finnish Lapland. he artist visited natural springs, took some samples of
water, made sketches, photographs and notes and a traditional birch bark ladle
(tuohilippi). hese elements formed the basis of a sequence of exhibitions that
invited viewers to consider the relationship between artist and place in the
tradition of place-speciic environmental art.
Tradition and in particular, traditional ways of making is central to the
topic of the next essay in which Guttorm, from northern Norway, discusses
her research about contemporary Duodji (Duodji is a Sámi word and the
concept is similar to crat and making). he project was conducted over the
period autumn of 2013 to spring 2014 and her aim was to show how indigenous peoples use diferent relationships as a springboard for the creative
process and how contemporary duodji can be contemplated as personal experience in what it means to duddjot (create duodji). Her essay relects on the
role of women in Sámi society, the work they did in making (in addition to all
the other work) and she highlights the meditative dimension to duodji.
he fourth chapter by Hautala-Hirvioja, also explores dimensions of
Sámi culture this time from the perspective of an art historian. HautalaHirvioja discusses the importance of history and cultural heritage for
contemporary Finnish Sámi art. Her central question is ‘How and why did
Sámi traditional ancient mythology and early ine art inluence Finnish
Sámi art during the last few decades?’. he author traces the developments
in Finnish Sámi art and its links to Duodji by focusing on selected artists to
illustrate some of the ways that contemporary Finnish Sámi art has its roots
in Sámi cultural heritage.
In the next chapter, Din discusses some of the indigenous cultures, historical contexts, and scientiic discoveries of the Circumpolar North through the
lens of museum education practice. he author also touches on environmental
issues arguing that museum education practice ofers the potential to enhance
understanding and raise awareness of ‘multiple perspectives’ and the pressures of change in the region. Din also seeks to encourage debate about using
museum content for educational and public outreach.
In the penultimate chapter, we return to the topic of design and, in particular, the notion of ‘Arctic design’. In this essay Tahkokallio and Jokela report
on Arctic Design Week (ADW), an innovative event held annually in Finnish
Lapland ADW has its origins in the irst design week held in 2009 (then
Rovaniemi Design Week, renamed Arctic Design Week in 2013). According
to the authors, the concept of Arctic design should be understood as actions
aimed at increasing well-being and competitiveness in the northern and
Arctic areas. Arctic design combines art, science, and design for solving the
particular problems of remote places and sparsely populated areas.
Walking art is the subject of the seventh and inal chapter, Triggs, Irwin
and Lego outline a year-long inquiry of walking alone or with close friends or
companions. In the essay, the authors consider how the routes and paths walked
have sustained them as art educators. Individually and collectively they made
art in the broadest sense; photographs, poetry, soundscapes or markmaking
as away of nurturing and sustaining their individual and collective wellbeing
as well as stimulating discussion and generating ideas. In their own own
words ‘[...]is to communicate the ways in which we experienced a rising awareness and interest in mobility and the proliferation of aesthetic practices, and
felt individual sustenance as arts educators, through a walking enquiry.’ (p. 142)
he book concludes with a visual essay. Huhmarniemi describes, using
image and text, the cultural and educational beneits of an art event, the
X-Border Art Biennale. he biennale theme was ‘Borders’ and the interna-
11
tional art exhibition was shown simultaneously in three cities in three countries: Luleå in Sweden, Rovaniemi in Finland and Severomorsk in Russia.
he artists taking part in the Biennale addressed the themes of ‘borders’ and
‘border crossing’ from a variety of perspectives.
ASAD has its genesis in community-based, environmental and socially
engaged art practices, in ASAD we refer to this dimension as Applied Visual
Arts. It has become increasingly clear as we reine the working practises and
operating philosophy of ASAD, that the notion of Applied Visual Arts has
much in common with ‘design thinking’ and the relatively new ield of service
design. Partly as a result of experience gleaned from the ASAD network, a
new master’s degree was launched in 2015 at the University of Lapland that
has a common core, but ofers two specialist routes, Applied Visual Arts or
Service Design; it is called the Master’s Degree in Arctic Art and Design. In
our opinion, the Arctic Sustainable Art and Design network, Relate North
symposia, exhibitions and publications are all worthy components of a celebration of Northern art, heritage, and identity.
Please visit the website for more information:
www.asadnetwork.org
References
ACE, (2014). [Art, Community and Environment resources website] Retrieved from
http://ace.ulapland.i
ASAD, (2014). [Website of the Arctic Sustainable Arts and Design network] Retrieved
from http://www.asadnetwork.org
Bakhshi, H., Hargreaves, I., & Mateos-Garcia, J. (2013). A Manifesto for the Creative
Economy, London, NESTA. Retrieved from: www.netsa.org.uk
CiC, (2012). Creative Industries Council Skillset Skills Group: Report To Creative Industries Council. London: Creative Industries Council Skillset Skills Group. Retrieved
from http://cicskills.skillset.org
Coutts, G. (2012). Design, not Accident. In Tahkokallio, P. (Ed.). (2012). Arctic Design:
Opening the Discussion. Rovaniemi: Publications of the Faculty of Art and Design,
University of Lapland. Series C. Overviews and Discussion. 38.
Eisner, E., W. (2001). Should We Create New Aims for Art Education? Art Education.
Vol. 54, No. 5, pp. 6–10.
Jokela, T. (2012). Art Strengthened by Northern Culture. In Seppälä. (Ed.) Arts, Cultural
Collaborations and New Networks: he Institute for Northern Culture (pp. 7–9).
Tornio: Kemi-Tornio University of Applied Sciences.
Jokela, T. & Coutts, G. (Eds.). (2014). Relate North: Engagement, Art and Representation.
Rovaniemi: Lapland University Press.
Jokela, T., Coutts, G., Huhmarniemi, M., & Harkonen, E. (Eds.). (2013). COOL:
Applied Visual Arts in the North. Rovaniemi: Publications of the Faculty of Art
and Design, University of Lapland. Series C. Overviews and Discussion 41.
13
Product design
in arctic terrain
Tinna Gunnarsdóttir
Iceland Academy of the Arts
his article reports on a design research project that investigated the possibility of dwelling in Iceland's vast areas of wild and semi-wild terrain, through
the lens of product design. Speciically, it attempts to enrich the experience
of dwelling in these areas through product design interventions while maintaining minimal impact on the environment. hree objects were created
through a case study and tested on location: River-Sticks, a pair of ford
markers that can double as walking sticks while crossing the river; Brook-Cup,
a drinking vessel for stream water, and Centre-Pin, a marker that can be placed
in the landscape to mark a new centre for further exploration. he hypothesis
is that product design can enrich the experience of dwelling in wild terrain
and most certainly open up new perspective on the subject matter.
Introduction
With a growing world population, the supply of uncultivated land is dwindling.
his encroachment of human activity into pristine landscapes is of particular
relevance to product designers, who are trained to provide new opportunities within speciic contexts. his article relects upon the vast areas of wild
and semi-wild terrain in Iceland and aims to examine whether and how the
experience of dwelling in these northern areas can be enriched by small-scale
design interventions. When referring to dwelling, I am alluding to Heidegger’s
deinition of “being”, as articulated in his essay Building Dwelling hinking
(Heidegger, 1951/2010).
To explore how product design interventions might enrich the experience
of dwelling in the wild terrain of Iceland, a case study was carried out on an
abandoned farm, Möðruvellir in Héðinsjörður jord (Figure 1). Inhabitation
in the area of the study is extremely sparse. Héðinsjörður was a part of a large
settlement of unoccupied land that took place in Iceland during the 9th and
10th centuries, yet the jord has been considered a marginal area of inhabitation
since records began, and for some time during the late Middle Ages it was only
used as summer pastureland for cattle by the bishopric of Hólar. his changed
in the 19th century, when the population of Héðinsjörður peaked. he jord
15
remained inhabited until the beginning of the 20th century, when Möðruvellir
was the irst of the ive then-extant farms to be deserted in 1903. he other
four were abandoned shortly ater. here has been no formal settlement in the
jord since 1951 (Vésteinsson, 2001).
In the autumn of 2010, two massive road tunnels were opened, connecting two
small towns on the north coast of Iceland. his operation included a highway
crossing the formerly isolated Héðinsjörður. Suddenly the jord that had only
Figure 1. A map of Iceland
showing Héðinsjörður in
red. Made for the project by
Gísli Pálsson.
been reachable by foot or by sea was accessible to everybody. his occasion
initiated discussion in the Icelandic media about the wilderness, deserted
areas, and environmental preservation, both in relation to this jord and to
similar places in Iceland. Although Möðruvellir and Héðinsjörður have their
own story and particularities, the area is geomorphologically typical for the
peninsula it sits on, Tröllaskagi, which is characterized by steep mountains,
deep valleys and basins sculpted over 10,000 years ago by Ice Age glaciers. In
terms of cultural history, it is similar to numerous other areas in Iceland that
were de ulated in the irst half of the 20th century, when society was changing
and farmers abandoned their homes looking for new opportunities in villages
around the coast. his makes Möðruvellir an appropriate case study from
which similar projects could draw when considering dwelling in Iceland's wild
and semi-wild terrain.
Context: land art, landscape, place, space, and product design
Toward the centre of the ield there is a slight mound, a swelling in
the earth, which is the only warning given for the presence of the
work. Closer to it, the large square face of the pit can be seen, as
can the ends of the ladder that is needed to descend into the excavation. he work itself is thus entirely below ground: half atrium, half
tunnel, the boundary between outside and in, a delicate structure of
wooden posts and beams. (Krauss, 1985, p. 277)
In the opening of Rosalind Krauss’s seminal essay Sculpture in the Expanded
Field, she describes Perimeters/Pavilions/Decoys, a work of art by Mary Miss
constructed in 1978. It is a sculpture, or to be precise, an earthwork. During the
1970s the boundaries of ine art were being challenged, by pulling, stretching,
and twisting in an “extraordinary demonstration of elasticity” (Krauss, 1985,
p. 277). A similar ‘boundary stretching’ is now taking place in the design ield
and has been for some time, demonstrating the way “a cultural term can be
extended to include just about anything” (Krauss, 1985, p. 277). he conse-
17
quence is an interesting overlap between diferent ields. In her diagram
of sculpture in the expanded ield, Krauss maps out these “oppositions and
mutual implications of landscape, architecture, and sculpture to explain
the production of artworks that escape categorization according to a single
medium” (Boetzles, 2010, p. 58). Employing the mathematical construction of
the Klein group, Krauss creates a ield diagram through which she introduces
three new terms, where the periphery of landscape, architecture, and sculpture
cross in diferent ways. Although today’s Earth Art has superseded these oppositions, it was an important analysis at the time and it clariies how diferent
ields, or rather their periphery, can be combined to create new ields. Like
art, design seeks to respond to contemporary matters of various sorts, which
results in overlaps similar to those identiied by Krauss. New contact areas are
appearing all the time, cutting across conventional boundaries.
Very few design projects akin to the case study were identiied during
the research. herefore Land Art, which represents an active engagement
with landscape, is one of the ields this project drew upon for a discourse on
what it could be to dwell in the wild terrain of the North. hat said, numerous
product design projects where discovered that deal with similar attitudes but
in a diferent context. Before engaging with these, however, it is important to
articulate how I understand landscape in relation to time, place and space, as
these became fundamental factors in the project.
In his recent book Making, anthropologist Tim Ingold (2013) explores the
idea that the earth is not the solid and pre-existing substance builders take it to
be. It is rather the source of all life. Materials drawn from the earth are eventually returned to it though decomposition, fuelling further growth. In this sense,
the earth is perpetually growing over. With every passing day out in the open,
things keep changing, whether they are manmade constructions or the earth
itself (pp. 77–81). his concept of constant origination is in accordance with the
ideas of Icelandic philosopher Sigríður Þorgeirsdóttir (2010), who points out
in her essay Conversations with Ourselves in Metaphysical Experiences of Nature,
that “there can be no experience of pure and original nature since there is no
such thing” (p. 19). his way of perceiving nature afects the way we associate
with it and helps us to comprehend its temporality, as well as our own, and the
objects we make. Ingold makes this extremely visual when he writes:
Imagine a ilm of the landscape, shot over years, centuries, even millennia. Slightly speeded up, plants appear to engage in very animallike movements, trees lex their limbs without any prompting from the
winds. Speeded up rather more, glaciers low like rivers and even the
earth begins to move. At yet greater speeds solid rock bends, buckles
and lows like molten metal. he world itself begins to breathe.
(as cited in Benediktsson & Lund, 2010, p. 6)
For terminology relating to place and space in landscapes I turn to Martin
Heidegger’s deinitions in his essay Building Dwelling hinking (1951/2010).
He distinguishes between measureable space between locations and the overall
space in which we live. In other words, places are created around things such
as bridges, houses, rocks, or trees, and between these locations space becomes
measureable as a distance from A to B (Heidegger, 1951/2010).
he focus was put on a few selected artists and artworks within the
contemporary Land Art ield who relate to the research in an immediate way.
he irst artist under consideration was Ólafur Elíasson, who has since the
beginning of his career in the early 90s relected on the elements, exploring
our relationship with natural phenomena such as light and water. His works
“expose their own technological qualities, though they are oten centred on
elemental activity such as rainbows, waterfalls, vegetal growth, and the movement and colour of light” (Boetzles, 2010, p. 131). In a conversation with artist
Robert Irwin, published in relation to his exhibition Take Your Time, Elíasson
says: “Artworks are not closed or static, and they do not embody some kind of
truth that may be revealed to the spectator. Rather, artworks have an ainity
with time – they are embedded in time, they are of time” (Elíasson & Irwin,
n.d.). his deinition of the artwork could be applied to design as well, which
welcomes the interpretation of the viewer as an active spectator, as design –
just like art – holds many truths, many ideas, and many possibilities.
19
Figure 2. Ólafur Elíasson:
he New York City Waterfalls, 2008.
Photo: Christopher Burke.
Courtesy of the artist and i8
Gallery, Reykjavik.
In his waterfall project (Figure 2) it seems as if culture and nature meet to
create a new phenomenon, Elíasson states:
Nature as such has no ‘real’ essence – no truthful secrets to be revealed.
I have not come closer to anything essential other than myself and,
besides, isn’t nature a cultural state anyway? What I have come to
know better is my own relation to so-called nature (i.e., my capacity
to orient myself in this particular space), my ability to see and sense
and move through the landscapes around me.
(Elíasson & Orskou, 2004 no page)
his corresponds to Ingold’s and Þorgeirsdóttir’s observation of nature as a
constant low of materials, but also Wylie’s relections about the relationship
between selves and landscapes as “motile relations, an incessant movement of
enfolding and unfolding, openness and enclosing, in which the two implicate
(fold with) and include each other” (as cited in Wall, 2014, p. 140). In his essay
Models are real, Elíasson criticizes how Western societies do not generally
recognize the temporal aspect of space. He says “Space does not simply exist in
time; it is of time” (In Engeberg-Pedersen, 2012). his attitude frees the space
from being a mere background for our actions and renders it “a co-producer
of interaction” (In Engeberg-Pedersen, 2012, no page number). his constant
interplay between space and time and ourselves might connect us in a richer
way to the environment in which we dwell.
Other Land artists and artworks that relate to the design project include
Icelandic artist Hreinn Friðinnsson and his direct but sensitive relection on
the environment. his is highly visible in Attending (Figure 3), which consists
of a small object connecting sky and earth. Last but not least, Richard Long’s
interventions in nature, which are oten ephemeral, but always bear witness to
human interaction with the earth.
Figure 3. Hreinn Fridinnsson: Attending, 1973. 2 colour photographs, 55,5 x 70 cm each.
Courtesy of the artist and i8 Gallery, Reykjavik.
21
Turning to the discourse on contemporary design, the periphery of
design, crat, and art cross in many ways as pointed out by critic, editor and
curator Chantal Pontbriand (2005, p. 7):
Design came to occupy a signiicant place in everyday life in the
course of the twentieth century. But what does the twenty-ist
century hold in store for us? Is design destined to encroach ever
further into the realms of art and crat, as many artistic practices
today seem to suggest?
Product design is a broad concept and like other cultural terms it is constantly
stretching its boundaries. Although product design is oten mass-produced it
can also be made in limited edition or even one-of items. As suggested by
Pontbriand (2005), design has both material and immaterial dimensions; it “is
not only a language but a form of communication and a form of being in the
world” (p. 7). his way of understanding the scope of product design is one of
the underpinnings of this present article.
Þéttsetrið (see Figure 4), a piece by Icelandic designer Hanna Jónsdóttir,
has a strong association to the case study. It is a structure measuring app.
160 x 160 x 160 cm and made from metal proiles, which are galvanized and
Figure 4. Hanna Jónsdóttir:
Þéttsetrið, 2009. Metal structure, 160 x 160 x 160 cm.
Photo: Svavar Jónatansson.
Courtesy of the artist.
inally painted. It raises intriguing questions, such as: are you in fact ever
inside the piece, although you can walk through it and sit inside the frame?
In a conversation with Jónsdóttir (personal communication, June 19, 2014)
she declared that she wanted to create an object that would make peace with
the threat of wide-open space. She is talking about vast areas in Iceland where
little shelter is to be found. he situation she describes is evident in her image
of Þéttsetrið (Figure 4). Geographer Yi-Fu Tuan’s (1977/2001) relection upon
space and place reveals a similar understanding. From the embraced place of
protection and stability, we experience a vast contrast with the open space of
freedom, “if we think of space as that which allows movement, then place is
pause; each pause in movement makes it possible for locations to be transformed into place” (p. 3).
he other design projects examined in relation to this project have a
diferent connection to it, either through their attitude to the design ield or their
direct connection to nature. Spanish designer Martin Azua relects upon the
power that wild nature has to “appropriate the artiicial and leave its mark” in
his design series Natural Finish. he series consists of white ceramic vases let
for one year in riverbeds “during which time they were colonized by mosses
and other organic growths” (Azua, n.d.). Another example of direct interaction
with nature during the design process is a series of furniture objects by English
designer Max Lamb, who produces the pieces from pewter by casting them
directly in the wet sands of his favourite childhood beach in Cornwall.
All these projects have a link to ‘Slow Design’, a term coined by Alister FuadLuke in 2002 when he “raised a rhetorical question whether 'slow design', an
approach predicated on slowing the metabolism of people, resources and lows,
could provide a design paradigm that would engender positive behavioural
change” (Fuad-Luke & Strauss, n.d.). Concurrently, slowLab, a design research
organization and a leading catalyst of the Slow Design movement, was founded
in New York. by Carolyn Strauss. As described by them, the term “Slow Design”
does not refer to a time-consuming process; instead “it describes an expanded
state of awareness, accountability for daily actions, and the potential for a richer
spectrum of experience for individuals and communities” (SlowLab, n.d.).
23
Another important aspect of product design is the expression of intangibles such as feelings, concepts, and the senses. his is highly recognizable in
the work of Japanese designer Tokujin Yoshioka, who believes that “there will
be an end to arranging forms, and that the act of experience will become the
creation itself ” (as cited in Quinn, 2011, p. 164). Yoshioka talks about how the
deinition of design is changing now when all kinds of creative activities (art,
design, and architecture) are discussed in the same voice, through the widespread use of the Internet. Yet as boundaries between professions are blurred,
it is important to acknowledge that although one ield might stretch into
another it does not become the other. I believe this is one of Krauss’ central
arguments in her Klein Group Diagram of Sculpture in the Expanded Field,
which is supported by Renny Ramakers (co-founder and creative director
of Amsterdam-based design company Droog) when she stresses the “inestimable importance for the practice of design… that independent design doesn’t
become alienated from the design context” (as cited in Pontbriand, p. 20).
Methodology: the design process, its frame, and function
he design research was carried out through practice and follows an understanding of practice-led research as “a mode of enquiry in which design practice is used to create an evidence base for something demonstrated or found out”
(Pedgley, 2007, p. 463). As suggested by Pedgley, both the activity of designing
and the objects as outcomes are sources of research data (p. 464). Since the
primary aim of the project was to look for alternative ways to enrich the experience of dwelling in the vast wild terrain in Iceland, rather than establish a
single truth or give a inal answer, a phenomenological approach was deemed
appropriate. his perspective is particularly relevant when dealing with vibrant
living systems such as landscapes that are constantly responding to everything
around them, whether it is an ancient human dwelling, an animal path, or a
landslide. It has in fact been argued that the subjective and objective qualities of
landscape cannot be separated, which is an opinion I agree with (Ingold, 2011,
2013; Jóhannesdóttir, 2010; Tuan, 2008; Þorgeirsdóttir, 2010; Wylie, 2007).
Landscape involves a holistic way of looking at the reality of places
and spaces. Instead of dividing reality into diferent boxes and viewing nature in one box and culture in another, the landscape emerges
through the intertwining of subject and object, of the human and the
land. (Jóhannesdóttir, 2010, p. 115)
he qualitative approach generated interpretive data in the form of threedimensional objects, as well as a sketchbook where the process was documented to enable analysis. Such a framework is founded on the premise that
reality is perceived, experienced, and interpreted by people. here is no absolute reality but rather “multiple realities, each of which is a social construction
of the human mind” (Kane & O´Reilly-de Brun, 2001, p. 19).
Although the case study of Möðruvellir is limited in scope, reactions to
the subject are potentially ininite. In order to clarify the aim and objectives
of the research, and make evaluation more precise, a design brief was created.
hree actions were introduced based on topological and cultural observation
from my previous trips to the site, documented in photographs over the last
eight years. hese consist of crossing the river, drinking from a babbling brook,
and marking a new centre, as explained below.
Crossing the River
To get to Möðruvellir one has to walk from the national road,
crossing Héðinsjörður jord to the stream Stórilækur, which
marks the border between the two abandoned farmlands
Möðruvellir and Grund. his distance is approximately one
km and takes around half an hour to walk. Stórilækur is the
biggest obstacle when entering the land of Möðruvellir from
this side. he design intervention should mark a convenient
place for crossing Stórilækur, in addition to creating some kind
of an aid when crossing it. he object(s) should be made out of
resistant materials that can withstand year-round exposure to
the elements.
25
Drinking from a Babbling Brook
here is a lot of running water in Möðruvellir, originating from
freshwater springs high up in the mountains. his results in
countless brooks babbling down the hills and downs before
they join the main river Fjarðará at the bottom of the valley. he
design task deals with inding and marking a place where it is
good to bend down next to one of the many brooks to take a sip
of fresh water. A cup or vessel should be provided to enhance
the experience of drinking directly from the natural source. he
object(s) should be made out of resistant materials that can
withstand year-round exposure to the elements.
Marking a New Centre
Möðruvellir combines wild nature and the remains of vanished
human culture. Around 97% of the terrain consists of steep
mountains, reaching the height of 1200 meters, while the
remaining 3% is lowland that was cultivated by farmers.
When observing the numerous archaeological indings, which
according to a recent archaeological report include 27 ruins
(Lárusdóttir, 2008, pp. 108–115), one experiences vividly the
temporality of landscapes where nature is little by little overgrowing the traces of human settlement. he aim of the third
design intervention was to mark a new centre, new beginning, which responds in some way with the existing ones – the
numerous archaeological indings. his is impossible to do
without being physically present among the past settlements.
he design task is therefore to create a marker that can be
brought along and used to identify the selected spot. he place
should respond to dwelling, no matter how brief that dwelling
might be. Most importantly, it should be a place you can return
to again and again.
he outcome of the design process, the inal objects, are oten referred to as
design interventions to stress the interaction between them and the site they are
made for. A sketchbook was kept during the design process, where development
of ideas over time was recorded, as well as self-relection and analysis. he inal
stage of the design process was the making of the three-dimensional objects in
authentic materials. he objects were then taken to Möðruvellir, where they were
placed at speciic sites where they were tested and photographed in their “ideal”
setting. his was done in accordance with the design brief that I carried out.
Although the design process is multifaceted and cannot be deined in
brief, certain deinitions are parallel to the understanding and application of
the research project. Spanish architect and author Jose Morales (2008) states
succinctly; “Designing is an action associated with unfolding: everything
occurs through an action that links, associates, puts in contact, joins, and ties
singularities” (p. 644). Another interesting perspective is the understanding
of designers as having “to deal with the ‘halfway’ between people and things”
(Koskinen et al. 2011, p. 8). As pointed out in Design Research hrough Practice,
this understanding comes from Maurice Merleau-Ponty, who noted that in
philosophy the intertwining of the world and people had no name. he words
experience and interaction come close, but Merleau-Ponty preferred to use the
word lesh (Koskinen et al. 2011, p. 12). Indeed the design interventions in
this project aim to capture and enhance this intermingling of people and the
environment – or the body and the world – by creating a thing, a tool; an idea
made lesh.
Results: analysis and evaluation
Two main sources of data were generated during the research, the design
process documented in the sketchbook and the three prototypes. hese were
analysed in somewhat diferent ways. he sketchbook analysis focused on the
design process, whilst the analysis of the prototypes was more concerned with
the design brief. Nevertheless, the two are interdependent enough to render it
diicult to separate the two analyses completely, as may become evident from
27
time to time. Being able to bring the objects to their locations was of immense
importance for the analysis, evaluation and summarizing of the project as a
whole. hrough the detailed microscopic analysis of the sketchbook and the
prototypes it was possible to move to a macroscopic analysis of the project as
a whole.
he design process, like the research process, is a journey in and of it self. It
is oten shown graphically as a circle of thoughts and actions where the designer
moves from one “station” to another. his depiction does not do justice to the
chaotic crossings and detours where many valuable things are discovered and
others dismissed. Charts like these give the impression that all the “stations”
have similar weight, but reality reveals the contrary. One dwells much longer
on certain things while others somehow low with ease. he sketchbook documents several dramatic shits of ideas. he biggest of these was undoubtedly
when I decided to do three smaller interventions rather than one somewhat
Figure 5. he River-Sticks
create places in between
which space becomes
measureable as a distance
from A to B.
Photo: Tinna Gunnarsdóttir.
Figure 6. Crossing the river supported by the River-Stick.
Photo: Tinna Gunnarsdóttir.
more monumental. he irst sketches depict
objects as big as huts, although more transparent. hese where followed by lower but
more massive walls and furniture. At one
point I thought about working directly with
the earth rather than bringing new materials to the land. I soon found this to be too
nostalgic and dropped the idea rather quickly.
Instead I applied contemporary materials
and construction techniques, although some
of them have ancient roots, for instance the
traditional silversmith’s techniques used
to make the Brook-Cup. he sketchbook
analysis reveals that one idea links all the
diferent elements of the book together. he
creation of a place was fundamental, whether
it was by interacting directly with the earth,
building a construction on it, or bringing
along a ready-made piece.
hree autonomous objects were created,
all of which work with the overall aim of the
project to enrich the experience of dwelling
in wild and semi-wild terrain in Iceland.
Although they formed a sequence of crossing
the river, drinking from a brook and inally
marking a new centre, the design process
of the diferent objects was interconnected.
I sought autonomy for each one of them,
however, as well as a group dynamic. his
linear sequence was trigged by the ritualised
linear walks undertaken by Long, but also by
Tuan’s understanding of space as movement
29
Figure 7. Although the cup
is generous in size in relation
to other cups, it seems tiny
in its vast surroundings.
Because of the relective
qualities of the material it
intergrades with its surroundings and from certain
angles even disappears.
Photo: Tinna Gunnarsdóttir.
and place as a pause in the movement. he diferent actions became pauses
during the walk towards the farm mound of Möðruvellir, where the CentrePin was to be placed.
River-Stick (Figures 5 & 6) responds to the action of crossing the river. It
also function as marker for the ford. he object is therefore both a place-maker
and an aid when crossing the river; it is both static and mobile. It is made from
aluminium, which is a highly resistant material that endures the outdoors for
years without deteriorating. he handle is embossed with a texture that makes
a steady grip. he length of the handle, 36 cm, is intended to make it practical for people of diferent heights. he red colour of the handle is chosen to
contrast with its green surroundings and thus work as a marker. he sharp
pin at the end of the stick is made out of stainless steel, as aluminium would
be too sot to withstand the pressure. he stainless steel pin is the only solid
material in the stick, while the rest is made out of tubes, which are anodized
for extra surface resistance. Other characteristics of the sticks are more subjective, and a visit to Möðruvellir revealed some new ones.
he two sticks create a measurable space between them, echoing
Heidegger’s deinition of places as emerging around things, and between those
places space becomes measureable. his efect is somewhat intensiied by their
mechanical appearance, which is reminiscent of measuring devices.
When crossing the river, the sticks proved even more useful than anticipated. hey give a irm grounding during the balancing act of crossing a river.
A considerable amount of weight can be put on them, which makes the wading
much easier on bare feet. Crossing the river supported by the stick was experienced as a digniied act, as the danger of falling into the running water was
dramatically decreased. River-Stick responds to the threat of wide-open space
as declared by Jónsdóttir. Like Þéttsetrið (Figure 4), the sticks frame the landscape and give you something to hold on to in the wide-open expanse. Just like
Þéttsetrið, they work as an emotional shelter, one that does not necessarily need
walls and roof. hey also accentuated the beginning and the end of the passage.
Brook-Cup (Figures 7 & 8) found its place on a lat stone next to a brook
that has dug itself into the earth, forming a tiny canyon. It has a strong low of
Figure 8. Brook-Cup is
made of silver in the shape
of a pentagon.
Photo: Tinna Gunnarsdóttir.
31
Figure 9. Centre-Pin is hand
made from hardwood.
Photo: Tinna Gunnarsdóttir.
crystal-clear water. he cup is shaped like a pentagon and made out of silver,
which is highly resistant to bacteria. he material is also beautifully relective. he cup weighs around 350 gm and is eight centimetres in height. It has a
steady handle to make it easy to dip it into the running water.
he shape is intended to relect the variability of its rich surrounding. It
was inspired by Elíasson’s tremendous work with polygons (1998, 2012) and
their latent qualities, as well as by his relection on the elements. I wanted to
see if I could bring culture and nature together in this small object. On site,
the Brook-Cup brought out a certain playfulness. It was tempting to move it
around to create a kind of cinematic efect through its variegated simultaneous
relections. It is a digniied experience, drinking from it, where multiple relections of landscape, sky and man are juxtaposed in a collage of human and
nature. he Brook-Cup, unlike the River-Sticks, is in a secret place; unlikely to
be found by anybody who doesn’t know where to look for it. It bears a resemblance to Attending (see Figure 3) by Hreinn Friðinnsson, both in relations to
Figure 10. Centre-Pin creates new perspectives.
Photo: Tinna Gunnarsdóttir.
size and the relective quality of the material,
and not least in the way both pieces draw
attention to their immediate surroundings.
Centre-Pin (Figures 9 & 10) marked
the inal destination, both in terms of the
design process and the sequence of the
objects taken to location. As conveyed by
former inhabitation, this is a good location for dwelling. Its location is deep in the
valley, approximately one hour’s walk from
the highway, with fantastic views to the
waterfalls of Ámá across the river Fjarðará,
towards the sea, and into the narrow valley.
he ground is irm but sot, covered with a
mixture of delicate grass, lowers, and decorative straw. here is also an abundance of
wild blueberries, bilberries, and crowberries
in the area. he aim of this part of the design
brief was to mark a new centre, materialised
in an object. As suggested by Heidegger,
places are created around things, such as a
bridge, a house, a rock, or a tree, and in this
case a wooden pin. A more contemporary
reference to this task is that of dropping a
virtual pin in various map applications in
the digital world. From the virtual object,
an analogue version was made to be taken
to Möðruvellir.
he pin is sculpted out of solid hardwood. he material was chosen to counteract the coolness of the metals used
in River-Stick and Brook-Cup. Whereas
33
the irst two interventions associate with water this one relates to the
earth. It is 50 cm in height, the sphere is 14 cm in diameter and it weighs
1600 gm. It is likely to erode over time, like the former centres located within
each archaeological inding.
he Centre-Pin is more embedded in time than the other two objects
created for the project, both because of its material, which is not as resistant
to time as the metals, and because of its ainity to the former settlement. One
is likely to spend more time around this place than the other two, as it functions as a base for dwelling. It relates to Elíasson’s observation that space does
not simply exist in time, but is of time. he project also shares Tokujin’s future
concept of design, where the experience becomes the creation: the core quality
of Centre-Pin is the action of bringing it along to create a new centre. From
there a place will emerge, unfolding contingent processes as time goes by.
Conclusion
Investigating dwelling in Iceland’s vast wild terrain through the lens of product
design opened new perspectives on the subject. As the literature reveals little
emphasis on product design for wild terrain, this could indeed be a potential
new ield for product designers to invest in. In my own view, the concept of
dwelling in wild terrain could be augmented tremendously through product
design, not only because of its low impact on the environment but also by
its observational approach, its search for new possibilities, new experiences,
“forging fresh directions for tomorrow” (Quinn, 2011, p. 12).
he intermingling of man and the world that Merleau-Ponty refers
to as “lesh” is materialized in the three objects created for the study. hey
connect human and nature through action and demonstrate collectively
that the experience of dwelling can be enriched in various ways by product
design interventions. Not only do the objects intertwine human and nature
but also the diferent places created around each object, creating an invisible
line of measurable space between the diferent locations. hese are some of
the agencies carried within the objects, but more are likely to emerge with
time, caused by diferent interactions between them, the landscape and the
engagement of man. It is my belief that small-scale product design processes
might enrich environmental awareness, which is one of the key factors for a
sustainable future.
Further research might look into the enormous commons or national
parks in Iceland and involve the unknown traveller rather than the private
landowner, as was the case in this investigation.
References
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natural-inish/
Benediktsson, K., & Lund, K. (Eds.). (2010). Conversations With Landscape.
Farnham: Ashgate.
Boetzkes, A. (2010). he Ethics of Earth Art. Minneapolis: University of
Minnesota press.
Eliasson, O. (1998). Your compound view [sculpture]. Retrieved from http://olafureliasson.net/archive/artwork/WEK101561/your-compound-view.
Eliasson, O. (2012) Face surveyor [sculpture]. Retrieved from http://olafureliasson.net/
archive/artwork/WEK107929/face-surveyor#slideshow.
Eliasson, O. & Irwin, R. (n.d.). Take your Time: A Conversation. Take your time: Olafur
Eliasson. Retrieved from http://www.olafureliasson.net/publications/download_
texts/Take_your_time.pdf
Eliasson, O. & Orskou, G. (Eds.). (2004). Inside the Spectacle. In O. Eliasson, Olafur
Eliasson: Minding the World (pp. 17–32). Aarhus: ARoS Aarhus Kunstmuseum.
Engeberg-Pedersen, A. (Ed.). (2012). Never Tired of Looking at Each Other – Only the
Mountain and I: Olafur Eliasson. London: Koening Books.
Fuad-Luke, A. & Strauss, C. (n.d.). he Slow Design Principles. Retrieved from http://
www.slowlab.net/CtC_SlowDesignPrinciples.pdf
Heidegger, M. (1951/2010). Building Dwelling hinking. In Krell, D.F. (Ed.). Martin
Heidegger: Basic Writings (pp. 239–255). London: Routledge Classics.
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of the Beholder. In K. Benediktsson & K. Lund (Eds.). (2010). Conversations With
Landscape (pp. 109–123). Farnham: Ashgate.
Ingold, T. (2013). Making. London: Routledge.
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Kane, E. & O´Reilly-de Brun, M. (2001). Doing your Own Research. London: Marion
Boyars.
Koskinen, I., Zimmerman, J., Binder, T., Redström, J. & Wensveen, S. (2011). Design
research through practice. London: Elsevier.
Krauss, R. (1985). he Originality of the Avant-Garde and Other Modernist Myths.
Cambridge: MIT Press.
Lárusdottir, B. (2008). Fornleifaskráning í Hvanneyrarhreppi II: Minjar í Siguluirði (sunnan Siglujarðarbæjar og austan jarðar), Hérðinsirði og Hvanndölum. (Archaeological Survey. Archaeological inds in Siglujörður, Héðinsjörður and Hvanndalir).
Reykjavík: Institute of Archaeology Iceland.
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Architecture (p. 644). New York: Actar.
Pedgley, O. (2007). Capturing and analysing own design activity. Elsevier vol. 28 (5),
463–483.
Pontbriand, C. (2005). Design. Parachute, vol. 117.
Quinn, B. (2011). Design futures. London: Merrell.
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University of Minnesota Press.
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(Archaeological Survey. Tunnel between Ólafsjörður and Siglujörður). Reykjavík:
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and Representation (pp. 128–145). Rovaniemi: Lapland University Press.
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(pp. 13–26). Farnham: Ashgate.
37
SPRING:
An artistic process
as a narrative project
Antti Stöckell
University of Lapland, Finland
Introduction
In this article, I review an artistic process as a phenomenon covering various
areas of life and diferent disciplines through a hiking art project that I started
in the spring of 2013. he working method in the Spring project was simple:
I visited springs either deliberately or for some other reason when hiking in
the countryside. I took some water from the spring in my bottle, observed
and documented, and made a traditional ladle of birch bark (tuohilippi) by
the spring. I have built an installation of these elements and exhibited it in
three exhibitions. My study belongs to the tradition of environmental art in
which the core questions concern the relationship between art and artist, and
the place and the place-bound work in relation to the exhibits created through
the process.
Two theoretical viewpoints direct my analysis of the artistic process.
Karjalainen’s (2006) topobiography, that represents the ield of cultural geography, analyzes the biographical meanings related to places. A theory of narrative circulation which is famous in the ield of social psychology and well
known in Finland especially by Hänninen (2003; 2004), provides a deeper
relection on the meaning of narration and narratives—which is present also in
topobiography—in the construction of self and identity. I use these viewpoints
to form a picture of interaction between a human being and place. In addition,
I view the process from the perspectives of a few other disciplines. hey include
Paulaharju’s (1922) cultural-anthropologically and ethnographically tinted
narratives, Suopajärvi’s (2001) sociological analyses of environmental debates
in Lapland, and Leopold’s (1999) environmental-philosophical ethics of land—
without forgetting the groundwater-geological, hydrological and hydrobiological perspectives of springs and the phenomenon of water cycle.
As a whole, this multidisciplinary analysis can be called a survey of a
place, which also follows Karjalainen’s (1999) idea of the objective, subjective,
and textual dimensions of place—a place is analyzed as the landscape of a land,
mind, and language. Applying this deinition, I analyze springs as natural scientiic places, then as lived experiences, and inally as narratives that also combine
39
Figure 1. Feelings from the irst springs at bright summer night in the beginning of the project.
he cloudberry bloomed, Wood Sandpiper and a lone Black grouse sang. Photo: Antti Stöckell.
the previous levels. In the artistic process and products consequently created,
such as in the installations in exhibitions, these viewpoints merge together.
he initial reason for the relection on my own artistic process is my work
as an art educator in the contexts of education and research. In my opinion,
this kind of project supports the developmental and teaching work of art-based
environmental education and enhances the supervision of artistic processes.
An artistic process can unify the fragmented everyday reality and one’s
experience of it into a sensible collage of meanings. Based on this experience, I will inally expand my viewpoint to cover the needs and possibilities of
applying art among people and communities of the Arctic area.
The hiking artist’s relationship with the environment
Walking has been characterized as the irst form of a human being’s aesthetic
and creative action (Careri, 2002). he continuum of art can be viewed across
centuries from the viewpoint of the relationships with environment, but it was
not until the last century when walking or traveling became a signiicant part
of the artistic processes of some artists’ and groups’ work.
Alongside the concept of environmental art, which emerged in the 1960s,
there have been some other terms to describe the diversity and variety of art
produced in a certain, ixed place. It was also the time of environmental awakening. Landscapes were re-entering modern art. Hiking or walking art emphasizes literally movement or traveling as the crucial element of a product and its
birth. In addition to environmental art, artworks featuring walking have been
included in performance, sculpting, conceptual, or land art.
I use the concept of hiking art because it is not too restrictive about the
method of moving. I accept all possible ways of moving that are based on
muscular strength as hiking art. hen, the body and senses become emphasized in the perception of environment and experience of human limitations.
Walking has a strong position in this artistic ield. In the northern snowy areas,
you can walk half of the year, while the other half you have to ski, if you want
to go to places without roads
41
he combination of hiking and art makes one contemplate the relationship with environment and the meanings of related concepts. Environment
can be analyzed as a societal and administered entity and as a scene of the
exercise of power, under the inluence of which people live their everyday lives.
he lived environment, for its part, is deined from the viewpoint of a human
experience; then, the meaning of the place and subjective place-bound experiences become emphasized. Places form a network with routes between them.
(Jokela & Hiltunen, 2014.) Ingold describes places as knots and their threads
as the hiker’s routes (Ingold, 2011). In hiking art, the journey between places
has to be seen as the core.
I focus on springs that can be accurately located. My arrival at each spring
is tinted with my experience of the journey. I have planned the route, practiced
orienteering, lost my breath, struggled, and enjoyed the views and varying
experiences of spaces within the architecture of woods, swamps, and hills.
Ingold (2011) describes the hiker’s movement as forming the relationship with
the land and as a line proceeding into the world and the tip of the line going
ahead of the hiker (Ingold, 2011). In a ready path, the tip of the line has only
one direction but, in a pathless terrain, the hiker’s senses become sensitive to
all possible hiking directions provided by the terrain. he interactive nature of
the relationship with environment is emphasized in the movement.
Moving by muscular strength means reading the terrain, places, and landscape with one’s whole body and then the dynamic nature of observation is
accentuated. According to Anttila (1989), a human perception does not know
stopping—even the eyes have to move constantly in order for us be able to see
(Anttila, 1989). Corporeal, spiritual and holistic experiences are all highlighted
in the physicality of hiking, and this way hiking creates prerequisites of humanscale life and experience. he hiker’s exhaustion, fatigue, and even pain outline
the limits of the lived environment and give full meaning to the notion of rest.
Walking or skiing as pleasing primary activities can also release the
hiker’s mind to the territory of memories, mental pictures, and prospects.
Keskitalo (2006), who has been developing a walking method, explained how
the relaxed state resulted from the meditative continuation of movement had
revealed unforced intuitive and conscious understanding about the research
target (Keskitalo, 2006).
From the pedagogical point of view, work applying hiking art means, at
its simplest, a hike or trip by muscular strength outside the formal, everyday
or routine learning environment. he multisensory, bodily, and active state
created by walking can also be seen as a moving learning environment (Keskitalo, 2006; 2012; Kortelainen, 1995) that enables not only personal contemplation but also interaction between other walkers.
A spring as a natural scientiic, lived and presented place
I dived into the forest from the swamp; the tree stand became thicker
and lusher, the terrain went down like a kettle. here it was again, the
extraordinary power source, a spring. It was white in the beam of the
forehead lamp, a steady round place embroidered by frost with a black
glittering eye in the middle. he winter solstice was already close;
winter frosts of -30 degree Celsius had just passed. Clear water welled
from the bosom of Mother Earth toward the land surface keeping this
little place unfrozen. I reached over the spring, adjusted the beam of
the forehead lamp to a clear spot, and looked inside the spring’s eye.
he chips of sand on the bottom rippled and sparkled sotly as water
welled from the bowels of the earth. (Blog, January 3, 2014)
he natural scientiic viewpoint necessitates that one familiarizes with the
phenomenon of ground water cycle from the perspectives of ground water
geology and hydrobiology. In a long-term thematic process, one’s knowledge accumulates little by little by following various sources of information,
by observations during hikes to springs, and by comparing these observations with theoretical information. his process can be called an objective
surveying of place (Karjalainen, 1999) with all related classiications and
measurements.
43
In terms of groundwater geology, a spring is a place where the surface of
groundwater reaches the surface of land (Korkka-Niemi & Salonen, 1996). In a
wider sense, springs are a part of the great system of the water cycle. Groundwater develops mostly when rain water absorbs in the ground. he absorbing
water drives the underground water masses to move when water in cycle
goes toward places of discharging or resurgence (Mälkki, 1999). Finland is
called the land of thousand lakes. However, we have three times more ground
water than the visible surface water in these thousand lakes. Finnish springs
are usually typiied as creek springs, depression springs, and seepage springs
that are more diicult to notice. A net of springs is oten a combination of the
aforementioned types of springs and includes also a border area with its typical
plant species (Juutinen & Kotiaho, 2009). In addition, groundwater discharges
to waterway directly from the river and lake beds. he discharging groundwater that is rich in oxygen is vital, for example, to the successful spawning
of salmoniformes living in rivers. he quality of groundwater is signiicantly
determined by land use.
he basic map of Finland includes about 30,000 marked springs. here
are many other unmarked springs waiting to be found in the terrain. Except
for the North-Finland, most of the Finnish spring areas have been either
totally destroyed or changed due to various land uses. (Juutinen & Kotiaho,
2009). According to my observations, this has also happened to many springs
marked on the map in the area of Rovaniemi. Natural springs are therefore a
northern treasure and a special feature to cherish.
As groundwater is discharging continuously, springs are unfrozen in
the winter. In the summer, the small-scale climate created by the cool water
provides a habitat for special species that is richer than in elsewhere in the
surrounding environment. Deterioration or dissipation of the natural state of
springs decreases the diversity of nature. his also leads to the decline of the
spirit of the place (see Relph, 1984), which, for its part, inluences the quality
of the space-speciic experiences. his is how the focus of analysis turns from
the objective natural scientiic emphasis to the ield of subjective experiences
of places.
Figure 2. he traditional
birch bark ladle is easy to
make. Cut a round piece
of the birch bark. Fold it as
cone. hen press the birch
bark cone into half cut stick
end. Making the practical
and beautiful birch bark ladle makes drinking of spring
water a festive moment.
Photo: Antti Stöckell.
What makes springs so lively and attractive? Clean, lowing water is already
a widely fascinating element. When at a spring, I am at the starting point of
this phenomenon. he location of a spring is always accurate. It is like a power
source point on a map and comprehensively experienced in the actual place.
An experienced person can see from a distance where the spring is. he usually
thicker lora at the border area and more low-lying surface than the surface of
the surrounding terrain draw the hiker towards the power area of the spring.
he spring inspires one to think about the underground world. By the spring,
one starts to wonder the caverns of groundwater and how it iltrates through
the layers of ground. Ground is a living organism with many vital phenomena
happening under the surface of ground all the time. Furthermore, that clear
liquid welling from the spring is fresh and cold, it quenches the walker’s thirst,
and gives new strength to continue the trip.
When one personally experiences the adventurous power of a spring, it is
not diicult to understand why springs have had an important role in various
cultures as places of many kinds of beliefs and rites. In addition to objective
45
and subjective analyses, the place can be approached from a textual perspective that highlights cultural meanings. A textual place covers representations
of the place and landscape and conventions to see or illustrate the landscape as
something. hus, place-related narratives are emphasized (Karjalainen, 1999).
Paulaharju (1922) describes the water people in the bottomless peculiar
lakes (Saivojärvi). he people were the sprites of water who had to be respected
if one wanted to catch prey from these ish illed lakes. Like human beings, the
sprites were of two kinds, rude and friendly ones. Greedy ishermen got their
share of the horrible sprites’ tricks, whereas the sprites only were friendly to
those ishermen who blessed the water. he same lake water welled to springs
and absorbed the wonderful, healing powers of the ground in itself. Many
springs were used for healing purposes of various conditions; people would
dip, say the right words needed in the spring in question, and ofer money
or other metal items as a sacriice. Instead of dipping, the healing power of
some springs took efect inwardly, by drinking the water (Paulaharju, 1922).
he belief in the healing powers of springs has occurred across Europe; which
is manifested by the health spas built by springs. Likewise, the abundance of
mineral water in the market originates from the same phenomenon (KorkkaNiemi & Salonen, 1996).
A quite recent example of the cultural meaning of springs is the debate
over the exploitation of the Sulaoja Spring in Enontekiö. he municipality’s
intentions to make it possible to build a commercial water bottling planet
nearby the spring strongly conlicted with the Sámi people’s understanding
about the spring as a holy place. Due to the strong opposition, the municipality of Enontekiö withdrew from the project.
Before tourism “found” the beauty of the nature of Lapland, Lapland
could be seen only as a desolate, barren area. he landscape as presented in
a cultural text changes in shape over time (Karjalainen, 1999). Even the same
modern landscape is looked at in many ways. Keskitalo (2005), who has
studied the relationship between a journey and its description in some Finnish
artists’ works, writes about diferent looks that have their own cultural history.
An explorer, hiker, tourist or artist looks at the scenery diferently. Depending
on ‘gaze’, it is possible to ind classiiable objective facts, admirable beauty of
nature, historical authenticity, anti-places or ideological mental images in the
same landscape. Diferent kinds of gaze produce diferent stories about journeys and places (Keskitalo, 2006).
I have now looked at springs as “landscapes of land, mind, and language”,
at the levels of objective, subjective, and textual analysis as they were named
by Karjalainen (1999). hese levels are still present when I focus my viewpoint
next on the biographical meanings of the constructed place-bound identity of
journeys and the artistic process.
Springs in the network of biographical places
I looked for the North Star from the ladle of the Big Dipper, and
headed my skis slightly to the let. My trail crossed intentionally a fox’s
pearls-like trail and hares’ paths, my mind was occupied by the merging images or expectations of the forthcoming and reminiscing of the
past. Just like our eyes see lines between the stars, we weave together
fragments of memories into our own narratives.
When traveling from a spring to another, I can create a new parallel
thread of a story complementing other important place-bound stories.
Places have a signiicant role in our lives’ stories. According to Leena
Krohn (1993) "When we remember times and places, we remember
ourselves.” (Blog, January 18, 2014)
Places have an important role in everyday life. Karjalainen (2006) has created
the fascinating new word ‘topobiography’ to describe the biographical
meaning of places. he concept of place is essential due to the simple reason
that the world exists to us via our senses. We remember what we experienced
as bodily creatures in some place of the world. hese memories mould our
identities or selhoods (Karjalainen, 2006).
47
Language and time have a central role in the formation of place-based
meanings and, irst of all, in remembering. A narrative structures places and
events into a chronological continuum. Narration structures fragmented and
even scattered memories into a complete picture. (Karjalainen, 2006) herefore, it is a process that produces meanings actively.
In addition to place-bound memories, we have also future-oriented
expectations regarding places. Karjalainen states that “a narrative identity is a
Figure 3. he spring water bottles and birch bark ladle in North-Finnish Art Biennale
at Gallery Valo, Arktikum, Rovaniemi 2014. Photo: Antti Stöckell.
dialogue between remembered and expected places” (Karjalainen, 2006, p. 89).
According to Tuan (2006), our sense of selhood is dependent on the stability
of our important places. What will my important places be like in ten years?
Will my narrative have the kind of continuity I wish?
Within the familiarity of everyday life, places hide from us and become
again visible when something changes around us As we become accustomed
to the change, the place starts to have habituated meanings, which means that
the place is reforming and hiding again gradually. Karjalainen calls the aforementioned experiential relationships existential moods of places. (Karjalainen,
2006). Hiking breaks the course of everyday life where days repeated very
similar. However, I do not lead a set, routine everyday life where places hide
like they do during work commutes or trips to grocery stores. I reminisce
about trips and moments during my hikes, I travel in places of my memories.
Simultaneously, I hope that terrains and places that please me will stay. Change
and the passage of time are at the centre of the dialogue between remembered
and expected places. Ater my Spring project had been going on for two years,
I had oten visited the same springs. When observing the changes in springs
and landscapes, the hiker starts to think about his own life and its changes.
One of my favourite places is threatened by a mine investment plan. My visits
to this region have become more frequent, and I have traveled the old camps
and camp-ire places as if to collect memories to a secure depository.
Artistic action in a place can be the conscious making of a change when
the place becomes visible and the place-bound experience is formed through
an active conscious process. Artistically orientated traveling and action are like
an intervention that catalyze transitions and cycles between the moods of place.
Visits to springs as a narrative project
A human being produces the meaning of his or her life with narratives, and
also reconstructs the meaning of life in times of changes (Hänninen, 2003).
When I started this project, I pondered how to combine various areas of life
and roles within this one activity. According to the concepts of narrative cycle
49
theory, these various areas and roles can be called parallel and even contradictory inner narratives where a human being interprets his or her life through
narrative meanings. he interpretation can proceed through relection and
inner dialogue to the awareness that it is exactly the question of narratives.
Future-oriented inner narratives are called narrative projects (Hänninen,
2003). When reminiscing my spring visits and expecting and planning new
ones—but especially when actually hiking—my mind voluntarily operates
with inner narratives and narrative projects, articulating observations, atmospheres, experiences, meanings and constructing the conscious narrative.
A narrative, in this sense, is a linguistic or visual presentation usually with
a plot including a beginning, middle and end. My blog postings are oten presentations that follow the familiar plot of a narrative. Compacting a long-term
artistic process into one spatial artwork is a very interesting task. I have to
make many choices: what to tell, how to tell, and what to leave untold. A narrative becomes the narrative only when it has a receiver. his is also close to the
Figure 4. he Coordinates
of the spring, temperature
of the water, map, photograph, and some experiential
observation from that spring
are appearing through the
spring water, relecting the
stratiication and wealth of
the experience. “I was ishing
at night. I got smoked ishes.”
Photo: Antti Stöckell.
idea of a dialogue. Varto describes an artwork as one address in a dialogue
which is received through various senses:
Artwork as an address becomes the concreter part of a dialogue the
richer and equivocal it is. Varto names dimensions of dialogic conversation: When listening dialogic speech we can hear incompleteness,
multisensory, bodiliness, visuality, and aspiring to form a holistic
picture. (Varto, 2007, pp. 63–64)
Let the pursuit of a holistic picture be enough and let the narrative remain
incomplete—then, the dialogue with the artwork is the most fruitful. Indeed,
this kind of project that is meant to be continuous truly is incomplete; and I
refer to this with empty bottles in my installation (Figure 3). hey symbolize
open endings where the narrator—in this case, the artwork—does not want to
say the last word but leaves room for various and individual interpretations.
he starting point of a narrative cycle is the situation formed by the entity
of a human being’s life situation, including opportunities and limitations to
realize narrative projects. he situation changes with action (Hänninen, 2003).
he Spring project has been a meaningful process and a narrative project
to me. I partly feel that I have succeeded in combining the conlicting inner
narratives of my everyday life and future-oriented narrative projects based
on them. My situation that is based on my life situation has not dramatically
changed, but some parts of it that I earlier experienced as limitations started to
appear as opportunities. he Spring project continues in my hunting, ishing,
and berry picking trips, and when trekking with my family. his is how I have
managed to combine the roles of a man, father and artist. In the topographical sense, I have been able to travel repeatedly in places important to me, and
the dialogue of the related memories and expectations mould my narrative
identity. hese experiences have enabled the change resulting from the artistic
process and change-inspired narration to happen. his positive experience
also motivates my teaching and research work. For example, as a supervisor of
environmental and communal artistic processes, I now understand better than
51
before how people attach to the place they live in and how their action in their
life situations can be inluenced by conlicting narrative projects.
I also consider that this review addresses the topical question of the possibilities for art in the North. Art might also be useful as a support and a tool for
processing dramatic environmental change. I am going to act through hiking
art with people who are worried about the mining plans in Lapland. In the
most extreme case, people lose, once and for all, places that are important to
their identities. My idea is to participate in those natural chores due to which
people act in places they ind important. Artistic action that pays attention to
topobiography meanings and the narrative circulation can make a signiicant
part of supporting the processing of changes.
Art as a narrative,
a narrative as a transmitter and reformer of heritage
Narratives are a part of our core heritage. However, we also need new narratives in the changing world. In the narrative cycle, individual people collect
elements in their inner narratives from the social stock of cultural stories and
narrative models (Hänninen, 2003). he question of identity and heritage is
strongly connected to this: How can we enrich our cultural stock of stories
artistically so that it will provide sustainable elements for the future-oriented
narrative projects of individual people and communities within the change of
the Arctic area? here are numerous paths and models, and they are all diverse.
Impressed by springs and the phenomenon of the water cycle, I especially
think of the increasing international interest in the massive exploitation of the
natural resources of Lapland. In local media readers opinions – and at times
even editorials – can be found the typical comments on how “there is land for
all uses in Lapland" or "you cannot live here if everything has to be protected.”
In the Talvivaara mine in Sotkamo, water management failed catastrophically in 2012 when the mine dam broke and one million cubic meters of water
containing chemicals lowed without puriication to surrounding water system.
he consequences expanded to a wide area through the water cycle. Despite
these episodes, the belief in the progressiveness of modern technology in new
projects still appears strong.
Interpretations about the massive exploitation of natural resources that
follow the discourse of development are, however, also constructed, and
socially produced structures that shape perceptions of the world. hese structures also exist in language. We speak the language but the language also
speaks us. For the most part, communication consists of agreed, conventional
meanings that we are not necessarily aware of or do not at least dispute, or
whose contents are not negotiable (Suopajärvi, 2001). Salonen (2010), who is
an expert in environmental psychology, suggests that we do not necessarily
even recognize experiences that are not in accordance with the language and
thinking of our culture.
he struggle over the control over natural resources and land in the Arctic
area and deinition of cultural rights does not only happen between various
and opposite interest groups. For example, as a local inhabitant of Rovaniemi,
I do recognize (in addition to my inner narratives of the typical life situation)
balancing conlicting inner narratives in relation to the ways and extent of the
exploitation of natural resources. In my inner narratives, I compare various
prevailing discourses and narrative models. What are those narratives like that
inspire people to make the socially and ecologically sustainable choices, which
respect cultural heritage but also renew it? Is it possible to use art to mediate
between conlicting perspectives?
Artistic action pursuing a desired change should also create new language
that challenges the prevailing discourses and that speaks to modern people
and communities in their own life situations and life environments. his
would provide a good premise for the development of narratives that renew
and transmit sustainable cultural heritage.
The cycle of water, narratives and energy
Reviewing the cycle of water and narratives side by side has led me to contemplate the inseparable connection—or unity—between people and land and
53
how to illustrate the connection. In his ethics of land, Leopold (1999) draws
a third picture of the cycle to us. Since I have been working in the ield of
community art education, I am used to thinking only of communities formed
by people. Instead, Leopold talks about the biotic community formed by the
ground, water, lora, and fauna, and how people should be its rank and ile
members. he land is an energy source, and food chains are channels of the
energy cycle. Death and decomposition release energy to the ground. Leopold
analyzes the dramatic role of people as the modiier of the energy cycle, for
example, through erosion. When thinking of the questions of land use, it
would be necessary to consider ethically and esthetically right solutions that
Figure 5. Changing pictures
in digital display throughout
the year hikes can be seen on
the bottom of rugged bucket
I found at reindeer cabin’s
spring. Photo: Antti Stöckell.
maintain the harmony, stability, and beauty of the biotic community. An ethically sustainable relationship with the land can only be achieved by loving and
respecting the land (Leopold, 1999).
he ethics of land leads my thoughts back to the old beliefs in water
sprites as described by Paulaharju (1922). Likewise, I think that the modern
people need some kind of similar respect for springs and the land—in addition to the current multidisciplinary knowledge. Indeed, the formation of
the ethically sustainable relationship with the land is, according to Leopold,
both an intellectual and emotional process. he intellectual content of ethical
thinking increases as it expands from an individual people to a community
(Leopold, 1999). In my opinion, the progress of thinking within a community
necessitates emotion-provoking narratives and the kind of narrative models
which people can apply as components of their personal inner narratives.. Art
has the potential to create such narratives; moreover, the community does not
have just the listener’s or viewer’s position, it can also have the participant’s
and narrator’s role.
Spring water reveals a lot about the ground around it, about everything
that has happened to the land in geological and biological processes and especially within the inluence of human action and land use. On the other hand,
people’s biographical narratives are iltered through the stratiied and diverse
elements of place-bound experiences. In the terrain of springs, water’s route
Figure 6. Children liked to
drink spring water with the
birch bark ladle. "Hope clean
water will be enough for
them", I wrote on water bottle label of that spring.
Photo: Antti Stöckell.
55
coheres with the path and narrative of a human being attached to the same
terrain. What we do to the land, we do to water. What we do to the land and
water, we do to human beings, ourselves and our communities. Naturally, this
is mostly an analogy and a poetic metaphor that inspires the artistic process.
In this connection, a spring can be called an identity symbol (Tuovinen, 1992),
whereas the sacred spring of Sulaoja can be called a communal identity symbol
of the Sámi.
By a spring, I witness a rich and multidimensional view: simultaneously, I
see the bottom through water, forest litter on the surface, and my own face in
the middle of the relections of trees reaching the sky. My birch bark ladle goes
through the surface tension. Fresh water revives me from the strain of hiking.
he land, water, and I are the same low of energy. Let them low freely.
Treasures collected and hunted in spring visits
he artistic process I have described here has gone on—in life and while I have
been writing this text—like a hiker or gatherer in a changing terrain. Viewpoints of various disciplines provide a rich collection of optional routes to the
springs. Along the journey, I have made discoveries like a collector, and they
inspire me to continue the search trip by trip.
In my Spring project—the narrative project I formed due to the need for
change—I have found a method that combines an artistic process as a natural
part of those chores that I would do in my life anyway. I have mostly been
working independently with my personal aspirations, yet having my close
people participate in the process as well. he Spring project has also given new
ideas to the planning of community art education, and research processes.
his kind of experience can be called empowerment. I feel that I can inluence
important issues. his trust has literally accumulated step-by-step, trip by trip,
in a dialogue between myself, the land, water, people, and literature. Viewpoints change constantly when a hiker is on the move. A change is a prerequisite of the birth of new narratives. New narratives, for their part, support the
desired change.
I have deliberately put my personal artistic work and teaching and,
little by little, my research in mutual dialogue. his has simply happened by
explaining my experiences and listening to others’ stories. Listening is walking
by someone’s side, inding a route that suites from oten conlicting options,
narrative models. Understanding about the route develops step by step. here
are many good routes, and our place is to be found in their crossings.
If we want art to speak to us and others, people and communities, it
has to have such elements for narratives that people feel they can use in their
own narratives. If we want art to change the world, it also has to be used for
creating a new language that challenges the established, conventional manners
of speaking. However, we should do it by respectfully renewing the sustainable
heritage and perhaps by revitalizing old, forgotten traditions worth cherishing.
he land is not just for us. Narratives formed within the steps of past generations have formed our identities. It is our turn to transmit the message to the
future generations.
References
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----------Blog: www.tuohilippi.blogspot.com
59
CONTEMPORARY DUODJI
a personal experience in
understanding traditions
Gunvor Guttorm
Sámi University College, Norway
Introduction
his article is the result of duodji1 development project that started in the
autumn of 2013 and inished in the spring of 2014. he aim of the article is
to show how indigenous peoples use diferent relationships as a springboard
for the creative process. he name of the development work, and its outcome,
an installation, is Iešvuođat ja iešdovddut (characteristics and identity). I study
how contemporary duodji can be contemplated as personal experience in
what it means to duddjot (create duodji). Additionally I use another Indigenous woman’s sculpture, Diane Reynas’ he Crossing, 2008 as reference to my
own piece (see Figure 3) (Lamar, Racette, & Evans, 2010, p. 16). I approach
the project from a duojár/ artists perspective, in this case me. My research
question in this article is; how can personal experience in a Sámi context be a
crucial key for the artistic process?
his development project was my way of exploring what I remember
about women close to me, the ones that went to their neighbour and brought
their tendon thread, the twine they were braiding or knitting. I highlight the
everyday conditions and all the work the women did. But I also bring the
meditative side to this, because they also had small breaks where they only
analysed and sat in their own thoughts.
My main argument and claim is that if we want to have duodji as a discipline in higher education and research, we need to use the content of duodji
itself and the way it works in society as a basis.
his article is the result of duodji development project that started in the
autumn of 2013 and inished in the spring of 2014. he name of the development work, and its outcome, an installation, is Iešvuođat ja iešdovddut (characteristics and identity) (Hansen/Snarby/Tangen/Tingvoll 2014) (see Figure 3).
he work was part of University of Tromsø – he Arctic University of
Norway`s project called Čáppatvuohta ja duohtavuohta (Beauty and Truth).
An exhibition with the same name was held in Tromsø Kunstforening/Tromsø
artassociation 25.08.2014 – 26.10.2014. In addition, a book with the same
1
Duodji is a Sámi word, and the concept is artistic work that has its starting point in
everyday handcraft.
61
name as the project was published (Hansen/Snarby/Tangen/Tingvoll, 2014).
Later, my duodji has also been shown at the Relate North 2014 exhibition at
Riddo Duottarmmuseas/Gilišiljus Guovdageaidnu in November 2014.
Is it possible to talk about traditional and contemporary duodji at the
same time? Is it two diferent issues, or are they intertwined? In the contemporary world, the opinions about duodji will be complex. As in all other
artistic activities, understanding of duodji changes over time and this makes
a dynamic interpretation of duodji as a creative process. In this article I study
how contemporary duodji can be contemplated as personal experience in
what it means to duddjot (create duodji). I approach the project from a duojár/
artists perspective, in this case me. I use a theoretical framework that emphasises ‘knowing from the inside’ (see Ingold, 2012). I will examine this by using
two empirical sources; my own production of duodji, and another indigenous
artist's work. he aim of the article is to show how indigenous peoples use
diferent relationships as a springboard for the creative process. My research
question in this article is; how can personal experience in a sámi context be a
crucial key for the artistic process?
he empirical source is twofold. Firstly my own artistic practice is used,
this could be called the inside perspective. In the personal experiences the
Sámi and personal experience is the ground. When the researcher has been
both the maker of duodji and the person who discuss own cultural environment and personal experience, the analysis are within theoretical frameworks
that emphasise to know from the inside (see Ingold, 2012). Secondly, as a
further inspiration for my own artistic development, I chose another indigenous artist's work and her relationships to a speciic area and culture.
he article is divided into three parts: irst I present what duodji and
duddjon has meant in previous times and what it means today, as I see it.
Furthermore, I discuss what duodji as a creative expression means in a broader
discourse. hen I present the project, and lastly an analysis of the project. In
my own duodji/art process I have used the sources from other indigenous
women in the world, what they have thought about their own duodji/art development work (Lamar, Racette & Evans, 2010), and what I have myself experi-
enced in the subject of duodji, and how these meetings have given me inspiration to make duodji, and put this in theoretical frames.
The Sámi perspective in duodji research
In duodji research the aim is not to ind the truth (and you can ask if its even
possible to ind one truth), but to translate and understand diferent phenomenon, from the Sámi point of view. Here we can ind a parallel with other indigenous research discussions, where the indigenous voice is needed. By using the
Sámi word duodji instead of handicrat or art, I mean we have already assumed
a Sámi approach – which involves irst of all going to the source itself (here
duodji). By using the term duodji we also launch a discussion on how the term
itself was used in the past and the links it has to the contemporary world. My
main argument and claim is that if we want to have duodji as a discipline in
higher education and research, we need to use the content of duodji itself and
the way it works in society as a basis. he building of indigenous knowledge in
general deals with such questions as who “owns” knowledge, who uses it and
what kind of knowledge is valid. his is a common indigenous challenge that
has been elaborated by many indigenous scholars working within the indigenous paradigm (see Balto, 2008; Kuokkanen, 2009; Wilson, 2008 & Porsanger,
2007). In that sense, duodji is one of the narratives in many parallel art stories.
his is part of the integration of higher indigenous education and research.
Duodji in previous times and today’s praxis
In Sámi society artists working with duodji and art have been concerned about
Sámi identity issues. Many relate the making of duodji itself with building
up Sámi identity today, when duodji in a way is tied to Sámi living and life,
that includes both the praxis in diferent levels and personal relations. We
can say duodji is all forms of creative expression that require human thought
and production, but it cannot automatically be translated to art . In the Sámi
language another term dáidda is used that easily can be translated as art.
During the Sámi awakening and movement of the 1970s, artists felt a need
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to join together and ind a proper name for their occupation; as a result, the
words dáiddár (artist) and dáidda (art) began to be used.
he concept of duodji is used to describe a speciic work that is created
by hand and anchored in a Sámi activity and reality (Guttorm, 2010; Dunjeld
2001, see also Sameslöjdstitelsen, 2006). Many objects of duodji carry in them
knowledge about the past, they explain people´s relationships to each other,
about crating skills and aesthetic sense. Further, the duddjon (the production) relects the knowledge of time, nature and place (Guttorm, 2010). It
has also had, and still has, spiritual signiicance and values (Dunjeld, 2001).
With regard to árbevierru (tradition), we can see that there are both ethical
and moral aspects involved, and the traditions may be ideological or spiritual, and they may be institutional or object traditions; in all these forms of
tradition, knowledge is handed down. In árbediehtu there is a spiritual dimension. Grete Gunn Bergstrøm argues that the distinction between traditional
local knowledge and traditional indigenous knowledge is precisely a question
of emphasis on the spiritual dimension of traditional indigenous knowledge
(Bergstrøm, 2001). his means when scholars discuss indigenous traditional
knowledge, they also emphasize the spiritual part. Elina Helander-Renvall
writes that there is no separation between the physical and spiritual worlds
according to the holistic thinking of the Sámi (Helander-Renvall, 2010, p. 45).
She claims that reindeer herding culture is animistic in the sense that there
are no clear borders between spirit and matter (Helander-Renvall, 2010, p. 44).
his spiritual aspect is not necessarily tied to a particular religion, nor a question of faith, but more on how a human being relates her/himself to life and
oten nature, and how the human is both a rational and emotional body (with
morals, ethics and beliefs). When I talk about spirituality here, it is within the
idea that a person has a contemplative approach to life.
When duodji had to fulil the needs of everyday life, it was important
to be able to obtain materials and to repair and design the item and to use
it. Reuse is part of duodji. I can remember from my childhood that when a
couple skinshoes were worn out, we took care of the parts of the shoes that
were intact, and they were fully processed pieces that could be used for new
shoes. In that way, the shoemaking and manufacturing process was simpliied.
A duojár (a cratsman/woman) is expected to have knowledge that is
common for the Sámi population, or sections of it. he traditions in duodji are
oten regarded as common Sámi knowledge, even if the concept is common,
or collective, it does not always mean that every single person embodies the
knowledge.
On the other hand, a duojár can also have liberated him/herself from the
local tradition; in that case, he/she helps create a new understanding of both
duodji and what it means to be a duojár. We see this in current institutionalized
duodji practice, where the individual experience is crucial (Guttorm, 2010).
he challenge is to ind avenues to convey essential parts of the traditional
skills and knowledge and develop new platforms for knowledge and creativity.
It follows therefore that duojárat work more individually and conceptually.
Contemporary duodji in a wider perspective?
Is it then possible to look at the current duodji from a conceptual perspective? Yes, I would argue, but we will ind many examples of the idea-based
handicrats that are based on existing forms and materials. It is possible to talk
about conceptual duodji in contexts of works with a certain concept, instead
of working with shapes or materials, but it does not mean that it is not valued.
Conceptual duodji can be compared with the discussion found in conceptual
art and crat. he contents of the concept is the story teller, and so the story
tellers part and meaning is the main part, and less importance is put on the
formal side of the piece (Veiteberg, 2005, p. 9).
Veiteberg means that the content and practise of art is very open, and she
asks if the meaning of the art practice has been ‘hollowed out’, so that everything can be itted into the art content. Veiteberg’s main point is to look at
what position crat has, and then follow the crat between the design and the
art. he concept of arts and crats, must be considered as part of the everyday
life, and not separated from it, says Bull (2007, p. 37).
Knut Astrup Bull has seen that crats lately have become more relective.
Along with relectiveness, the artist participates in a speciic discussion. But as
65
Astrup writes, you cannot through conceptual crats reach what used to be the
most important thing with crats, the material and looks; instead the idea or the
concept becomes more important (Bull, 2007, p. 63). However, the distinction
between conceptual duodji and conceptual crats, is maybe that the technique
and material is emphasized in duodji.
The everyday life
Everyday life, or when life is passing by, in phenomenology, represents “a
natural” life and status, and we quietly accept it (Halvorsen, 2005, p. 8). It may
also be understood as the world of life. he world of life is experienced living,
as we live it. he world of life is pre-relexive and pre-scientiic, and therefore
the science has a need for it (Bengtsson, 2011, p. 46). he science is abstracting
the world of life, and trying to make it understandable for the mind, but at
the same time it is moving away from how we understand the world of life
through experiences.
Making the Iešvuođat ja Iešdovddut
When I was making the Iešvuođat ja iešdovddut installation, I considered
which perspectives I wanted to highlight, and I used a phenomenological
approach in a broad sense. We exist with our own possibilities, and use all
our senses when we use our entire body to receive it (Halvorsen, 2008, p. 10).
My irst idea was that the origin of duodji is from the needs of our everyday
life. Everyday life cannot only be understood as material subsistence, it is
also how a person in everyday life inds time to take a break and relax. Even
though we know that it is possible to buy most objects today, people continue
to create for themselves. But subsistence can also be understood in the way
that the person should manage himself, to be able to take breaks and to relax.
When viewing duodji in this perspective, the demands and results from the
outside world, that the duojár or the artist needs, that are also visible, and then
the duojár´s inner need to relax and to ind her-/himself. his was especially
the case for Sámi women, who have a big responsibility for the household and
the children’s upbringing. We exist with our own possibilities, and we use all
our senses when we use our entire body to receive it (Halvorsen, 2008, p. 10).
When I look at what everyday duodji is, I have to re-consider some of the
phenomenon. I look at what is made, but at the same time I have to interpret
those sides that are invisible, but possible to notice. With a phenomenological
spirit I notice the sides in duodji that emerge from hands moving, inspection,
and with a sound.
From there, following the process of the duodji, where I study how I
have solved a duodji idea. I have studied how our mothers and grandmothers
managed to balance between all kind of responsibilities, and at the same time
had time for duodji, oten because there was a need for it. And I also believe
that when they could sit down to knit, sew or make something, they also had a
chance to rest and found a place for themselves.
Iešvuođat and iešdovddut is my way of exploring what I remember of
the women close to me. Here I have created physical art work (ie an installation) (see Figure 3). To reach a certain goal, I opened my own body to the
world and in that way obtained pre-understanding, as the phenomenological
approach method advices. When participating with an open mind, then it
is also possible to understand these phenomena that are being studied (see
Halvorsen, 2007, p. 138–152). It has two sides, duodji/art work and relections or studies. he duodji is made for the exhibitions, and the relections and
studies for the research.
I have used the handknitting as the technique, which is a slow way of
making by hand. he knitting I have combined with fabricated objects, which
are used bottles that I found or bought in the second hand store. he bottles
were made for a speciic function, but I gave them a new identity and the
bottles are transformed and become something else. he transformation that
I could see in Diane Reynas’ art he Crossing (Lamar, Racette, & Evans, 2010,
p. 16). I used as a starting point in my own work and designed it again.
67
Relaxation from everyday life
My late mother knitted a lot, and she taught me how to knit. My mother had
nine children and had a busy everyday life, when she had to do the chores in
the barn, ix and wash the clothes and maintain the hoard of children. When
she sat down to knit, she always seemed to be so peaceful, even when she
knitted while she was waiting for the soup to boil. But in between, she only
knitted when she had a break. She used to whistle and look at the knitting,
sometimes she pulled a thread so it became easier to knit, and the knitting
sticks made a clicking sound. When she was knitting something complicated,
she didn’t whistle, but looked so it stayed straight. In that moment she was
knitting, or all her body encountered with knitting. When you relect on
duodji, I can see the depth in it. In those moments when the duojár is in a
kind of contemplative state of mind, she or he has also reached a stage in
the making that can heal. Women like my mother, who had a crat as part of
their daily chores, had their altars at the kitchen table, where they could get a
moment of deep concentration and contemplation.
Gloria J. Emerson writes that working with art can be healing, and when
making art, then you move in both linear and non-linear ways (Emerson,
2010, p. 18). She is discussing the relationship between traditional healing
ceremonies and healing by art work in her culture that is Diné, Hiprock, New
Mexico. She emphasizes that art is not the same as a traditional healing ceremony, because those rituals have certain rules and whole villages, families
and people are participating. She uses herself as an example and says that an
artist is alone when healing by art. She goes to her lands’ sacred places, to get
strength before she goes back to her “kitchen studio” (Emerson, 2010, p. 19).
Traditional ceremonies might have special healing places where they gather
during the ceremony; Emerson calls it the healing altar (Emerson, 2010,
p. 20). Nowadays she can see that a lot of female artists in their area have
their kitchen table as a healing altar (a table where they make art). She might
not sit down by the kitchen table to heal, but when she igures out an artistic
knot, and when that is solved, she feels healed (Emerson, 2010, p. 21). here
you can see the diference between a traditional healing ceremony and artistic
work, where the artist her-/himself makes her/his own story and goes deeper
into the work.
Diane Reynas reference piece
Diane Reyna’s idea is that a person travels between her homeland and the
world outside in a physical way, but the duojár/artist also inds her-/himself
in a non-physical world, and I tried to bring that thought into my own work.
Reyna searched for her belonging in places, and what she shows with materials
and work methods, and I am trying to do that in my work as well. When you
put together all these pieces, I created my own installations.
Diane Reynas has a sculpture that she calls he Crossing, 2008 (see Lamar,
Racette, & Evans, 2010, p. 16), and it is in the project Art in Our Lives. She
writes about her own art: “his piece is about the transitional moment when
I cross into Pueblo society” (Lamar, Racette & Evans, 2010, p. 16). In the city
movement, the values that exist there, where she is a part, in life at the reserve
and it’s values and where she also is a part.
Diane Reynas sculpture’s basic concept was how she moved between
her own home Pueblo country, Taos, which is her native home, and Santa Fe
where she also lives and works, but views that as the outside world compared
to the reserve where she feels as home. Her art concept starts from the movement she experienced in reality. Her movement is strictly tied to her physical
memory, because from her childhood she remembers a roadblock that would
stop cattle from crossing certain roads. She used time to igure our what the
roadblocks for the cows where like, she tried to ind her own way to express
her idea of what kind of physical border there is between Taos and the outside
world (Evans, 2010, p. 83). And then she had to decide how she was going to
present her story; she examined which materials existed in Taos, her homeland, and what she consider as materials from the outside world (separated
from what she felt as her homeland), and that material was a stone that she
found. As she says:
69
I think the best part of this piece was traveling to Taos to get the read
willow, because the name of Taos is “Red Willow Place”. So I went to
Taos to get red willow, and I went with my seventeen –year –old nice
to my sister´s land and collected them.hat was the highlight of the
piece. I´m very happy that I was able to abstract the concept of the
moment of crossing. (Evans, 2010, p. 83)
Diane Reyna attracted me on many levels. here are some parts that she highlighted in her own duodji; she uses materials that describe her belonging to
certain areas. Red osier trees are not only chosen because they belong to a
special area, but because she can get them, due to her social connection (sister
and niece). In addition their sacred lakes water these trees. Another part that
she highlighted in her work is the distance between her irst home and the
place that she also has a connection to, outside the reserve. Her crossing is not
only connected to real a crossing, but because she has to live in many realities,
as I understand her work.
Motion
What does it mean to relect on the motion? We meet with our whole bodies
new people, and we gain new experiences. Our parent’s generation and our
generation’s habits to move are very diferent. hey might have been moving
in a smaller area, visiting their neighbours, between winter-, spring-, autumnand summer settlements. heir “studios” or creative rooms were mobile. To
day we oten have special studios where we work. But to better understand
this mobile workshop, I chose knitting, because knitting you can take along
with you anywhere, when you are travelling. My duodje table, or with Emerson’s words, healing altar can be the place where I am for the moment. When
Emerson talks about motion, it can, as I understand it be on the mental level.
Being here and now is the actual sitting, walking or standing and knitting,
while memorizing own experiences and interpret it in the present through the
creative process, is a circling movement. When I use the healing term here,
then I mean that you can add a feeling that goes deeper inside through the
making, even though you may have a practical purpose with it.
Before this project I had knitted cases for bottles. Early in the process, I
decided that the bottles should have caps, or hats, and for that I used antlers,
with some wooden letovers. To be able to it these this pieces together I
needed to stay in one place, in the duodji workshop.
Figure 1. I looked for a
work method that collects
thoughts and a task where
I could have my lap as the
work place, but at the same
time ind a work that can
encounter with the duodji.
Photo: Author.
The meaning of the materials combined with readymades
As mentioned earlier, materials play a key role in duodji today, even if the art
piece is a result of an idea development. In this project I wanted to use materials that we throw away. As I wrote before, I have knitted a lot before, and
had lots of balls of yarn that I had collected, in diferent colours and thickness.
Some yarns I had kept for years, but I also got balls of yarn from people that
had the same collections as I had. For that I collected bottles with diferent
shapes, I made cases for them and gave them a new look. I was either given
71
the bottles or bought them in a grocery store. he bottles where transparent,
and to colour them or give them their own character, I used diferent knitting decorations. I also used antler, tree and other material letovers from my
duodji workshop. But now it should be linked with my knitting, with what
should function as a cap or a hat, and what I see as my journey in the result of
Iešvuođat ja iešdovddut.
Figure 2. Two diferent
bottles in the Iešdovddut ja
iešvuođat installation, the
cases has diferent colours
and the knitting technique
is diferent. he cap of the
bottle to the let is from birch
tree burl and antler. he cap
on the one to the right is
made of antler and plexiglass. Photo: Author.
here are 16 diferent shapes that could easily manage on their own, but
together they work as a group. I can add one, or remove another, the thought
is not that all those 16 bottles are specially chosen.
Knitting, ready made objects, antler- and tree letovers function both
together and as opposites. Ready shapes, as the bottles that are made in fabrics
and are mass produced, and spread all over the world. he production of the
bottles is very diferent to how duodji is made, where the cratsman designs,
gets the materials and makes it from the beginning to the end, as long as it hand
made, then one duodji piece never looks the same as another duodji piece.
Figure 3.
Iešvuođat ja iešdovddut II.
Photo: Author.
Knitting might be something that we see as very ordinary in everyday life and
knitting is an activity for many. But knitting by hand still has a part that gives a
contemplative feeling to the knitter. With my own knitting, I hypothesise that
knitting ofers a possibility for people to rest for a moment in the everyday life.
A speciic job or what lits a person in their work. he pieces of antler that I
used, are both crooked and not compact and they behave diferent when you
polish them, crooked antlers get smooth and the less solid antlers get rugged.
hat gives the ideas of contrasts.
Discussion
Many indigenous people’s artists have used idea-based duodji when they have
discussed indigenous people’s positions in their experiences in the changing
world. In particular the identity questions in artistic processes and outcomes
are visible (McMaster, 1998, p. 20). So one can say that the content of an idea
can be based on the place that is considered as ones "home place", or the
community (Lamar, Racette & Evans, 2010).
he present cultural expressions of indigenous people begin from
personal experiences and a desire to articulate a cultural self-esteem through
products or through the manifestation of personal experiences and forms.
73
Indigenous communities are not homogeneous, and each individual’s feeling
of belonging changes in the same way as the situations of people constantly
vary in the world. Duodji, as academic subject has historically oten been part
of anthropological, ethnological, or in art discussion, but now it is part of the
Sámi research. While duodji has been framed within these disciplines, duodji
practice has taken place in many of the sámi societies. Practitioners have eventually been afected by the current discussions in duodji, and today we see that
we are talking about duodji and can have completely diferent connotations.
We have a body that decides how we view the world. With hand making
that is very important, but is not only about that fact that we see something
and that our skills are embodied in us. It is also the fact of how we can exist
in the world while we are there, as Mikkel Tin puts it (Tin, 2011, p. 41). Even
though I did not specially work with the traditional concepts in this project, I
approached it anyway when I ask what “a sámi everyday life” is. My idea was to
catch the contemplative moment that ordinary knitting can carry, by trying to
remember in which situations where my own mother was knitting, and by knitting my self in diferent situations and diferent places. hen, on the other hand,
I also discuss what it does mean to be in motion, and what it makes with people.
Not every one would say that I am continuing the duodj tradition, and
that is also true, even though I use techniques and materials that are familiar
in traditional duodji. To regard duodji nothing else than cratsmanship is
strongly rooted in the distinction between art and not art. I claim that it is
possible to compare duodji with what today is called conceptual duodji art,
that it is the meaning of the process that counts. I mean that much of contemporary duodji does not have a clear useful goal, but the purpose of the creative
action is to take part of the ongoing current conversation. But on the other
hand, especially on the Swedish side of Sápmi, the idea of the technique and
materials are still the starting point. To approach duodji as conceptual duodji,
you have to take the materials and techniques into the consideration because it
is rooted so deeply in duodji. But in a wider perspective, and especially when
we talk about duodji as an artistic development subjects and activity, it is
necessary to reorient this perspective.
he belonging and identity from an indigenous point of view are themes
that emerge in contemporary works, and have been so for a while, and duodji is
part of this. Reynas sculpture is an example on how today´s indigenous artists
question and investigate belonging and identity in their artistic work. he
theme has been popular for a longer period, but even though you cannot say
that the theme is studied by the same method now as before. Visual approach
methods do not necessary have to include “sámi features”, but approaches
are idea-based, and the results can be ambiguous. In that sense indigenous
people contribute with their experience and expressions to the global aesthetic
expression and experience. Duodji artists do not live in a vacuum, where you
can see a timeline from the past to the present without being inluenced by the
world around you, but to present their experience with a standpoint grown
from traditions.
References
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kunsthåndverket. Oslo: Unipax.
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L. Evans (Eds.) Art in Our Lives – Native Women Artists in Dialogue. (pp. 17–26).
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71–95). Santa Fe: Sar Press.
Guttorm, G. (2010). Duodjáris duojárat – Duddjon ealiha duodgejdigáštallama- Artihkka
lčoakkaldat. Kárášjohka: Davvi girji.
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Kuokkanen, R. (2009). Boaris dego Eana Eamiálbmogiid diehtu, ilosoiijat ja dutkan.
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duohtavuohta – Beauty and Truth. Tromsø: Orkana Akademiske.
Helander-Renvall, E. (2010). Animism, personhood and the nature of reality: Sámi
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Ingold, T. (2012). Making Anthropology, Archaeology, Art and Architecture. London:
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Lamar, C. C. Racette S, F. & Evans, L. (2010). Art in Our Lives – Native Women Artists
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McMaster (1998). Reservation X.he Power of Place in Aboriginal Contemporary Art.
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77
REFLECTIONS OF THE PAST:
A meeting between Sámi cultural
heritage and contemporary Finnish Sámi
Tuija Hautala-Hirvioja
University of Lapland, Finland
Introduction
he Sámi are an indigenous people that live in Norway, Sweden, Finland and
Russia. his group and the Greenlandic Inuit are the only groups recognized
as indigenous peoples in the European Union. he Sámi, numbering about
76,000–110,000 altogether, are in the minority in all four countries (Valkonen
& Valkonen, 2013, pp. 2–3; Rensujef, 2011, p. 20). heir language is of vital
importance for the existence of the Sámi culture. According to UNESCO’s
classiication, all the Sámi languages in Finland are endangered; Inari Sámi
and Skolt Sámi are severely endangered. here are more than 2,000 North Sámi
speakers in Finland, about 300 speakers each of Inari and Skolt Sámi. Two
important features related to Sámi culture are handicrats, duodji, and the
Sámi costume, gákti. Sámi music, yoik and leudd, and oral stories are also
considered criteria for the identiication of Sámi people. (Rensujef, 2011,
p.21 & 61; Lehtola, 1997, pp. 10–12).
In this article, I discuss the importance of history and cultural heritage
for contemporary Finnish Sámi art. he aim is to answer the question: How
and why did Sámi traditional aesthetic, ancient mythology and early ine art
inluence Finnish Sámi art during the last few decades? My research methodology is based on art history, especially E.H. Gombrich’s ideas that there is no
innocent eye and that all representation is based on conventions (Gombrich
1991, p. 21). I also use ideas based on indigenous research methodologies,
which appeared in academic writing in the late 1990s. hese methodologies
are centred on relationships, e.g., the relationships of individuals within a
family, a place and a community. I do not use a strict approach in my analysis, because the aim is also to allow the Sámi art speak with its own voice
(Helander & Kailo, 1999, pp. 11–27; Seurujärvi-Kari, 2011a, pp. 31–40). More
than 60% of the Finnish Sámi live in cities outside the Sámi domicile area,
which comprises the municipalities of Enontekiö, Inari and Utsjoki, as well as
the northern part of Sodankylä, and carry on modern professions and livelihoods. he challenge is to preserve the connections to the Sámi domicile area
and culture. he family and relatives play an important role in strengthening
Sami identity (Valkonen, 2009, p. 19; Lehtola, 1997, p. 8; Seurujärvi-Kari,
79
2013, p. 58). herefore, it is important to place artists in Sámi culture and
understand their relationships with family and community.
At irst, I study the art made by the Sámi pioneers, because they were a
link from duodji to contemporary Sámi art. Next, I introduce the Masi Group,
which worked from 1978 to 1983 in Norway. he group had an important role
in developing Sámi art, and some members are still active in the art ield. Last, I
analyse contemporary Sámi art in Finland and its relationship to Sámi heritage.
In Finland, there are 12–14 Sámi artists, and among them I selected four: NilsAslak Valkepää, Tuula-Maija Magga-Hetta, Outi Pieski and Suohpanterror.
Rauna Kuokkanen wrote about mental colonisation: people learn what others
are thinking about them and adopt these, oten stereotypic, ideas (Kuokkanen,
1999, p. 97). Because the artists represent diferent generations, they grew up
in diferent cultural atmospheres with diferent backgrounds.
he International Labour Organization (ILO) Convention No. 169, which
dealt with the rights of indigenous peoples, resolved in 1989 to safeguard the
preservation of indigenous peoples’ languages and cultures. he Finnish State
recognized the Sámi as an indigenous people in 1995 but has not ratiied the
ILO convention (Rensujef, 2011, pp. 24–25). he convention has led to strong
debates and political movements in Finland. he key questions of the debates
are: What is to be Sámi? Who is Sámi, and who belongs to an indigenous
people? (Valkonen & Valkonen, 2013, pp. 2–3). his is another reason to investigate the artists’ position in Sami culture.
Hunting, ishing and reindeer herding have historically been the basis of
Sámi culture. However, Sámi people today work in various ields of society.
Traditionally, Sámi aesthetics and sense of beauty were joined with practicality
and expressed in handicrat, duodji, which was irmly connected with the
sphere of life and livelihoods. Similar handicrat is again practiced as hundreds
of years ago, but the signiicance of duodji as a special Sámi cultural feature has
increased. here was no word for this in Western art, and the word dáidda was
established as part of the Sámi language as late as the 1970s. his new term
borrowed from the Finnish taide (art) and linked it with the Sámi word dáiddu
(knowledge/sense). Dáidda includes the diferent ields of visual arts, literature,
theatre, dance, cinema and music. (Kjellström, 1981, pp. 8–10; Seurujärvi-Kari,
2011b, pp. 298–299 & 314; Magga, 2010, p. 3; Storm & Isaksen, 2014, p.91;
Lehtola. 1997, p. 116; Snarby 2014, p. 16).
The pioneers of Sámi art
Johan Turi (1854–1936), Nils Nilsson Skum (1872–1951) and John Savio
(1902–1938) were the irst widely-known Sámi artists. Sometimes Iver Jåks
(1932–2007) also accompanied the early stages of Sámi art. heir works of art
are the important examples and inluenced the art of subsequent generations.
he publicity they received was contemporary with the Nordic governments’
active assimilation or isolation policy, but also with the Sámi people’s awakening and becoming active. Artistic work and political activity supported
each other. If Sámi issues had not been discussed, neither would art have
been discussed. It was important to the Sámi for their art to become more
prominent and widely known. Art increased the Sámi people’s feelings of
solidarity, creating and strengthening their identity. It also became clear that
the Sámi were not a primitive relic but a people capable of producing culture
and art, who had the right to existence and a language of their own. (HautalaHirvioja, 2014, p. 37).
Turi and Skum became famous through their books. Both artists’ roots
were in Norway, but because of a border conlict between Norway and Russia
in 1852, their families were forced to move to Sweden. Turi and Skum drew
and wrote to pass on the traditional knowledge of their people to succeeding
generations. hey also wanted to introduce Sámi life and culture to non-Sámi
people. One typical feature of their work is that they depicted Sáminess in a
realistic way. In Turi and Skum’s work, both the documentation of community
life and their personal expression were strongly present and equally important. For this reason, their pictures and texts have both practical and aesthetic
dimensions. hey did not attend school and were self-taught artists. (Bergmann, 2009, p. 63; Hautala-Hirvioja, 2014, p. 12; Lehtola, 1997, pp. 116–117).
Turi’s book Muitalus sámiid birra (An Account of the Sámi) was published
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in Denmark in 1910. he book is unique. It is the irst nonreligious book
written in the Sámi language by a Sámi person and based on the centuries-old
Sámi narrative tradition. he text is complemented by a set of pictures drawn
by Turi. He wanted to show in his pictures all the essential things concerning
Sámi people’s living conditions and cosmology. His aim was to depict the
true nature of things in his pictures by combining diferent areas of life into
a single picture. He depicts events simply but precisely and as simultaneously
as possible in a manner that is reminiscent of ancient Egyptian reliefs and
early northern rock art. (Seurujärvi-Kari, 2011b, p. 314; Lehtola, 1997, p. 116;
Hautala-Hirvioja, 2014, p. 16).
In 1934, at the age of 62, Skum gave up his reindeer. It was time to draw.
He recalled reindeer husbandry during the years of his youth and adulthood,
and recorded his experiences and knowledge of reindeer and reindeer herding.
He wanted to preserve and pass on this knowledge to younger people. Skum
made 98 drawings depicting reindeer herding during the diferent seasons.
Skum’s book Same sita – Lappbyn (Lapp Village) published in 1938 as part of
the Nordic Museum’s ACTA LAPPONICA 2 Series. (Burman, 2009, p. 275 &
277; Manker, 1971, p. 158; Hautala-Hirvioja 2014, pp. 20–22).
he irst trained Sámi artists were the Norwegians John Savio and Iver
Jåks. hey depicted what they saw and experienced from an individual viewpoint. hey also bore witness to the modernization of Sáminess. he roots of
their art were in old Sámi culture, as well as in modern Western visual arts.
he tension and harmony between the two diferent traditions gave a characteristic and versatile nature to Savio and Jåks’ art. Traditions—the traditional
way of life, old spirituality and oral stories—were sources of inspiration for
them (Solbakk, 2006, p. 144). heir work provided an important model, especially for the Sámi visual artists of the late 1970s and early 1980s, as well as for
the Masi Group and Nils-Aslak Valkeapää.
Savio was born in Bugöyjord on the shore of Varangerjord in Finnmark,
but spent his early years in Kirkenes. He was descended from Kven and Sámi
people. His parents died in 1905, and his maternal grandparents took care of
him and paid for his schooling. In autumn 1920, Savio moved to complete the
upper secondary school at private school. At the same time, he made drawings in day and evening classes in the State College of Crats and Design. He
became familiar with woodcuts but learnt woodcut on his own (Moksnes
Gjelsvik, 2012, pp. 12–13, 26 & 29; Rasmussen, 2006, pp. 29–30; HautalaHirvioja, 2014, pp. 22–23). His woodcuts depicted Sámi people, landscapes,
northern villages and seaports. he composition is clear, and as they are black
and white, their atmospheres are efective. His landscapes are dynamic. His
way of expression contains features of impressionistic momentariness and
expressionistic emotions. He contracted tuberculosis and died at the age of 36
(Moksnes Gjelsvik, 2012, p. 144; Hautala-Hirvioja, 2014, pp. 24–27).
Jåks´ family lived in Karasjok and was a reindeer herder family. Jåks
learnt duodji in his early childhood. In the 1950s, he trained as a visual artist
and silversmith in Oslo and Copenhagen. Ater he returned to Karasjok, he
worked as a duodji teacher before becoming a full-time artist. Although Jåks
had studied Western art, duodji remained an important part of his artistic
roots. His drawings and graphic works linked Sámi cosmology and Christian
theology (Snarby, 2014, pp. 17–21; Lundström, 2015, p. 9). He used traditional knowledge of spiritual aspects of Sámi mythology, as well as of Sámi
history, and the ecological mindset of the Sámi people. His sculpture Silently
the thought turns (1998) has a strong link with material based on duodji. It also
has references to the sieidis, which were regarded as being holy in the old Sámi
culture. Jåks was a bridge builder between duodji and modernism (Snarby,
2014, pp. 17–21; Bergmann, 2009, pp. 112–114; Lundström, 2014, p. 101).
The Masi Group: A founder of modern Sámi visual art
At the end of the 1970s, the Sámi artist group called the Masi Group (or the
Maze group, Máze joavku in Sámi) was founded. In autumn 1978, two young
artists, Synnove Persen and Aage Gaup, arrived from Oslo in Masi, a small
Sami village, and started to work with local Trygeve Lund Guttormsen. Later,
Josef Halse, Bert Marit Haetta, Hans Ragnar Mathisen, Rannveig Persen and
Britta Marakatt arrived in Masi. he Masi Group was formed because they
83
were both Sámi and artists, and they needed studios ater graduating. hey
were proud to be Sámi. One goal of the artist group was to redeine the Sámi
identity, which at the time was full of stereotypes. he Masi Group is regarded
as the beginning of modern Sámi art. (Bergmann, 2009, p. 88; Lehtola, 2014,
p. 127; Gullickson, 2014, p. 13).
Active participation of the artists in the Sámi ethno-political movement
was something new. In their art work, nature was strongly tied to political
meanings regarding the protection of Sámi lands and waters. he Masi Group
took an active role in the battle of protecting the Alta-Kautokeino waters. he
ight concerning the damming of the River Alta culminated during the years
1979–1981 in hunger strikes and demonstrations. At the same time, in autumn
1979 the artists formed the Sámi art association, Sámi Dáiddacehpiid Searvi.
It took place in Finland at Nils-Aslak Valkepää’s home in Pätikkä, which is
located on the road between Kaaresuvanto and Kilpisjärvi (Gullickson 2014,
p. 13; Lehtola, 2014, pp. 128–129; Lundström, 2014, pp. 102–103). In January
1981, the Alta dispute ended; a police operation cleared the area, and dam
construction began. Despite this defeat of the Sámi, the event marked a turning
point for the Norwegian Sámi, legally and culturally. It changed Norway’s position on Sámi politics; their attitude became more positive. During 1982–1983
the Masi Group broke up; the artists moved around the Sámi area (Lehtola,
2014, p. 130; Lehtola, 1997, pp. 76–77).
Nils-Aslak Valkeapää: An advocate of Sámi culture
Sámi arts of the 1970s and 1980s aimed at identifying Sáminess in the contemporary state of transition. he relationship with their own culture was no selfevident truth to the Sámi born ater the wars in the 1940s and 1950s. From
the beginning of 1947 and onwards, everyone had to go to school. It was
now necessary to construct new schools and establish residential homes for
children living farther away. All Sámi children started school, but teaching
in schools was based on Finnish values and ideals. he time of evacuation
and reconstruction strengthened the position of the majority culture, which
was promoted by strong increase in Finnish settlement in the Sámi area.
Improvement of traic connections and a irmer administrative hold accelerated the Sámi people’s assimilation (Lehtola, 1997, p. 95; Lehtola, 2012, p. 411;
Lehtola, 2000, p. 194). Nils-Aslak Valkeapää (1943–2001) is a representative of
the irst modern Sámi generation, who passed the new school system in Finland.
Valkeapää is the best-known representative, nationally and internationally, of Sámi culture. He was born in the northwest region of Finnish Lapland
during the time when is family was migrating toward the north. Ater the
Second World War, his family settled down in the village of Pättikkä. Valkeapää
did not become a reindeer herder or a teacher, even though he qualiied as a
folk-school teacher at Kemijärvi Teachers’ Training College. It was there that
he became familiar with writing, music and the visual arts. In 1966, he started
his career as an artist and published his irst record, Joikuja (Yoiks, 1968). He
lived in the village of Pättikkä until 1996 and then moved to Skibotn, Norway.
here he had a hexagonal Lásságámmi house built according to the Sámi tradition. (Valkeapää, 2012, pp. 110–111; Gaski, 2007).
Valkeapää was a reviver of the vanishing yoik tradition, a musician, writer,
visual artist, socially inluential person and cultural ambassador of the Sámi. He
tried to develop the visual language based on Sámi tradition and old religion.
Even the title of the painting At hat Time the Sun Was Always with Us (Figure
1, 1975), from Valkeapää’s early production, conveys a yearning for times past.
he composition of the work is similar to the division of a magic drum found in
Rome: it has upper and lower segments. (See Pentikäinen, 1995, pp. 128–129.)
In his painting, a woman in a Sámi costume, a man and a dog are shown in
the foreground, in the lower segment on the ground surface. he background,
the upper segment above the ground surface, shows a reindeer, foxes, birds and
possibly two gods. Between these two worlds and in the middle of the painting
is the big, yellow-orange, human-faced sun, which was one of the most important gods of the Sámi. In older written sources, the sun is the mother of all life,
and the Sámi have sun-related stories (Helander-Renvall, 2006, p. 5).
he Finnish artist Reidar Särestöniemi was Valkeapää’s friend, and in
the summer of 1972, engaged in making Eeli Aalto’s ilm about Särestöniemi;
85
Valkeapää composed the yoik Ná Reidaran mole for the ilm (Aikio & Aikio,
2005, p. 138). he strong colours of the painting, At hat Time the Sun Was
Always with Us, come from Sámi culture. he mode of expression may have
been inluenced by Särestöniemi’s works, but also from Valkepää’s own experiences and feelings, and the mythic-surrealistic atmosphere shows unity with
their forefathers’ world of images and spirits.
Figure 1. Nils-Aslak
Valkeapää: At hat Time
the Sun Was Always with
Us, 1975, oil, 100 x 130 cm,
Private collection.
Valkeapää irmly grounded his art in his own culture. he painting he Dancing
Noaidi (1991) is red and has an intensive background. At the bottom, there are
mountains with small people, animals and lavvos. A dancing noaidi, a Sámi
shaman, with two animal heads on his human body is in the picture’s centre.
In the old Sámi religion, the noaidit could go into a deep trance in which they
transformed into animal form to be able travel in the spirit world. Perhaps this
motif is a picture of shaman journey. In Alta rock carvings, there is a similar
igure which probably inspired Valkeapää (Snarby, 2012). he igure, called
Human igure, is from the prehistorical period (2700–1700 BCE), and Alta
carvings are situated in Finnmark, North-Norway. Valkeapää’s visual world is
full of igures and symbols with strong connections to Sámi mythology. With
inspiration from ancient rock carvings and sacred drums, he reshaped a visual
universe in which igures from the past are brought to life.
he most essential topics of Valkeapää’s art were Sámi identity, love,
humanity and man’s unity with nature (Seurujärvi-Kari, 2011b, p. 307). Most
likely, he was a romantic and wanted to create Sámi imagery in his visual and
illustrative arts. Rock carvings in Alta, patterns on shamans’ magic drums,
decorations of duodji and drawings by the early Sámi artists Johan Turi and
Nils Nilsson Skum were important sources of inspiration to him. Valkeapää’s
production shows a traditional, strongly-coloured world combined with
symbols known from magic drums, as well as with Turi and Skum’s vast
spatiality (Lehtola, 1997, p. 118). he enthusiasm to create your own visual
Sámi language must be understood through the Sami people’s experience of
mental colonization. For decades, they were considered to be weak, mentally
worse than the Finns, and to have disappeared as a people. (Kuokkanen, 1999,
pp. 108–109).
Duodji: Sámi handicraft as inspiration and
part of contemporary Sámi art
In addition to Sámi culture and traditions, the Western conception of art,
which has become familiar at comprehensive school, as well as through the art
world, was a crucial inluential factor. For Sámi artists born in the late 1950’s
and the 1960s, it was important to think over their own identities and Sáminess,
because they belonged to two diferent cultural spheres. Because the school was
far away, many Sámi children had to stay in a residential home during school
weeks—sometimes even longer because of frost-damaged roads. In addition, attitudes toward the Sámi could be negative in the schools. Instruction
87
of the Sámi started as primary education in some Finnish schools at the beginning of the 1970s. As late as 1991, Sámi was deined as part of the “Mother
Tongue” school subject. It has been possible to choose it as a foreign language
in the Finnish matriculation examination since 1980 and as the mother tongue
since 1994. Instruction in the Sámi language is given in the primary schools in
Utsjoki, and Sámi is taught as a school subject in all schools in the Sámi area
and in a few schools outside it. (Lehtola, 1997, p. 88; Jauhola, 1999, p. 89).
Tuula-Maija Magga-Hetta (b. 1958) was lucky, because she could go
to school in her home village. She is a daughter of a reindeer herder from
Vuotso and learnt duodji at home. Now she is a reindeer herder’s wife—but
also a teacher and an artisan who lives in Vuotso. Sámi identity is obvious to
her. She hopes a new kind of handicrat will be born in addition to traditional
duodji, which is tied closely to tradition and is unchanged (Väänänen, 2007).
Duodji did not suit Magga-Hetta’s mode of expression and she expanded
the handicrat in her irst piece of art, the textile Tiet (Roads), which was
designed for the entrance of the Vuotso School at the beginning of the 1990s.
Figure 2.
Tuula-Maija Magga-Hetta:
Máttar-Ahkku, 2002, mixed
materials, no measure.
Collection of Rovaniemi City.
Photo Arto Liiti.
he work is large, and the pure colours of Sámi culture create a cross on a
black fabric ground. Magga-Hetta continues to practice handicrat; through
her textiles, she wants to tell about the northern way of life, Sámi culture,
nature and her own experiences as a housewife on a modern reindeer farm.
(Räisänen-Ylitalo, 2006, p. 22).
Magga-Hetta uses traditional materials. he materials are inexpensive
and are found in the everyday life of a reindeer-herding family: bones, horns,
sticks, letter pieces and wood. Her art is guided by the principle of sustainability. Máttar-Ahkku (Figure 2, 2002) is an example of the author's desire to
honour her ancestors and the earlier duodji-experts. his art work reveals the
artist's need to relect on the life of the Sámi and deal with the relationship
between man and nature.
In 1973, Outi Pieski was born in Helsinki. Her father comes from a
northern Sámi family from Utsjoki, and her mother comes from South
Finland. he most important place was her paternal grandparents’ house in
the village of Dalvadas in Utsjoki. here the Pieski children got to know Sáminess. In Helsinki of the 1970s, Sáminess was not brought out, children did not
grow up with Sámi identity, nor were they taught the Sámi language. hey
spoke Finnish at home, and their father spoke Sámi only when phoning or
visiting his relatives living in the north (Ahvenjärvi & Valkonen, 2014, p. 21).
As an adult in 1997, Pieski studied the Sámi language and culture at the Sámi
Education Institute in Inari, where she learned duodji. She thinks that duodji
gave her a lot as an artist. She studied visual arts at North Karelia Polytechnic
(1992–1994) in Imatra and the Finnish Academy of Fine Arts (1994–2000) in
Helsinki (Vakkuri, 2009).
Pieski thought over her relationship with her father’s home region, the
barren wilderness landscape of the Utsjoki area, which she pictured in many
paintings. Life seemed to be richer in the north than in a suburb of Helsinki,
so it was a natural solution to move to the north. From the middle of the irst
decade of the twenty-irst century, Pieski and her family lived in the village
of Dalvadas in Utsjoki. Ater moving, the meaning of landscapes changed—
they became experiences of the lost but rediscovered home region. his state
89
between two cultures also made Pieski play with identity. She felt herself to be
half Finnish and half Sámi. hinking about what kind of Sámi costume she
would make for her child resulted in Golden Coat, a Sámi costume made of
cofee bags and complemented by a shawl made of bags of sweets (Uusitalo,
2010, p. 74, Ahvenjärvi & Valkonen, 2014, p. 25). In Slush Coat (2006), it can
easily be seen that the handicrat tradition is strongly present in her painting art.
Pieski has also created public works of art. he latest one is Eatnu, eadni,
eana—Stream, Mother, Ground—which was completed in 2012 and is located
on the wall of the Sámi Parliament Hall of the Sámi Cultural Centre Sajos
in Inari. he wall relief consists of gilded and white gold-plated steel plates.
he visual starting point was risku, a brooch used to decorate a female Sámi
costume. Rattles made for Sámi children and reindeer hooves decorated with
fabrics and stitches are tradition-respecting details. Pieski made this public
work and also many paintings as an honour to her Sámi grandmother, handicrat and the way of living of her Sámi ancestors.
Figure 3.
Outi Pieski: Halo, 2012–
2013. Birch sticks, thread,
wood, 500/380 x 200 x
200cm. Photos: let Tuija
Hautala-Hirvioja. Right
Arto Liiti, Rovaniemi Art
Museum.
A strong connection between nature and culture can be seen in Pieski’s
artwork; it widens into a sense of personality and timelessness. Nature, culture
and a work of art seem to be local and completely universal, at the same time.
Nuvvos Áiligas, Darkness (2011) and River Teno by Night (2013) have been
painted with highly expressive but small strokes on square acrylic sheets
framed with tied tassels familiar from silk shawls. Landscapes in these works
continue from the front of the eyes to behind them, to memories and shared
awareness. his stands out particularly well in works composed of twigs and
yarns, such as Halo (Figure 3, 2012–2013). he tied yarns of these works are
similar to those in a silk shawl of a Sámi costume. In addition, this work is an
honour—or maybe apology—to her grandmother, because she had to cut the
tree in her yard in Utsjoki.
The ethno-politics of contemporary Sámi art
he youngest generation of visual artists spent their childhood and youth in
an institutionalized Sámi community. he Sámi Parliament, Sámediggi, was
established in 1996. he predecessor of the Parliament was the Sámi Delegation,
Sámi Parlamenta, which operated during 1973–1995. he Sámi Parliament is
the supreme political body of the Sámi in Finland, and its function is to plan
and implement cultural autonomy. It represents the Sámi in national and international relations and manages afairs concerning their position as an indigenous people, as well as the Sámi language and culture. he Sámi Parliament can
make propositions, motions and statements to authorities. Cultural autonomy
has inluenced the strengthening and development of such Sámi institutions as
Siida, the National Museum of the Finnish Sámi, and the Sámi Education Institute. Cultural activities have also received new life. In the twenty-irst century,
diferent Sámi festivals, such as the Skábmagovat indigenous peoples’ ilm
festival and the Ijahis Idja music festival in Inari have consolidated their positions. he Sámi also have established their oicial symbols, such as the Sámi
lag, lag-raising days and national anthem. In the 2010s, modern Sámi culture
is dynamic and polyphonic. (Lehtola & Länsman, 2012, pp. 23–25, 31).
91
In Lapland, the Sámi are fervently waiting for Finland to inally ratify
ILO Convention No. 169, which deals with the rights of indigenous peoples.
Suohpanterror also awaits the ratiication and regards the mining industry
as the greatest menace to reindeer herding and the Sámi culture. It ights
for the Sámi people’s rights in social media and uploads provoking photos
and messages to Facebook. Suohpan is North Sámi and means suopunki, a
reindeer herder’s lasso. If you search for this code name on Google or Facebook, a picture of a man wearing a ninja hat and Sámi cap and holding a
recoilless rile comes up. On both sides of the rile are the phrases “homeland
security” and “reindeer terror.” According to the artist or artists behind the
code name, “Suohpanterror wants to ight against/for and rouse people to get
interested in what is happening in the north” (Heikkinen, 2013). Two or three
pictures attack mining operations; in particular, the Kallak mining project in
northern Sweden was strongly protested in autumn 2013. Beowulf, a British
company, is planning an iron ore mine in the middle of pasture areas of the
Sámi and therefore started test blasting in Kallak, Jokkmokk in summer 2013.
he Sámi say it is not a question of one mine only but Sámi people’s right to
their own lands. (Kallio, 2013).
Suohpanterror seems to continue the ight of the Masi Group in Alta. One
of Suohpanterror’s posters (2013), with the text KallakGállok at the top, reminds
people that the Sámi are ready for resistance. Behind the picture is obviously a
press photo of a demonstration in Alta; in it, the police are coming to clear a
protest camp. On the stones in the foreground is the text la elva leve (may the
river live), which was the motto of those who resisted construction of the Alta
waterway. Suohpanterror’s propaganda or disturbance art has been inluenced
by critical Finnish pop art of the 1960s and street art of the turn of the twentieth and twenty-irst centuries. (See www. facebook.com/suohpanterror.)
Conclusion
From the beginning, Sámi art had a mission to decolonise and correct stereotypes. Johan Turi wrote his illustrated book to get non-Sámi to understand
the life and culture of Sámi. He thought that misinformation was the reason
for problems between Sámi and Swedish people. Nils Nilsson Skum felt it was
important to gather knowledge of traditional reindeer herding for the next
generation. John Savio lived during the active assimilation policy and the
period of racism. He wanted to show Sámi as strong and healthy as Norwegians.
Iver Jåks depicted Sámi spirituality and cosmology and made it acceptable to
religious people, because old Sámi stories were considered pagan and sinful.
he Masi Group struggled against colonisation with their art and demonstrations. Now visual art has become as signiicant an art form as the literature,
music and theatre that relected and developed the new Sámi identity.
he Sámi artists in Finland continue to promote decolonisation based on
Sámi heritage and the art of earlier Sámi artists. Nils-Aslak Valkeapää developed a visual language and avoided using the conventions of Western ine
art. he problem was that the actual connection was severed; there was no
continuity from igures of drums or prehistoric rock carvings. At irst, TuulaMaija Magga-Hetta trusted in duodji; it was natural to her. But she felt it, too,
limited her creativity. Synnove Persen was a member of the Masi Group, and
she is still an active painter and poet. In her opinion, there is no reason to try
to avoid the inluences of Western art, because it is the basis of art education.
However, it is important for Sámi to study and relate the majority population’s art instruction to their own tradition and identity. Persen also thinks
that there is no unique visual language in Sámi art and wonders how an
artist can combine old tradition, such as duodji, to form something that is
relevant and interesting to a modern audience (Lehtola, 1997, p. 96). Perhaps
the youngest generation, such as Outi Pieski and Suohpanterror, who make
art during the postmodern period, do not need to think about conlict
between Sámi tradition and contemporary ine art. Perhaps for them, the
content is more important than style or the way in which it is used. However,
there is a need to research the relationship of traditions and contemporary
art and also what other media contemporary Sámi artists can leverage to
undo stereotypes.
93
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A DISCUSSION OF MUSEUM
EDUCATION IN THE NORTH:
An integrated approach
Herminia Din
University of Alaska Anchorage, USA
Introduction
Museum professionals realize that in order to reach audiences, they must
communicate in clear and understandable ways. To remain relevant, museums
must attract and maintain an active and interested audience. Cities in northern
nations share a number of similarities and diferences. A comprehensive understanding of changes and perspectives in the Arctic can be achieved through
museum practice by exploring comparative aspects of environmental issues,
indigenous cultures, historical contexts, and scientiic discoveries. An integrated approach is to involve multiple methods in the context of museum
education practice. Talboys (2011) mentioned in the Museum Educator’s Handbook that an integrated approach “should derive from the museum’s collection
and should be concerned with exploring the creation and use of the artifacts, as
well as coming to an understanding of the social and historical environment.”
he chapter uses irst person qualitative relections and museum exhibits
as discussion points to support the argument that an integrated approach will
help learners and visitors to gain a deeper connection of the topic and have a
meaningful museum experience. It discusses why this approach in the context
of museum education is relevant, and then addresses pedagogical approaches in
educational programing focusing on how to connect issues related to the North.
Why integrated museum education is relevant
At the beginning of the 20th century, the German philosopher Walter Benjamin
(1935), along with others of the Frankfurt School such as heodor Adorno
and Max Horkheimer (1944) had both concerns and an appreciation for new
possibilities arising from the mechanical age. Benjamin and his colleagues
could hardly contemplate the digital world that extends across geographic,
political borders and ideological borders today. A central idea in Benjamin’s
writing—and one that is highlighted in today’s discussions of digital media—is
one of authenticity.
Authentic learning has become an important element of the museum
experience. It means providing authentic contexts to collection objects.
99
Museums are charged with the care, preservation and interpretation of real
objects—whether that object is a seal gut parka, a totem pole, a baleen basket,
or other cultural artifacts. Experiencing objects has deined museums for
centuries, and provides context and history, ofering meaning through understanding its relationship to the world.
Authentic learning experiences make information meaningful to audiences. In order to be authentic, the environment in which learning takes
place must also be meaningful. As Brown, Duguid, and Collins (1989) stated,
“Activity, concept, and culture are interdependent. No one can be totally understood without the other two. Learning must involve all three.” Museums
provide an ideal setting for such experiences. Visitors want to shape and
share the experiences in their lives, including museum experiences. Pine
and Gilmore (2011) discussed such movement from a service economy to an
“experience economy” in which consumers are seeking memorable and transformative experiences rather than services and products. Rather than being
“served” as is oten discussed in terms of the public, visitors want to participate,
and to have transformative, memorable experiences.
In the context of museum practice, the integrated approach in the
following discussion provides learners and visitors an authentic experience by
direct encounters with collection objects. It connects them by providing links
to historical, cultural, scientiic context and multiple viewpoints for a comprehensive interpretation and understanding. It is a ‘learner centric’ approach.
Over ive years, Monica Garcia-Itchoak, former Director of Education and
Interpretation at Anchorage Museum and now Executive Director of Alaska
Museum of Science and Nature in Anchorage and I worked closely on various
educational projects together. We used the integrated approach as a guiding
principle when planning and designing museum educational programs. Here
is her relection during a conversation in March 2015 on why integrated
museum education can be so important especially in the North. She said:
Historically, museums have been creative think tanks, drawing upon
collections, exhibitions, and curators to create authentic experiences.
Today, museums use the term “engagement” rather than “education”
when developing visitor experiences. Museum educators help create
individual experiences while pointing out underlying concepts and
content with an ever-changing exhibition schedule.
I remember one of the irst ield trips as an art teacher to the Lincoln
Park Zoo in Chicago with students, parents, and caregivers. As part of
an organization teaching about animal habitats, I began to discuss the
ield trip agenda and the participants’ roles and responsibilities, when
I noticed the students on the bus were on one side with their hands
and faces pressed against the windows. One student looked at me and
asked, “Which ‘ocean’ is that?” I realized that these students had never
seen Lake Michigan. I told them that the Great Lakes are the largest
body of fresh water in the world. And decided to spend the irst part of
our ield trip sitting in the sun, smelling the freshly cut grass overlooking Lake Michigan and having a conversation. I was incredibly humbled by that experience. It reminded me that our role as educators is
to step back, provide opportunities, teach in the moment, and share
through meaningful and thoughtful exchanges.
At the heart of museums are the stories we share. In today’s everchanging world, museum educators are integrated into the early planning stages of exhibitions. Educators work with exhibition designers
to provide multiple points of engagement for visitors with diferent
interests and learning styles, all with the goal of creating a distinct,
immersive educational experience. Museums are reinventing themselves to be relevant to a contemporary culture. hey are becoming
more inter-generational and interdisciplinary. Such reinvention allows
museum educators to re-conceptualize spaces, layer concepts, and
encourage critical thinking. hrough visuals, wall labels, hands-on
interactive, video, and other methods, an individualized experience
for the visitor can be created.
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A number of experiences have shaped how I approach learning in
museums. he irst example comes from the Field Museum in Chicago,
where I worked as the manager of Teacher Professional Development
and Strategic Partnerships. Early on, we were involved in the development of he Evolving Planet exhibition. his exhibit took ive years of
planning and implementation. It encompasses 24,000 square feet, and
featured 2,200 unique fossils, animated videos, and hands-on interactive displays presenting the story of evolution. When visitors walked
into the exhibit, a large map guided them through the ive mass extinctions that occurred in history. When exiting the gallery, a red-digital
clock ticked down the number of species that have gone extinct, and
the four main causes—obviously humans—are one of the four. To reconnect visitors to the spectrum of life on earth, and a simple quote can
be seen on nearby wall by Charles Darwin (1895) “ … from so simple
a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have
been, and are being, evolved.” Museum educators played a pivotal role
in many of the decisions including a map, a clock, and other visual cues
such as quotations that led to this presentation.
A second example is from he American Museum of Natural History in New York. Museum educators developed teaching tools and
programs for the exhibition Mythic Creatures: Dragons, Unicorns &
Mermaids. Mythical creatures are a medium of cultural interaction,
as they relect attempts to explain the natural world and oten take
shape in human, cultural imagination. In the exhibition, visitors learn
how cultures keep mythic creatures alive through art and literature.
Since this exhibition focused on mythic creatures on water, land, and
air, it provided opportunities for teaching, learning and connecting to
other museum exhibits and collections. he intersection of art, culture,
history and science is the core to creating an integrated educational
experience through curriculum, guided investigations, online resources,
and a variety of public engagement. Due to the seamless collabora-
tion among curators, scientists, exhibit designers, and educators, the
exhibit provided the visitor an integrated experience.
he third example is Dena’inaq’ Huch’ulyeshi: he Dena’ina Way of
Living, an exhibition organized by the Anchorage Museum which presented aspects of the culture and history of the Dena’ina Athabascans,
the indigenous culture occupying the region of Southcentral Alaska. A
project team consisting of curators, collection managers, exhibition
designers, and educators, in collaboration with an advisory board,
worked for several years to create an integrated learning experience.
he exhibition included ilm, life-size recreations, images, hands-on
learning stations, audio, and more than 160 artifacts on loan from
museums across Europe and North America. Many of the interactive
and immersive experiences were discussed with educators to create
a variety of teaching and learning opportunities that were integrated
into the design concept. Visitors were irst greeted with a life-size
Figure 1. Dena’ina Family
Dinner, Multimedia Display
in Dena’inaq’ Huch’ulyeshi:
he Dena’ina Way of Living.
Photo:
Anchorage Daily News.
103
diorama depicting a contemporary ish camp. A long-house was constructed where students or visitors could sit and listen to stories told by
Native elders. Visitors could also join a Dena’ina family dinner through
a video projection, or try to speak the Dena’ina language through
learning speciic words for the anatomy of a moose, an important subsistence resource. Local botanical specimens were placed near a traditional bear gut skin parka to create a teaching moment. A bear gut skin
parka had a darker band sewn among lighter gut skin band, illustrating the bear’s diet of blueberries. Elders relected, “his was because the
bear ate too many blueberries.” Design and the juxtaposition of objects
provided an opportunity to connect oral history and artifacts.
All these examples relect the intention of our professional practice.
When combining curatorial decisions and educational interpretations upon facts, narratives, concepts, and experiences, it maximizes
opportunity for visitors to make meaningful connections for life-long
informal learning.
By interacting with original objects and stories embedded in museum exhibits,
cross-disciplinary educational content could lead to new ways of maximizing a
museum’s public value. Hence, a museum experience is no longer an insolated
event but to make meaningful connections. It is why an integrated museum
education is so applicable today.
Designing an integrated museum experience
Museum professionals know that the museum experience begins long before
the visitor enters the museum building itself. Visitors learn about museums
from others, from billboards and brochures, radio and television, and, of
course, the Internet. hey begin to formulate ideas and responses to their
experience before they encounter the exhibition or collections. hey relect
upon their childhood experiences in museums if they have visited these insti-
tutions before. Falk and Dierking (2000) pointed out that visitors carry their
experiences with them long ater the actual visit to the museum, oten making
connections or seeing relationships months or even years ater their encounter
with the physical collections. herefore, the following section uses several
exhibits curated and created by the Anchorage Museum as examples to further
discuss its curatorial decisions, pedagogical methodology, and connection to
community public outreach.
he Anchorage Museum’s guiding mission is to connect people, expand
perspectives, and encourage global dialogue about the North and its distinct
environment. hrough the intersection of art, culture, history, and science, the
Museum seeks to create a rich understanding of the human experience. It is
committed to the people of Alaska by providing a forum for the voices of the
North and to create an authentic learning experience with the visitors. Several
recent exhibitions and programs illustrate this intersection:
• In 2015, the Municipality of Anchorage marks its centennial. To recognize the anniversary, the Museum has
organized a series of exhibitions to explore the multiple
aspects of the growth and future of the city. City Limits
examines how Anchorage’s global position has shaped
the community culturally and economically. It highlights
how Anchorage’s population has changed over decades
to become the ethno-racially, culturally and linguistically diverse community that it is today, with more than
90 languages spoken in the Anchorage School District.
Arctic Ambitions: Captain Cook and the Northwest Passage
examines the legacies of Cook’s northern voyage, including
the impacts of its legacy on indigenous life. On Sea Ice
looks at the interactions between people and the sea ice of
the Arctic. It considers Arctic ice as a “culture scape” for
polar indigenous people, and the political and economic
dimensions of a changing Arctic.
105
• In 2014, Arctic Flight examined the history of Alaska
through the development of aviation. Dena’inaq’
Huch’ulyeshi: he Dena’ina Way of Living featured over 200
Dena’ina objects to tell Dena’ina history and culture through
art, music, storytelling, re-created settings and hands-on
activities. Riskland: Remembering the 1968 Earthquake
marked the 50th anniversary of the 1964 Great Alaska
Earthquake that looked at the devastating event scientiically and historically, including the reconstruction eforts
that followed, and Alaska’s earthquake preparedness today.
As museum educators, we use these exhibitions as extended classrooms. hey
tell the rich stories of Alaska’s past while exploring life in the North today
and envisioning a future full of possibility. In order to design an integrated
museum experience, a variety of customized pedagogies are developed for
each of the exhibitions, and consideration is given to the time of year, duration
of the exhibition, narrative and content, interactive, label copy, object lists, and
the intended audience. For example, a wide range of programs and tools were
created including:
• Evening for Educators where teachers are invited into the
museum to work with educators on customizing ield trips
and providing essential time to begin before, during and
ater-museum visit planning.
• An Educator Guide was created for each exhibit with
main themes, essential questions, vocabulary, interesting
facts, downloadable worksheets, and connections to other
galleries and online resources to help teachers succeed
in accessing the content and at the museum with their
students.
In addition, museum educators with expertise in art, culture, history or
science design and create interdisciplinary learning experiences through
45- or 90-minute guided student investigations in the gallery and back in a
museum classroom, deepening the connections and relevancy—adapting and
modifying to meet the needs of the students’ interests. Self-guided experiences
are also encouraged on any ield trip to help teachers and students construct
new understanding individually or as a group—this is just as important as
a museum-led experience such as a docent led tour. hese exhibits provide
museum educators with strong cross-disciplinary content to maximize
museum-learning experiences for all ages and backgrounds.
When applied, an integrated approach involving collection objects,
stories, contents, and multi-disciplinary connections provides more powerful
and deeper meaning for museum learners. However, can it lead to new ways of
maximizing a museum’s public value? Outreach and partnerships with universities and educational institutions provides opportunities to extend a museum’s oferings beyond its walls. he following mini case studies with colleagues
from Norway demonstrate the role of university collaboration in extending a
museum’s public value through exhibitions and public programs.
Gyre: From Anchorage Alaska to Nesna Norway
In February 2014, through University of the Arctic ASAD (Arctic Sustainable Art and Design) hematic Network, faculty members in art education
and natural sciences departments, Mette Gårdvik, Wenche Sørmo, and Karin
Stoll from Nesna University College in Norway traveled to University of
Alaska Anchorage (UAA) to be a part of the Winter Design Project. he faculty
presented a public lecture, and organized a snow sculpture workshop about
the Norwegian education system and the environment.
During the visit, the faculty toured the Anchorage Museum and visited the
Gyre: he Plastic Ocean exhibition, which explored the relationship between
humans and the ocean in a contemporary culture of consumption. he exhibition combined art and science to bring a global problem into perspective. he
work of more than 25 artists from around the world was featured.
he faculty members were inspired by the exhibit and planned to do
something similar in their home community of Nesna, Norway related to
107
Figure 2. Pam Longobardi,
Dark and Plentiful Bounty,
mixed media, 2014. As seen
in Gyre: he Plastic Ocean
at the Anchorage Museum,
Photo: Chris Arend.
marine debris. Subsequently, they were awarded a grant application to launch
a project titled “Sea Monsters Conquer the Beaches: Marine Litter as Material
in Site-speciic Art.” Marine debris is a problem for both humans and animals.
Trash has been found in large quantities in the Arctic coastal areas and constitutes an additional burden on wildlife. Fisheries, aquaculture and tourism are
important to the Norwegian coastal culture. he goals of the project included:
(1) increasing knowledge of marine debris and engagement of the community
to clean local beaches; (2) developing a location-based educational project for
elementary student teachers and primary school/kindergarten by focusing on
sustainability and aesthetic methods; (3) giving the participating individuals
ownership of the problem and knowledge of how to rectify the situation;
and (4) ensuring that garbage collected is handled in a sustainable manner
to reduce the amount of micro-plastics in the ocean. hey used a practical
aesthetic approach to an unaesthetic problem by collecting trash on the shoreline at Helgeland in Northern Norway.
In the fall of 2014, the educators began working with children from
kindergartens and primary schools in the local community as well as student
Figure 3. Site-speciic art
using collected beach litters
created by kindergarten
children.
Photo: Mette Gårdvik.
teachers at Nesna University College. his efort will continue until June 2015.
Most remarkable is that inspiration gained by visiting a museum exhibit in
Anchorage could so signiicantly impact their eforts. Undeniably, person-toperson encounters create synergies and closer bonds not only between individuals, but also within the general community. Another example here is through
institutional partnership and collaboration to illustrate how an integrated
approach could inluence knowledge and experience.
Circumpolar Expressions and Identities: Sámi Stories
Sámi Stories: Art and Identity of an Arctic People was curated and created by
the Northern Norway Art Museum and Tromsø University Museum as a part
of the bicentennial celebrations of the Norwegian Constitution. he exhibit
debuted at the Northern Norway Art Museum and traveled to New York City
and Anchorage. All the works in the exhibition have one thing in common—
they portray themes about Sámi history, politics, religion and society. he
Arctic landscape creates a backdrop for the narratives.
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Figure 4. Sámi Stories: Art
and Identity of an Arctic
People exhibited at the
Anchorage Museum from
Feb 5 to May 10, 2015.
Photo: Herminia Din.
To increase a museum’s public value, a one day symposium hosted by the Art
Department on the University of Alaska Anchorage (UAA) campus initiated
the opening of Sámi Stories exhibit. Collaboration with the University was
an essential part of extending the outreach. he symposium ofered in-depth
perspectives on Sámi history, identity and visual culture. It reached a broader
audience including college students and faculty who otherwise may not have
visited the exhibit. Several students responded that seeing the show ater
attending the symposium made a signiicant impact and was most meaningful.
Additionally, comparative aspects of the Sámi and Alaska Native cultures
were explored in a cultural exchange. he four Alaskan participating artists
were Ron Senungetuk, Alvin Amason, Sonya Kelliher-Combs and Susie
Bevins-Ericsen. All of these artists have Alaska Native background. Britta
Marakatt-Labba and Aslaug Juliussen were the participating Scandinavian
artists. he discussion focused on materials linked with culture, community
and place, art education, political issues, the diferentiation between male and
female roles in the culture and culture speciic expressions. Environmental
concerns were also addressed, mining in Alaska versus mining in Sápmi.
he artists also discussed their use of traditional materials in new ways and
how they associate materials with home and memory. Moreover, artists also
discussed how materials are used to serve as commentary on social issues.
he symposium provided a means especially for UAA students to better
understand such complex issues existing not only in Alaska but also in other
indigenous communities of the North. Most importantly, it was an integrated
learning experience provided by combining an exhibit, a daylong symposium,
and a hands-on workshop. Most importantly, through face-to-face meeting
opportunities, it connected artists, researchers, and educators in discussions
of emerging issues. One student relected, “he bond between the northern
peoples remains strong and this symposium helped strengthen those bonds.”
Other students described the symposium as “thought-provoking,” “incredibly
informative,” and “eye opening.” Here are some of their relections,
I think going to the exhibition changed the way I thought about
the pieces by seeing them in person. I particularly responded to the
woodcut prints of John Savio. As a printmaker I appreciated the work
that he made. I also responded to the large format woodcut with the
accompanying blind embossment. he image in the symposium did
not do justice to the scale of that piece. Walking through the gallery I
was impressed by the scale of the print. Creating a woodblock print at
that size is no easy task and to print one blind without any ink was
interesting. hese were the works I responded to the most.—W.D.
Looking back I think I learned quite a bit about the Sami people and
their culture, as well as other indigenous peoples in Alaska. All of the
native artists talked about the struggle their people face when challenged with expansion in their country or region, land development,
and loss of parts of their culture. he Alaska native artists talked
111
about their battle with the expansion of Americans into their land in
the past, and the many problems that it caused, including the slow
disappearance of their languages and culture, and alcoholism. he
Sami artists who attended also spoke of loss of culture and language,
as well as their reliance on reindeer. In fact, the two Sami artists both
featured reindeer in their art in one way or another. Overall, the Symposium and the Sami Stories exhibit at the Anchorage museum were
informative and impressive. I enjoyed learning about other cultures
and their artworks connection to the land, and I hope to learn more
about the Sami people through research. —V.M.
I was surprised with how much I enjoyed the symposium. I went into
it expecting to be bored and disinterested with the material especially
since it was so distant to me emotionally and physically. he parallels
that were drawn from Sami to Alaskan Native Cultures post WWII
were pretty amazing. hey shared a lot of the same fall out with their
government inluences. Sami culture was prevented from speaking
their natural tongue and were forced to speak the national language
of the country they resided much like how the Alaskan Natives were
forced to speak English instead of their own languages. Education
also forced the minority identities aside and promoted the ideals and
teachings of the majority. he type of oppression that the Sami were
subject to was easy to relate because of my own education background,
which is primarily Alaskan. hrough out my primary education
we were constantly learning about the oppression Alaskan Natives
experienced, especially since those who experienced it were still alive
to talk about it. Overall I was pleasantly surprised with my Sami
Stories experience. I think it helped open my eyes to view artwork
that I wouldn’t necessarily ind any interest in and give those exhibits
another chance. By doing so I might ind connections to my history
and experience to expand my own artistic reach. —E.C.
I found the Symposium to be a wealth of inspiration for me personally. he best part of the weekend came in the form of an open format
discussion between the Sami artists and Alaska Native artists, and the
attendees of the symposium. he candid discussion provided me with
some insight on the artists’ and their respective communities. —J.B.
he symposium concluded with a hands-on workshop. he idea was to followup the theme of culture-based materials from the artist panel discussion.
Participants made Sámi style key chains using materials from Sápmi, reindeer leather, mica, along with thread and felt in the national Sámi colors, blue,
red, yellow and green. Mica, kråkesølv in Norwegian, is oten used as a
decorative element on Sámi clothing, purses and accessories. he use of mica
can be traced far back in time and is commonly found in Northern Norway. It
is used as a cheap substitute for silver and appears like small shiny ornamental
Figure 5. Sámi Handicrat
Workshop during
Symposium, Feb 27, 2015.
Photo: Charis Gullickson.
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disks on traditional costume, belts, purses and wallets. Touching and feeling
the reindeer hide added another dimension to the learning experience.
Why “hands-on” experience is critical to the integrated approach when
designing a museum learning experience, is illustrated in the following
student’s relection:
I had an opportunity to take a workshop on the art and crat of making a Sami style key chain. Packets consisted of all the necessary items
to make the key chain. It included a reindeer thimble as well as felt
and colored yard and thread. his small token brings back a remembrance of the plight of the Sami people that I will always treasure. he
instructor was warm and able to tell the signiicance of the colors and
the design as it related to their culture. his daylong event that started
at UAA and ended at the Anchorage Museum opens the door for more
collaboration between circumpolar peoples. his is a good way to keep
in touch with our neighbors. We can learn a lot from each other. —S.B.
Challenges facing museum education in the north
hrough exhibitions and integrated educational programs, these allow both
museums and their visitors to experience collections in new and diferent ways.
Museums must be leaders in developing new approaches to these interactions,
and see these opportunities as a means to evolve from teaching institutions to
learning institutions. More importantly for museums in the North, connections to the environments, animals, sciences, places, nature, history, cultures,
languages, ways of living, tools, traditional practices, and more are an integral
part of knowing and understanding.
Museums in the North should choose to take an active role by providing
an integrated approach in its daily practice. By providing direct encounters
with collection objects, stories, cultural and historical contexts, environments,
multiple perspectives, or through informal and collaborative exchanges, it
empowers our visitors to informed selection and combine them with their
own ideas and experiences, and create a unique sense of ownership of the
museum and the circumpolar region.
Forging and facilitating new interactions with visitors takes time and
commitment. Similar to developing successful in-person learning experiences
and programs, an integrated learning will require a great deal of programing,
adaptability and lexibility. In particular, it takes a signiicant efort to work
collaboratively among museum staf and colleagues from outside institutions.
It needs to cultivate new professional relationships to work together to create
an integrated museum experience. It is no longer an authoritative curatorial
decision but incorporating educational expertise and interpretation, linkages
to multiple disciplines and perspectives should be the whole.
Further, such efort requires adequate staf time allocation and demands
appropriate institution infrastructure. Essential is a long-term institutional
commitment to engage in integrated teaching and learning, as well as teambased exhibition development and educational programing. Museums need to
consider the rich possibilities that an integrated approach can ofer. hough an
investment of time and resources must be made, the challenges and opportunities it presents can truly energize the entire museum community in the North.
Ultimately, each individual and each institution should consider the path that
is best suited for its own situation, goals, and mission. A good museum experience is no longer happening within the museum walls but from outside as well.
Conclusion
Integrated experiences allow visitors to build personal connections to museum
content, a constructed learning. he process of creating and implementing
authentic educational programs has demonstrated the value in the multiplicity
of museum experiences that can occur—online and in-person, personal and
public, individual and collective. A dual focus toward the learner-centric
approach in museum education and integrated learning are compatible
trends especially when dealing with issues in circumpolar regions. We are all
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connected. Museum education has embraced interactive conversations with
visitors and has evolved from a singular voice to comprehensive engagement.
Educator’s expertise is essential. By fostering a collaborative professional practice among museum staf, and using an integrated approach to educational
programs, it can ultimately create deeper and more meaningful experiences
for all visitors, which extend a museum’s public value.
References
Adorno, T. & Horkheimer, M. (1944). he Culture Industry: Enlightenment as Mass
Deception. Retrieved from https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/adorno/1944/
culture-industry.htm
Benjamin, W. (1935). he Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction. Retrieved
from https://www.marxists.org/reference/subject/philosophy/works/ge/benjamin.
htm
Brown, J., Collins, A., & Duguid, P. (1989). Situated Cognition and the Culture of
Learning. Educational Researcher, 18 (1), 32–42.
Darwin, C. R. (1859). he Origin of Species. Retrieved from http://darwin-online.org.uk/
content/frameset?itemID=F373&viewtype=side&pageseq=1
Dena’inaq’ Huch’ulyeshi: he Dena’ina Way of Living, Anchorage Museum, Sept 15,
2013 through Jan 12, 2014. Retrieved from https://www.anchoragemuseum.org/
exhibits/denainaq-huchulyeshi-the-denaina-way-of-living/
Falk, J., & Dierking, L. (2000). Learning from Museums: Visitor Experiences and the
Making of Meaning. Alta Mira Press.
Garcia-Itchoak, M. (2015, March 15). E-mail and personal interview.
Gyre: he Plastic Ocean, Anchorage Museum, Feb. 7th through Sept 6th, 2014. Retrieved from https://www.anchoragemuseum.org/exhibits/gyre-the-plastic-ocean/
Mythic Creatures, American Museum of Natural History. Retrieved from http://www.
amnh.org/exhibitions/past-exhibitions/mythic-creatures
Pine II, J., & Gilmore, J. (2011). he Experience Economy. Harvard Business Review
Press.
Sámi Stories: Art and Identity of an Arctic People, Feb 27 through May 10, 2015.
Retrieved from https://www.anchoragemuseum.org/exhibits/sámi-stories-art-andidentity-of-an-arctic-people/
Sea Monsters Conquer the Beaches: Marine Litter as Material in Site-speciic Art.
Retrieved from https://prezi.com/ykax_m3xpmjy/copy-of-marine-littering/
Talboys, G. (2011). Museum Educator’s Handbook (3rd ed).
Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing Ltd.
he Evolving Planet, he Field Museum. Retrieved from http://www.ieldmuseum.org/
at-the-ield/exhibitions/evolving-planet
UAA Winter Design Project, Retrieved from http://greenandgold.uaa.alaska.edu/
blog/22085/
University of Arctic ASAD hematic Network. Retrieved from
http://www.uarctic.org/organization/thematic-networks/arctic-sustainable-arts-anddesign/, and http://www.asadnetwork.org
117
ARCTIC DESIGN WEEK:
A forum and a catalyst
Timo Jokela
University of Lapland, Finland
Päivi Tahkokallio
Tahkokallio Design+
Introduction
he ield of design is undergoing a rapid change. Designers discuss the change
within the ield of design, but increasingly the discussion includes political
and business agents (homson & Koskinen, 2012). In the European political
discourse, design is seen primarily as supporting the developmental policy
of the European Union and as a part of its innovation activity (European
Commission, 2013).
In Design Finland—A National Design Program (2013) design is considered a part of innovative activity and therefore aimed at strengthening
competitiveness. Discussion about the changing role of design was boosted
by the status of World Design Capital (WDC) given to Helsinki in 2012. he
city of Rovaniemi and the Faculty of Art and Design at the University of
Lapland collaborated with Helsinki during the WDC year and carried out
a programme focusing on national and international collaboration. he
Arctic Design concept was launched and developed between 2012 and 2014.
In order to implement the project, a number of partners needed to work
together including research and education at the university, the local business community and agents of creative industries (WDC 2012 HelsinkiRovaniemi Project).
One of the most high proile forms of extensive cooperation between
the partners was the Rovaniemi Design Week organized for the irst time in
2009. In 2013, the event was renamed Arctic Design Week (ADW). he main
organizers (the City of Rovaniemi and the University of Lapland) justiied the
change of name on the fact that the title Arctic Design Week illustrates the
goals, methods, and internationalization objectives of the week more accurately and also connects ADW with the Arctic discourse in other ields. he
event, which is held annually in the middle of February, is a diverse operation
that includes exhibitions, seminars, workshops, and participatory events with
a focus on Arctic design.
In this chapter, we describe the goals and give examples of actions that
took place when the partners were developing ADW together (University of
Lapland, City of Rovaniemi, and business partners, particularly enterprises in
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creative ields). We also consider some of the impacts of the collaboration to
get a better understanding for future development of ADW. he data we used
included the annual feedback about the event and its production including
partner and participants’ observations. he chapter also summarizes the
results of three reports the authors have been involved with either as writers
or as members of the focus group. he three reports are: interviews with the
key persons involved in the ADW process (Leutola, Narbrough, Oförsagd
& Tahkokallio, 2015); second, a pre-report about the Expert Centre of Arctic
Design by the University of Lapland (Alakärppä, Honka, Piekkari & Rontti,
2015) and third the pre-report of the Arctic Science, Art, and Business Park
produced under the supervision of the City of Rovaniemi.
The brand of Arctic Design and Art becomes clearer
he underlying aim of ADW is to promote and develop the notion of Arctic
Design. he concept of Arctic design was discussed in public for the irst
time in 2010 when the role of the City of Rovaniemi’s cooperation with
World Design Capital 2012 Helsinki was negotiated. he concept of Arctic
design was the contribution of northern design to the international political,
economic, and environmental discussion about the Arctic that had clearly
become livelier. In the beginning, the concept aroused some suspicion and
was oten connected with an aesthetic exploitation of the North, the perception of the Arctic as exotic or, conversely, with the utilitarian exploitation of
the natural resources. he WDC 2012 Helsinki-Rovaniemi project (2012–
2014) included over 280 design productions and projects that strengthened
the notion and ‘brand’ of Arctic design (Lillberg, Jerndahl, Orjasniemi &
Nukarinen, 2014). Since 2010, the concept of Arctic Design has evolved and
matured to the point that it is now more widely understood and accepted.
According to key partners and scholars (Jokela, 2013; Jokela, Coutts,
Huhmarniemi & Härkönen, 2013; Miettinen, 2012; Miettinen, Laivamaa &
Alhonsuo, 2014; Miettinen & Tahkokallio, 2014, Tahkokallio, 2012) Arctic
design should be understood as actions aimed at increasing well-being and
competitiveness in the northern and Arctic areas. Arctic design combines
art, science, and design for solving the particular problems of remote places
and sparsely-populated areas. Methodologically and thematically, research in
Arctic design is connected to user- and community-centered design (Miettinen et al., 2014), social design research (Manzini, 2014), design thinking
(Brown, 2008), wicked problems (Kolko, 2012) and community- and environment-based applied visual arts (Jokela et al., 2013). Understanding and
paying attention to the Arctic circumstance, custom and livelihood, northern
culture and an international outlook form the core of Arctic design. Expertise
in Arctic design means the ability to recognize, analyse, and solve challenging
problems following the principles of sustainable development. Practice in
Arctic design, including applied visual art, takes into account factors such as
natural resources and culturally sustainable development while respecting
indigenous knowledge (Jokela & Coutts, 2014; Jokela, Hiltunen & Härkönen,
2015b; Hardt, 2012). Arctic design develops forms of creative work and
entrepreneurship suitable to the Arctic area and supports innovative activity
to advance the competitiveness of the area. In addition to design entrepreneurship, the economic value of art is increasingly recognized. he recent
Arctic Human Development report by the Nordic Council of Ministers
(Larsen & Fondahl, 2014) notes that production, marketing, and consumption of northern art seems to be a growth market. his makes discussion
on collaboration of design and applied visual arts timely (see for example,
Jokela et al., 2013).
According Miettinen et al. (2014) research and developmental work
related to service design and the service industries in the public sector and
ields of adventure travel and industry are especially important in Arctic
design. Service design in collaboration with applied visual art and art education opens up new opportunities for northern social and economic wellbeing.
he growing ield of service design has a lot in common with communitybased art education and applied visual arts, such as using design tools and
methods to allow the active participation of end-users in processes. Both
service design and applied visual art have a strong links to the strategic
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research priorities of the University of Lapland. (Jokela, 2013; Miettinen &
Tahkokallio, 2014; Tahkokallio, 2012.).
Arctic design combines the expertise of local agents with a strong international network that can introduce and implement new methods across the
Arctic area. Furthermore, specialists in Arctic design can apply expertise to
other similar conditions outside the Arctic area. Simultaneous with the development of ADW, the importance of the Arctic area has signiicantly increased
globally, which has encouraged the inclusion of strategic design in discussion
of the role of Arctic design (Tahkokallio, 2012).
The Arctic Design Week: An interchange of partners’ goals
Since 2009 the Arctic Design Week has, on the one hand, provided a forum
to promote Arctic design every year, for example student or faculty research
projects in the Faculty of Art and Design, in enterprise and the public sector, or
critical discussion about the entire concept. On the other hand, ADW has been
a catalyst in helping to create innovative experiments and encouraging results.
he Arctic City of Rovaniemi has deined its strategic goal, which is to
strengthen its position as one of the most important Arctic cities internationally. One expression of this goal is, for example, the cooperation agreement of
May 2015 between the City of Rovaniemi, University of Lapland, and Lapland
University of Applied Sciences. he aim is to turn Rovaniemi into the national
and international capital of Arctic expertise (Lapin Kansa, 2015).
he aspiration appears justiied because of the wealth of Arctic expertise,
including local enterprises of various ields, about the Arctic circumstances,
as well as the education and research expertise at the University of Lapland
and Lapland University of applied sciences. Arctic design is a key part of this
expertise. According to Tahkokallio and Oförsagd (2015) Arctic design can
have a role in the branding of the city, and at present it plays a part in the
marketing communications of Rovaniemi. Being so closely identiied with
Arctic design is expected to strengthen the image of Rovaniemi as a modern
city. Arctic Design Week fundamentally supports local design enterprises in
order to gain more customers nationally and internationally. hese comments
were gleaned from interviews with the experts of the city’s commerce, industry
and strategic city planning.
Rovaniemi Regional Development Agency, which is an enterprise charged
with developing the business life of the City of Rovaniemi, has actively participated in the organization of ADW. Over the past seven years, the organization
still considers the original goal of creating a forum to bring forward design
expertise in Lapland valid. he main goal of the Arctic Design Week remains
to be a meeting place and forum for networking. he remit of Rovaniemi
Regional Development Agency is primarily to serve enterprises. According to
the agency, ADW has to serve as a forum to launch new products and services, and networking has to enhance business. he Arctic Design Week provides
a place to introduce the most signiicant outcomes of Arctic design and to
actively network locally and internationally (Tahkokallio & Oförsagd, 2015).
he development of Arctic design is closely aligned with the strategic
priorities of the Faculty of Art and Design at the University of Lapland, based
on the entire university’s research on the Arctic and change in the North. he
purpose is to develop the Faculty of Art and Design into the international
centre of Arctic design and applied visual art expertise. Arctic Design Week is
considered a natural forum to introduce results from the Faculty of Art and
Design, and to be the most important local setting for that purpose. ADW aims
to enhance understanding of Arctic design among the faculty, and the event
also strengthens the international importance of the local. herefore, ADW can
also be viewed as a pedagogical forum related to both design and art education
and that supports innovation, collaboration and participation (Jokela, 2013).
The participatory methods of the Arctic Design Week
From 2009 to 2015, Arctic Design Week has provided diverse cooperation
projects with a number of stakeholders. From the beginning, ADW has
searched for new ways to test and develop participatory design processes.
Co-design and participatory methods are, according to Bason (2010), at the
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core of modern design thinking and their signiicance in the production of
innovation has been recognized both in enterprise and in the public sector.
he irst design week focused on city dwellers. Ever since then, participatory design methods have formed a part of the service design projects and
projects with enterprises in which city dwellers participate during the week.
he purpose of the participatory methods has also been to remove the elitist
stigma design has had in the eyes of city-dwellers and entrepreneurs (Tahkokallio & Oförsagd, 2015).
Participants and users with diferent backgrounds bring a variety of viewpoints and ideas to the design process to help decision-making. he importance of this becomes clear when the object of development is a challenging
target, area, or service that should serve equally well diferent kinds of users,
such as city dwellers. Creative dialogue between participants that is supported,
for example, with ethnographic methods, visualizations, or citizens’ experiences makes it possible to create shared views and picture new solutions.
Another important reason is that co-design methods make the realization of
a concept, service, or strategy easier. When partners are committed to the
design from the beginning, it is easier for them to engage with the realization
as well. Bason (2010) emphasizes the importance of this especially when planning innovation for the public sector and notes that the initial brainstorming
should, indeed, be considered as the very irst phase of the realization.
he participatory projects that have taken place in ADW have highlighted
diversity, collaboration between university students and design professionals
in addition to cooperation between enterprises and organizations in the public
sector. Such projects have focused, for example, on city planning, entrepreneurial operation or public services. hey have employed collaborative development, end-users’ (i.e. city dwellers) participation in the co-design process,
fast and iterative development, and active visualizations of phases; design
thinking supporting all these elements. he projects have oten proceeded
from the discovery phase to the deinition phase and development and utilization phases, as described by Miettinen and Koivisto (2009). he discovery
phase refers to multisided analysis, charting, and information collection about
the theme or object to be developed. In the deinition phase, the information
gathered is analyzed and evaluated, and factors directing designing are identiied. Numerous new solutions are created and tested, and the best solution
is eventually selected in the development phase. In the utilization phase, the
service is brought to practice. Typically, this process is multi-professional and
the users participate in its every stage. Running a city is becoming more of
a continuous co-design process, engaging with diferent stakeholders and
exploring new solutions together instead of only focusing on eicient administration (Eskelinen, García Robles, Lindy, Marsh & Muente-Kunigam, 2015).
24-hour design competition
produces concepts for a real development
One example of the participatory design processes is the 24h design competition organized as a part of the design week and arranged in 2009-2012. he
competition concept was created for the Rovaniemi Design Week by Päivi
Tahkokallio from Tahkokallio Design+. he purpose of the competition was
to produce innovative concepts to develop areas that the City of Rovaniemi
pointed out. Areas participating as the developmental targets in the competition were the so-called Christmas Triangle (the area of Rovaniemi Airport,
Santa Claus Village, and Santa Park) in 2009, Ounasvaara, a major recreational area in 2010, and the business district of Eteläkeskus in 2011. In 2012,
the target was to develop the street- level small-scale stores in the centre of
Rovaniemi in cooperation with the City of Helsinki as a part of the WDC
2012Helsinki-Rovaniemi project.
he 24h design competitions were organized as a competition between
four design teams. Each team consisted of a local enterprise representing the
theme of the competition, students of art and design from the University of
Lapland, representatives of users or city dwellers, and a professional design
enterprise. he design professional’s task was to lead its team through the
extremely fast design process in the competition. During the period: 2009–
2011, the wider audience assessed the results and an expert panel together
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with the audience in 2012, evaluated and selected the winner from concepts
that were created through the intensive, 24-hour-long design processes.
he primary goal of the 24h design competition was to introduce the
possibilities of design in the development of various city areas and bring out
the beneits of participatory design. An important goal was also to create new
kinds of cooperation between enterprises of various ields, design enterprises,
the university, and users of the concept under development. From the students’
point of view the competition provided an opportunity to relect on how, and
if, a designer can afect social or political change, like Heller and Vienne (2003)
have pointed out.
hese goals were achieved to some extent. he concepts created by the
teams were innovative and interesting, but it proved to be challenging to have
the requisite city authorities engage in the design process and all partners to
engage in continuing with the work. he purpose was also to provide university students of art and design with opportunities to cooperate with local
enterprises and some of the best Finnish design agencies. Evaluations showed
that students appreciated these opportunities, and they were especially pleased
with the opportunity to work with outstanding design professionals and enterprises. hrough involving the best Finnish design enterprises in the competition, the concept has clearly improved Rovaniemi’s brand as an interesting
design city, particularly in the design world.
Good Life in Villages design competition
provides better services to residents
In the Arctic Design Week of 2015, a new model of the 24h design competition was carried out in cooperation with a hydro power company, Kemijoki Oy,
from Rovaniemi. Päivi Tahkokallio from Tahkokallio Design+ Oy introduced
the concept to Kemijoki Oy. he design competition provided Kemijoki Oy
with a way of implementing its corporate social responsibility programme. he
theme of the competition was Good Life in Villages, focusing on the challenges
that villages situated by the Kemijoki River face as their population ages rapidly.
Four villages were invited to take part in the competition: Autti, Hirvas,
Juujärvi, and Oikarainen. Each village cooperated with a team consisting of
university students of art and design, students from other faculties of the
University of Lapland and from various departments of the Lapland University of Applied Sciences. Corresponding teachers from these higher education institutions also participated in the process. Villagers and the student
teams worked for a month at deining ‘good life’ and the services needed for
a good life, from the viewpoint of each particular village. During the Arctic
Design Week, the design process ended with the inal visits to the villages and
an intensive 24-hour design sprint culminating in the chosen service concept
enabling ‘good life’. During this inal phase, each village and its student team
were supported and lead by one of the best Finnish design enterprises.
he village of Autti, which won the competition, came up with a service
concept in which the village was seen as a hidden treasure that could be found
and developed through the villagers’ participation and at their own pace. he
service concept of ‘Oikarainen as a Route’ aimed at supporting the villagers’
active participation in neighbourly help with an internet-based application.
he service concept of Hirvas focused on the development of a village hall—
either physical or internet-based—that would increase the villagers’ sense
of community in this growing village. Elderly inhabitants of the village of
Juujärvi designed a service concept aimed at making access to distant social
and health care services easier. An international expert panel chose the winner
of the competition.
he Good life in Villages design competition received positive feedback
from all the participants in the process. For the supporter of the competition,
Kemijoki Oy, the experiment of using design thinking was a step into the
unknown. It provided the company with plenty of new information about its
important operating environment, namely the life and hopes of the villagers
living by the Kemijoki River. For most of the students, the competition was,
thus far, the only multi-professional project bringing together students from
various ields, and the cooperation was regarded as challenging and arduous
but rewarding. he corresponding teachers from the university of Lapland and
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the university of applied sciences provided similar feedback. Villagers participated in the project with great enthusiasm and the number of participants
increased as the project went on. We assume that many students and villagers
created a strong, long-lasting relationship.
However, even a month-long project cannot reach the inal goal. It is
possible to create a good service concept but turning it into an actual usable
service requires much longer-term development. At the moment, the service
concepts are introduced to the city oicers and various interest groups, continuation projects are under development, and funding channels are sought. In this
phase, Bason’s (2010) notion of the earliest possible participation of the interest
groups appears crucial. he more complicated the process is and the more
interest groups are involved, the more important early participation becomes.
Arctic Design Show as a pedagogical learning environment
ADW has also provided a channel to employ project pedagogy emphasizing
the cooperation and interest group skills of the faculty of art and design (Jokela,
2013; Jokela, Hiltunen & Härkönen, 2015a, 2015b). A Design Show event has
become a central learning environment, and every year it brings together
expertise from the various disciplines in the faculty, combining studies of
design, media, applied visual arts, and art education as a visible part of the
Arctic Design Week.
So far, the concept of Arctic design has been deined in a very concrete
way as it has linked the wide expertise of the faculty of arts and design with
winter art and snow and ice building (see Jokela, Härkönen & Yliharju, 2014).
In 2012, the Design show took place right at the centre of Rovaniemi, in an
environment made of snow, ice and light based on a parking area. During
ADW, this Arctic Snow Room environment provided a place to organize fashion
shows, documentary shows, design exhibits, and workshops combining art,
dance and new media. An active environment was created aimed at children
including snow sculptures, lights and animation projections. he environment
was designed as part of the Lapland Snow Design project (see Jokela, Härkönen
Figure 1. Outdoor Design
Show at Arctic Snow Room
environment 2012.
Photo: Antti-Jussi Yliharju.
& Yliharju, 2014), and it was realized by the Faculty of Art and Design from
the University of Lapland together with the Lapland University of Applied
Sciences. he City-Hotel, the Regional Development Agency of the City of
Rovaniemi, BRP Finland, and Flatlight Films all supported the project.
he Arctic design concept was further developed and, in 2013, the Design
Show took place on the shared yard between the science centre Arktikum and
Pilke. At that time, Lumotion Design Show introduced clothing design, and the
snow environment built on the yard provided a phenomenal world of sound
and light as well as a unique experience of the strong Arctic wind. he exhibit
brought together all students’ Arctic design expertise from the Faculty of Art
and Design of the University of Lapland. he world made of snow and ice
129
Figure 2. Lumotion Design
Show. Snow, ice and light
environment made by
Lapland Snow Design
project. 2013.
Photo: Antti-Jussi Yliharju.
was designed by experts from art education, industrial design, interior and
textile design, and realized in cooperation with Lapland Snow Design project.
Students of audio-visual media culture and graphic design created the visual
image of the show. he event was executed in cooperation with agents and
enterprises of various ields. Students of the Lapland University of Applied
Sciences and the Arctic Power department, who provided the event with an
Arctic cold testing laboratory, participated in the construction.
Results and impacts
Collating the annual feedback and reports provided the authors with the
chance to analyse not only the actual impact of ADW but also to identify the
challenges and possibilities of developing further collaboration.
he University of Lapland and the City of Rovaniemi share the view that
Arctic design is of strategic importance. Arctic Design Week has, for its part,
Figure 3. Dance theatre
Solu at Arctic Fashion Show.
2014. Photo: Timo Jokela.
supported the development of this view, enabled multi-professional dialogue
and introduced methods of participatory Arctic design.
he City of Rovaniemi perceives Arctic design as a part of the wider ield
of Arctic expertise on which the aspiration of Rovaniemi’s place as a strong
Arctic city can be based. Arctic design is also seen as a major strength in the
creation of the Rovaniemi ‘brand’ and in marketing of the city. At the same
time, the possibility that interest in the Arctic might fade is seen as a risk from
the viewpoint of the city’s marketing communication.
For the University of Lapland and especially the Faculty of Art and
Design, Arctic design and art provide a framework for fulilling the strategy
priority of research in Arctic and northern change.
Arctic Design Week, has been a remarkable forum to introduce students’
projects from the Faculty of Art and Design. Exhibitions and the Design
show have been at the core. In addition to courses included in the curriculum,
students have organized their own exhibitions and events. However, the most
signiicant fact is that ADW has provided students and teachers with a learning
environment outside the university where various actors come together. In
addition, the participants learn collaborative skills needed in the design and
131
art ields for example, multi-professional cooperation, and communicating
and marketing of their own expertise. Arctic design has been included in the
new curriculum at the University of Lapland and in international networking.
A further goal is also to develop international research projects related to
Arctic design.
Results of the analysis highlight the needs of local stakeholder groups to
develop Arctic design and to take expertise to the streets to support innovation development. Results show that local enterprises are interested in making
use of the university’s design and art expertise and knowledge and that there
is also a need to develop concrete cooperation with education institutions. he
creative ields and design-intensive enterprises consider the lack of the most up
to date technological knowledge a critical obstacle to business improvement.
Similarly, from the point of view of the research and developmental funding of
the university, it is clear that the ongoing funding instruments of the Horizon
2020 Programme necessitate that enterprises participate in the realization of
research projects. To do that, the interests of research and economic life have
to come together, active cooperation and interaction right from the planning
phase of research projects is essential. he results also show that the university
is expected to connect with the development of various areas of businesses
more tightly than before.
Future steps
Further development of Arctic Design Week as a forum of introducing Arctic
design outcomes and as a catalyst for generating new design thinking is
a challenge for planning. In the Sharing Experience Europe (SEE) network
project (2012–) consisting of 11 European partners, design thinking is seen
as a stimulus for innovation in the public sector (Design for Public Good
2013). Applying design thinking and design methods can be described as
‘steps of a ladder’. On the irst step, a public sector organisation participates in
the design project, oten a service design project, randomly and without integrating design as a part of the organisation’s operation. On the second step,
the organisation itself now has some design expertise and design methods are
employed more systematically. On the third and inal step, design has become
strategic and design methods are used, for example, in the creation of politics.
Design professionals oten serve as facilitators and enablers of multi-professional work in these processes. For now, the aforementioned multi-professional, participatory design projects realised during Arctic Design Week are
mainly examples of the irst step of using of design in the public sector. Future
Arctic Design Weeks should aim at supporting organisations and enterprises
to reach the next levels.
he university’s view is that new information about Arctic design should
be better employed in societal decision-making and development of enterprises. Simply stated, from the university’s point of view, Arctic design has
real impact when research results from Arctic design inluence societal
decision-making or enterprises and when education produces Arctic design
experts who earn their living as entrepreneurs or as employees in enterprises.
A key task for the university is to engage in research that will support
societal decision-making and discussion. he distribution of information in
a constructive manner to various target groups, including enterprises and
citizens, is a challenge that also requires pedagogical expertise. From the
perspective of the Arctic Design Week, it means that it is necessary to further
strengthen art and design and related research, and their interaction with the
wider socio-cultural environment. he goal of Arctic Design Week has to be to
get the highest decision-making level of society to participate in the forums
of the ADW.
Within the Faculty of Art and Design, ADW has to some extent emphasised industrial design, and therefore the inclusion of other ields of training
is justiied and timely. he university should also motivate other faculties,
such as the Faculty of Social sciences, to participate in ADW more actively.
ADW can serve as a forum for multidisciplinary discussion and interdisciplinary projects. Similarly, more agents of the cultural life of Rovaniemi should
be motivated to participate in ADW.
133
Conclusion
Forthcoming Arctic Design Week events can be considered both forums and
catalysts. Events encourage enterprises and the public sector to ‘climb the steps
of the design ladder’, eventually reaching the highest step. he development of
methods and strengthening of multidisciplinary cooperation are shared challenges for the City of Rovaniemi, University of Lapland and other stakeholder
groups including the business community. he city, the university and enterprises must look for solutions to proceed from the lowest to the highest step on
the ‘design ladder’ and this requires collaborative design and long term, strategic, planning processes.
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WALKING ART:
Sustaining ourselves
as arts educators
Valerie Triggs,
University of Regina, Canada
Rita L. Irwin and Carl Leggo
The University of British Columbia, Canada
First published in:
Triggs, V., Irwin, R. L. & Leggo, C. (2014). Walking art: Sustaining ourselves
as arts educators. Visual Inquiry: Learning and Teaching Art 3(1), 21–34.
Figure 1. Untitled
by Rita L. Irwin &
Valerie Triggs (2010).
step, step, step, step
pause
pause
between the trees
listen to the echo of silence
hear the wisdom of the elders
step, step, step, step
pause
pause
along the path
breathe the breath of life
receive the whispers of others
(Irwin 2013)
139
he history of humans on earth is one of walking, of migrations of peoples
and of cultural and religious exchanges that took place along intercontinental
pathways. In both past and present, people have derived sustenance from the
land, guided by the seasons and the cyclical movement of crops and livestock,
by a desire to communicate with other communities and by the necessity of
a method of orientation on intractable landscapes with only the horizon line
for direction. Walking was at one time the only means capable of modifying
the environment and continues today, to be an aesthetic method of making
oneself feel at home on the earth.
Perhaps it is because walking is our oldest act of creation (Careri, Pla,
Piccolo, & Hammond, 2002) that contemporary artists in the past century
have experimented in such a wide variety of ways with walking as a means to
create new types of art. he curatorial statement for a current exhibition called
“Walk On” at the Northern Gallery for Contemporary Art in Sunderland, UK,
claims that in considering land art, conceptual art, street photography and the
essay-ilm, “much of the important art of our time has been created through an
act of walking”. In this paper, we explore the ways in which walking seems to
stimulate a social awareness at the level of the body, an instinct for the body’s
strategic nerve impulses preparing the body for relating to the world. Walking
as an art practice, is a way of reminding the self that perceptions are made
before conscious awareness of a particular sense and may also “mobilize new
structures of forethought out of which can arise new ideas” (hrit, 2008, p.
38). In particular, by means of walking, we consider the sustenance provided
by perception’s access to the social world of relational aliveness.
Sean Watson (in hrit, 2008) describes a contemporary interdisciplinary turn towards vitalist ways of thinking and Nigel hrit (2008) traces
current interest in forms of living enquiry, to practices themselves that ofer
“a heightened sense of involvement in our involvements” (p. 66). In combination with other factors that he identiies, hrit argues that walking is one of
several current immersive practices that produce a new form of vitalism that
is a stance to feeling life both by grasping it and by feeling an attunement with
it. In art practices such as walking, the sense and recognisability of things does
not lie in conceptual categories in which we mentally place them but in the
positions and orientations of walking which our postures address (Lingis, in
hrit, 2008, p. 67). In this line of thought, walking constitutes the walker and
the path walked will be perceived in however it lures a body’s posture, which
changes according to the path upon which one inds oneself walking. his
requires a shit in traditional understandings of perception and how knowledge is made. his shit suggests that human bodies are sustained because
of their “unparalleled ability to “co-evolve with things” (hrit, 2008, p. 10):
to insert themselves “sotly and luidly” into the “universe’s wild and free
unfolding” (Kwinter, in hrit, 2008, p. 11) through the morphogenetic capacities of everyday moments.
We are three a/r/tographers: (artists, researchers and teachers), with
a belief that our everyday living is also a creative practice. A/r/tography is a
practice based research methodology within the arts and education (Irwin,
2013) that is not only a way of continuous enquiry into the work of artmaking,
research and teaching, but also a practice of sensitizing methods and bodies
to feelings of afecting and being afected: continuous events of perception.
Practices, according to hrit (2008), can be understood as “material bodies
of work that have gained enough stability over time, through for example, the
establishment of corporeal routines and specialized devices, to reproduce
themselves” (p. 8). We believe that the potent aterlife of one artmaking practice activates responses that recalibrate other creative practices, continually
manifesting new hybrids of artmaking, research, pedagogies and of also, ways
of inhabiting the earth.
We have recently engaged in a year-long enquiry of walking alone or
with our respective companions. In coming together occasionally as well as
ater the fact, we have considered how the paths walked and the walking of
the paths, have sustained us as arts educators as well as revitalized the paths
walked. We also came together to make more art and to let the art events of
poetry, photographs, soundscapes and markmaking extend, intermingle and
stimulate further discussion and ideas. Because a/r/tography’s commitment in
its beginnings (Irwin & deCosson, 2004) was to a living enquiry, we feel that
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its work must augment our living and its practice must refresh our frequent
exhaustion. Rather than gathering data, this particular a/r/tographic study
explored events of perception that might ofer relief from the rush of an informational world. Our enquiry sought experience in full-bodied perception to
sensitize ourselves to feeling life as potential, in continuous successions of
evaluative repositionings that yet feel their own “onlow” (hrit, 2008, p. 5).
he aim of this essay is to communicate the ways in which we experienced
a rising awareness and interest in mobility and the proliferation of aesthetic
practices, and felt individual sustenance as arts educators, through a walking
enquiry.
In this study, each of us walked regularly our chosen paths. Rita Irwin’s
walks were through the forest behind her home near Paciic Spirit Regional
Park: over 700 hectares of forest encompassing the tip of the Point Grey peninsula in Vancouver, Canada. he winding paths were built in the 1980s in the
shadows of old growth cedar, hemlock and Douglas ir and amidst the abundant undergrowth of salmonberry, huckleberry and dogwood bushes, on a
carpet of moss and lichen. At the time of this a/r/tographic enquiry, Valerie
Triggs also walked the forest paths of the Paciic Spirit Park but carried recent
memories of the indelible light of Saskatchewan’s short grass prairie and its
scent of midsummer dust and sage. Carl Leggo walked along the West Dyke
trails in Steveston, an historic and still active ishing village on the south rim of
Richmond, a city on Lulu Island, a river delta island, just south of Vancouver.
he West Dyke trail is beside what is named the Sturgeon Banks, a 21,000 acre
estuary where marsh grasses grow and over which a million birds migrate
annually. Carl walks the dyke with his three preschool granddaughters who
are teaching him the wonders of walking as enquiry. We invite you to share
in a bit of our experience through the included poetry and visual images. We
invite you to remember your own experiences of walking, to breathe deeply, to
slow down, to be in this moment, to enjoy this experience with us through our
art and by considering our enquiry into shiting conceptions of art practice
and perception. We hope to invoke, evoke and provoke our shared enthusiasm
for the arts and for learning to live sustainably in the world.
Walking that listens to light: Attending to perceiving’s onlow
According to Canadian social theorist Brian Massumi (2002), all artmaking
is an event of perception. He is not referring to classical empiricism where
things don’t exist outside of any particular perception and in which perception
is oten equated with the sense of sight. Perception is not a purely visual experience occurring to a passive relector of reality. Seeing requires our bodies
rather than just our ield of vision. Massumi explains that while the optical
apparatus may be isolated in anatomical dissection, it never functions in isolation. Recent scientiic research extends the interconnectedness of a body and
its perceivings (Provencio, 2011) indicating that bodies feel light rather than
sense it. Furthermore, in responding to light, moving bodies cannot be separated out from movement’s capacity for transformation. his is the way vision
can relay into the kinesthetics of a sense of movement and “how kinesthesia
can relay into touch” (Massumi, 2002, p. 4). To see, therefore, is also to enfold
the body’s feeling of the real abstraction of potential. We sense ourselves alive
and we perceive through the aliveness.
Carl Leggo (2007) writes:
Listening to Light
once upon a time I saw light,
counted colors, combed dictionaries
for modiiers, coined countless adjectives
to name light in poems, held in dark memory,
but I knew always the light I saw was
the visible light only, its visibility rendering
invisible the places where light begins,
where it goes, since the whole wild experience
of seeing seems to stop with the irm earth
143
but now I walk daily the dike that writes a thin
line between Lulu Island and the Fraser River,
and tune my skin to listen
to light’s lyrical lilt, sung in sun-washed,
moon-drawn, shadow-scribed lines,
resilient, resonant, measured without end
Tuning one’s skin to listen involves a sense of aliveness of a body relating to
the world at a particular moment. his sense of aliveness has a shape or feel,
a singular quality; Matthew Lipman (1967) calls it a self. A body and its self
are its perceivings. Separately, there is “no action, no analysis, no anticipation,
no thing, no body” (Massumi, 2002, p. 95). he embodied assemblage of the
self as an event of perception is a site of feelings of capacity for renewal. What
is most important is the sensation of the “margin of undecidability accompanying every perception” (Massumi, 1995, p. 98) and the feeling that there
are things in the world that matter to us, that we feel we can go places and
do things in relation to them. Simon O’Sullivan (2001) cites Felix Guattari in
describing how artmaking’s access to new materials of expression involves “a
process of reordering our selves and our relation to the world” (p. 5) and this is
an aesthetic function. For many artists, this aesthetic function of renewing the
self in relation to the world, is the ultimate aim of art. In the poem below, Carl
Leggo inquires into learning the aesthetics of the shape of aliveness.
Light Lines
with winter’s end, silver birches stand
along the parallel borders of the highway,
bare, lean, awash in late aternoon light,
like a topsy-turvy sea of vertical waves,
iterable far beyond even keen eyesight
like Charlton Heston in Cecil B. DeMille’s
dazzling miracle commanded the parting
of the Red Sea, the highway is a charcoal line
that divides and deines the tangled wilderness
in a text that invites and deies perspective
the birches hold light like Chinese lanterns,
and I want to learn how to breathe light,
and hold its scent long in memory, to hear
light seep into stone, to taste savoury light
on the skin, to know the language of light
like I once stood in a Richmond gallery
surrounded by Rita’s art, her imagined trees
and light rendered with heart and hand,
till now I linger, once again, face to face
with the limits of language, and wonder
how Rita would evoke the silver birches
full of spring light, and I wish for the artist’s
ways of knowing, want only to write the lines
of light I have witnessed so you can know
how light dances up a storm beyond words
We found we were in agreement regarding our experiences of having a heightened multi-modal sensitivity to the places in which we walked, which manifested through our practices of walking. Rita Irwin writes in her journal:
Walking has heightened my sensitivity to the aurality of physical
spaces. I experience the qualities of space not only by seeing but also
by listening… I hear the cathedral-like height of the trees, the deep
145
spaces between the trees, and the movement of the trees on a still day.
he audible attributes of walking in the forest reach beyond a predisposition for seeing and enlarge the experience through attentive listening, through mindfulness.(2010)
Echoes of becoming: Walking in attunement
Massumi (2002) claims that vision gives more back to reality than it is given;
what is actually seen is overseen, involving added ingredients to experience,
bits of the past that the body remixes and feels as the relational aliveness of
future. Perception itself is an aesthetic experience involving always already
“multisense pastness” (p. 155). Massumi ofers examples of habitually unperceived things that happen throughout the day, such as variations in angle, illumination and colour, endogenous retinal irings, voluntary eye movements,
etc. Alongside a body’s constancies and unities of perception, these other
movements persist constituting vision that makes use of a qualitative world
to be generative of reality. In her walking practice, Rita Irwin used her camera
to explore the movement of her body amidst the trees and light. She allowed
her breath to move the camera image, documenting the lifespan of a ‘breath
in movement’ and traced its path into the blur of the forest. One of the photographs of her Liminal1 Lights series is included below.
In her journal Rita recorded her thoughts:
Walking faster, walking slower: how does it change my perception?
Using my camera as if it were a paintbrush I stroke the air and picture
the in-between. Curious, I try diferent qualities of stroking the air.
What lies in between this time and space? My breath. We all need to
1
Liminality is a movement that cannot be spatialized; its essential character is always in a
state of becoming. Liminality is derived from the Latin word for threshold, a point beyond
which a sensation is almost too faint to be perceived yet cannot but be felt by bodies in the
midst of already moving through such experiences.
Figure 2. Untitled
by Rita L. Irwin (2009).
breathe deeply to feel intensely alive. hrough the abstractness of these
images I explore the concreteness of the breath of life by further understanding the breath of the image, the breath of my body creating the
image, and the sweet breath of mindfulness within my body creating
the image. (2010)
Rita’s experimentation explored the measure of an event of perception with the
aesthetic experience of her walking body movement. hrit describes a similar
desire for presence that escapes a “conscious-centered core of self-reference”
(p. 5) and he cites Hans Ulricht Gumbrecht in an exclamation that echoes the
expression of Rita’s art: “Rather than have to think, always and endlessly, what
else there could be, we sometimes seem to connect with a layer in our existence that simply wants the things of the world close to our skin” (Gumbrecht
in hrit, 2008, p. 5). Sometimes our bodies are starved for the feel of percep-
147
tion’s integrating functions that entangle us in the world, especially when we
are bombarded with understandings of perception and the making of knowledge as uncomplicated one-to-one correspondences, rather than necessarily
aesthetic experience.
In continuing her exploration with bodily perception through other
photographs in her series, another image from the Liminal Lights series is
included as well as an additional journal entry by Rita.
Figure 3. Untitled
by Rita L. Irwin (2009).
As I walked and paid particular attention to the forest, to being in the
forest, to learning in the forest, I found myself thinking about something I have always found curious about time and space. When I have
lown in propeller driven airplanes, I have always been fascinated by
the fact that when the propellers are still, we can’t see what is behind
them, but when the propellers move quickly, very fast, we can clearly
see what is behind them even though we can no longer see the propellers. Movement propels another kind of experience within our environment. By slowing down and paying attention to the particular in
my forest walks I was able to reimagine how changing my movement
in the forest might allow me to see beyond that which I had taken for
granted, seeing another perspective of my experience. (2009)
Rita’s study of walking and her memory of other experiences of movement
echo an observation that Albert Michotte (in Massumi, 2002, p. 282) irst
brought to scientiic investigation: we never register only what is in front of
our eyes. We view objects partially occluded by other objects, yet we experience them as complete. Michotte describes how perception ills itself in as
“amodal completion” and claims it is the very mechanism of object perception.
Amodal completion is not so much an illusion as a “functional mode of hallucination” (p. 282): added reality. Other studies indicate that perception is not
so much about “illing out” things that are missing but rather about “inding
out” (Pessoa, hompson & Noë, 1998). his movement is both real and
abstract using both local and nonlocal information. Massumi describes actual
form and its abstract dynamic as two sides of the same experience; inseparable,
fused dimensions of the same reality.
he activity of seeing double extends an object to an event. Neuroscientist Rudolfo Llinás (2001) describes this as “simultaneity of activation” (p. 250)
which is the way organisms become capable of more complicated movement
and walk in attunement with the rest of the moving world. By binding in time
fractured elements of reality we receive perceptual unity so that everything in
one moment seems as one event, occurring right now. Humans are the best
example of the way the totality of every moment is held in suspension as we
integrate ourselves in resonating qualities and binding of segmental functions
into a composite. Llinás describes the process as kinesthetically imaging an
organism as a whole to itself, in other words making something new of the
world coming in, sustaining itself through feelings of capacity for inhabiting a
place in the world.
149
Rita’s recollection while walking, of her perception beyond the propeller
blades might be a useful example of the way in which the body’s integrating
enquiry compensates when it experiences too much repetition of the same with
not enough physical contrast. he beginning of the stimulus that she describes,
involving the propeller blade movement, is identical to the end of the stimulus.
To ensure reliability in this absence of contrast Pessoa et al. (1998) argue that
the only way a body retains reliable estimates is by combining the information
across the series of “scenic contrast-responses of interest” creating a composition of the recursive durations of contrasts beyond that the of the propellers.
In the situation of repeated sameness, sensitive perception makes an image
that feels more than the absence of vibrating tension available in the lack of
physical contrast.
We are, ater all, organisms with the desire to live and time and space are
not just objects of perception; they are factors in one’s capacity to be sustained
on the earth. Seeing depends on fusions between vision and other senses, especially touch and hearing all of which must be indexed to movement. When our
natural navigational abilities begin to fail, in “repetitive, data-depleted landscapes with few sight-markers” (Macfarlane, 2012, p. 79), we begin to feel and
think signiicantly diferently. Rather than being starved by disuse in cases of
increasing standardization, perception draws not only from what is immediately in front of it but involves aesthetic feelings that mark capacities for the
ongoing of life, holding us to our current paths by feeling their degrees of
openness.
Conjunctions that smudge: Walking with all of our relations
In walking, multidimensional movement cannot be spatialized; its essential
character is always in a state of becoming. his means that one experience
always recedes into other experiences and simultaneously we feel anticipation
and remembrance, approach and withdrawal, recovery and loss. Because most
of our action is re-action, hrit (2008) claims this imposes on us, enormous
evaluative demands for social awareness, a good education reason, we feel, for
proliferations of art practices designed to augment the foundational aesthetic
feelings in perception.
Additionally, in the midst of perceptive events, time and space do not
register a simple quantitative detainment. At every instant Massumi explains,
there is some kind of stimulus arriving through one sense channel or another,
each modulating an earlier stimulus before it becomes “what it will have
been” (2002, p. 196). he “recursive durations” meld together, “a relational
time-smudge” (p. 196). With no deining point of inception, there is only “an
ininite multiplication of recursively durational emergent awarenesses, madly
smudging each other” (p. 196). Walking as an art practice seems to ofer a
certain awareness of this creative tension in which bodies have to continually
renegotiate their relations and make selections from felt potential.
he integrative and augmentative events of perception are entire experiences of reality but they are never felt as complete wholes towards balance
or towards an equilibrium (Massumi, 2002). Rather, they are always leaning
towards their own potential for diference, always sensitive to something else
just now on the horizon. Carl expresses an awareness of this lure to feel an
issuing into, and from, in a desire to go where he has not been:
Somewhere I have never travelled
I want to be a verb, since for too long I have
been written a noun only, but no longer satisied
I want to name endlessly, be the verb’s verve
like Rita and Valerie’s art, poetry pushes at edges
into spaces where language refuses clarity,
coherence, composition, even comprehensibility,
amidst literally ininite alliterative possibilities
like holograms, the part in the whole,
rhizome connections in the earth,
151
the sheer certitude of everything spilling
and spelling out in fractal inevitability
as poems refused to be consumed, preclude
easy access, even a ready location for readers
who are invited to ind, if they can, their positions
for responding in a tantalizing textualizing
as poems invite the words to low around
the reader, even in and through the reader
who must surrender the desire to hold the text
in place, must carry the memory of mystery
and sit the fragments like hypertextual links
to somewhere untracked to other places
like e.e. cummings, somewhere I have never
travelled, gladly beyond
Carl refuses to abstract perception from the moment, seeking instead to sensitize his body to its issuing into and from each moment, in his walking art.
Valerie Triggs explored how walking as an art practice helps with the
evaluative tasks that hrit (2008) describes bodies making before conscious
awareness. She wanted to experiment in terms of a body’s feel for capacities
to believe and be touched by knowledge in ways not already determined. Rita
invited Valerie to work into and on top of the series of Liminal Lights images
that she created. Returning to the forest Valerie collected leaves of skunk
cabbage and bog mud hoping to transduce the smells and sounds of the forest
into a kind of paint. She wanted to add her own markings of forest paint and
pastel “sotly and luidly” into the still unfolding potency of the Liminal Lights
series: perhaps a meditation on the lyrical link between one moment and the
next, the visible and invisible evidence of previous human interaction, and the
way in which the same movement that invents a problem is also its solution.
One of the series worked on collaboratively is ofered below and another is
inserted at the beginning of this article.
Figure 4. Untitled
by Rita L. Irwin &
Valerie Triggs (2010).
In walking, the conjunctions of becoming and vitality always move together.
Where we have not yet been is part of where we are going and somehow
walking old routes delivers us repeatedly to the contemporary while the energies and shapes of local places change the luminosity of the potential traced
on their pathways. Carl Leggo has written elsewhere about the way the earth
carries the deep echoes of light’s rhythms.2 His poem that follows expresses
a/r/tographic thinking towards conjunctions, where the potential of one art
practice is felt in the relational perception of another.
2
Light Echoes, Carl Leggo
153
Conjunctions
while I once sought the whole
I only ever found holes
because I can never tell
a whole story, I seek fragments
since I am an incomplete sentence
I seek communion with others
like the possibilities of conjunctions
ghosts are everywhere, everywhen
as they call us eagerly to connect
like bridges that lean on light
with invitations to walk in places
where we have been but never been
conjunctions invite us to know interconnections, even if our eyes are dim
Despite sometimes dim and weary eyes, walking art has generated for us, feelings of capacity for aesthetically integrating our knowing and our methods
and practices into a world already underway. While we agree with Barbara
Kingsolver (2002) that “the way of inding a place in this world is to write one”
(p. 233), walking art also reminds us of Wendell Berry’s (1990/2010) observation that “any poem worth the name is the product of a convocation. It exists,
literally, by recalling past voices into presence” (p. 89). In tuning our skin to
listen as we walked and became aware of a self creating new footprints on old
landscapes, we revitalized the paths with new images, new sounds, and new
poetry. We also felt with Flann O’Brien (in Robert Macfarlane, 2012) that
one’s “feet on the road makes a certain quantity of road come up into you” (p.
53). With that particular quantity of road and the singularity of an experience
of light integrating enculturated body, walking art ofers the sustenance of a
body’s potential for remaking the path.
We hope this research essay ofers insights and sparks new discussion
and ideas on walking as art and other immersive art practices that might
stimulate a social awareness in research, teaching practices and epistemologies. Our interest is also in coming alongside other arts educators to augment
more sensitive perception that might help in discerning integration of the very
changes in which we are immersed. We exist because we feel capacities of integrating with the earth. When we are exhausted, a transformational expectation
is really not as desirable as feeling sustenance for the transitive and in fact, the
sustenance of feelings of relational aliveness continually remake the self. hat’s
the joy, Richard Wagamese (1997) explains, of “living inhabited lives – the
recurrence of the profound in the ordinary” p. 248).
Lastly, we want to emphasize the importance of collaboration between
practices and people, past and present. Gathering together even in asynchronous ways augments the resonation of ideas and allows others to iniltrate,
intervene and inform opportunity towards the sustenance of feeling the potential in our simultaneous “inding out” and inhabiting the paths we journey. If
aesthetic feeling sensed in passing, is the way in which bodies make knowledge and organize experience, it seems reasonable to strengthen and develop
such embodied perception through proliferating art practices with communities of artists who listen to light, and who are interested in experimenting with
walking sotly and luidly in the midst of a world already underway.
155
References
Berry, W. (1990/2010). What are people for? Berkeley, CA: Counterpoint.
Careri, F., Pla, M., Piccolo, S. & Hammond, P. (2002). Walkscapes: El andar como práctica estética [Walking as an aesthetic practice]. Barcelona: Editorial Gustavo Gili.
Irwin, R. L. (2013). Becoming a/r/tography. Studies in Art Education, 54 (3), 198–215.
Irwin, R. L. (2004). A/r/tography: A metonymic métissage. In R. L. Irwin & de Cosson,
A. (Eds.) a/r/tography: Rendering self through arts-based living inquiry (pp. 27–38).
Vancouver, BC: Paciic Educational Press.
Leggo, C. (2007). Listening to light. stonestone, summer 2007 (n. p.). Retrieved from
http://stonestone.unbc.ca/archives/summer2007/authors/leggo/listening.html
Llinás, R. R. (2001). i of the vortex: From neurons to self. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Lipman, M. (1967). What happens in art? NY: Irvington Publishing.
Kingsolver, B. (2002). Small wonder. NY: Harper.
Massumi, B. (1995). he autonomy of afect. Cultural Critique, No. 31, he politics of
systems and environments, Part II. (Autumn, 1995), 83–109.
Massumi, B. (2002). Parables for the virtual: Movement, afect, sensation. Durham, NC:
Duke University Press.
Macfarlane, R. (2012). he old ways: A journey on foot. London, UK: Penguin.
O’Sullivan, S. (2001, December). he aesthetics of afect: hinking art beyond representation. Angelaki: Journal of the heoretical Humanities, 6(3), 125–135.
Pessoa, L, hompson, E. & Noë, A. (1998). Finding out about illing-in: A guide to
perceptual completion for visual science and the philosophy of perception.
Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 21, 723–802.
Provencio, I. (2011, May). he hidden organ in our eyes. Scientiic American, 55–59.
hrit, N. (2008). Non-representational theory: Space, politics, afect. NY: Routledge.
Wagamese, R. (1997). A quality of light. Toronto, ON: Doubleday.
157
VISUAL ESSAY
Cross cultural meetings and
learning in an Art Biennale
Maria Huhmarniemi
University of Lapland, Finland
Severomorsk
Rovaniemi
Luleå
Figure 1. X-Border Art Biennale was an international art exhibition that was
shown simultaneously in three cities in three countries: Luleå in Sweden, Rovaniemi
in Finland and Severomorsk in Russia. All artworks dealt with the theme of ‘borders’.
159
he themes of borders and border crossings were studied from many
angles. he 48 artists, who had been selected from 500 applications, presented
issues and questions about borders and lack of them. For example, physical
and mental borders, and outsiders and insiders. Artists who came to the
Biennale from across the globe highlighted their own cultural backgrounds
and the difering political situations in and around their home countries.
Artists came to set up the exhibition themselves. In Rovaniemi, students of
the University of Lapland worked with teachers to help in the process. For a
period of 10 days before the openings, an intensive space was developed for
cross cultural meetings and learning.
Figure 2. Japanese artist Tokio Maruyama talking with the students.
Figures 3.–4. Tokio Maruyama made a performance
‘Geographical Movement’
at the exhibition opening in
Rovaniemi. he drilled holes
in the wall present nuclear
power stations and nuclear
waste repository.
Photos: Marko Junttila.
161
he exhibition spread to several exhibition halls and outdoor sites in Luleå,
Rovaniemi and Severomorsk. here were also public artworks, some permanent and some temporary, and some artworks were presented as Internet art.
he project also produced a catalogue, which was then printed as newspaper,
book and published as a website (Sikström & Lestander, 2013; X-border
,2013). Moreover, the project nurtured new networks between the artists and
project administrators, these being the most important result in fulilling the
aim of the project.
Figures 5.–7. he Firefall murals in Luleå, Rovaniemi and Severomorsk by Carolina Falkholt were some of the most
visible results of the project linking together the three cities.
Web-based technologies were used to connect the three exhibition venues and to
reach new audiences. At the exhibition venues, there were virtual windows in the
form of digital screens. Visitors were given an opportunity to view the exhibition
halls in each country and to communicate with visitors in these art galleries.
Visitors were also encouraged to share their thoughts in the Biennial blog
(Of the borders 2013). his was done with a tablet, which enabled the bloggers to attach pictures of the works that they were commenting on. hus, the
Biennale blog acted as a virtual guest book where engendered feelings, reactions and interpretations of the works were documented.
Art Education to Bridge Cultures
Art exhibitions can serve as learning environments, and contemporary art can
be used as the focal point for an antiracist curriculum (Cahan & Kocur 2011,
p. 4). In addition, interpretation of art utilises knowledge about the social and
cultural background of the works and can integrate knowledge (Eland, 2002,
163
164–167). he X-Border Biennale included
several art works that highlighted cultural
diversity and cultural identity in the region
and elsewhere. hese artworks were used as
a base for learning from other cultures and
to respect the diferences as in multicultural
education. here was also contemporary art
from the region, for example Sámi contemporary art. he study of such art can support
students´ understanding of their own place
in history and thus enhance multicultural
and socially activist education. Moreover
some of the workshops aimed to open up
new dialogues within the cultural groups in
Rovaniemi. As Fernando Hernández states,
we live in multicultural society in which art
education should be used to increase interculturalism (Hernández, 1999).
Art education took place in each exhibition venue of the X-Border Biennale. here
were community art projects, pedagogical
workshops and guided tours in the exhibition
and outdoors. (Huhmarniemi, Härkönen
& Jokela, 2015.) Several pedagogical workshops were ofered to schools in Rovaniemi.
Children from kindergartens, comprehensive schools and high schools were able to
familiarize themselves with the exhibition
by guided tours and thematic workshops.
he events made the themes of the artworks
easier to understand among locals as well
as tourists. In this essay I present three art
Figure 9. Photo: Marko Junttila
Figures 10.–12. As an artist, Heidi Hänninen was happy to take part in X-Border Biennial's art pedagogy program
and was glad to see the results that were resonating with the mural made by Biennial's artist Carolina Falkholt.
'Maybe Rovaniemi will be the new Berlin one day', said the artist. Photos: Heidi Hänninen.
165
education projects carried out by artists and art education students from the
Department of Art Education of the University of Lapland.
Artist and art teacher, Heidi Hänninen, ran a street-art workshop called
‘Neighbour-secrets’. In the workshop, the young people of Rovaniemi got to
know Cyrillic alphabets by using sprayed 'code language' straight onto public
walls in Rovaniemi's city centre. In the workshop, a variety of stereotypes and
experiences concerning Russia were discussed and these ideas were legally
painted in four locations. For many of the participants, this workshop was
their irst real encounter with the Russian language, culture and life. Most of
them had never visited Russia, even though they might have had schoolmates
and close friends who were part-Russian. here were also few participants who
had their own Russian roots, so they had learnt the Cyrillic alphabet at home.
he workshop gained good publicity and young people took part eagerly.
Artist and art education student Aino Mäntyvaara created the 'houghts about
Border' project in which the visitors to the exhibition were photographed. he
non-stop workshop produced one more installation for the exhibition.
Figures 13.–14. Passport-style photos formed an installation with short notes of
those visitors. he installation by Aino Mäntyvaara. Photos: Pilvi Keto-LeBlanc.
Figure 15. Street art in the workshop by Soia Waara. Photo: Soia Waara.
Community artist, Soia Waara, and her artist-partner, Stig Olav Tony
Fredrikson, carried out workshops in which they invited town folk to participate in art walks to see the public art of the Biennale and make their own
temporary artworks. Soia Waara relected that these happenings gave the
local community glimpses into contemporary art, and a chance to be part of
an aesthetic process. One result of this raised the question 'whose space is the
city?' Encountering issues like segregation and wellbeing in a broader sense,
the pedagogical strength of the method brought exciting perspectives to the
artists and participants.
167
New Horizons project
he X-Border Art Biennale was one part of the New Horizons project. he New
Horizons project (2013–2015) aimed to strengthen cultural collaborations in
the Barents Region by a large cultural program including contemporary art,
workshops for young people and choir collaborations. he project was funded
by the European Union, program Kolarctic ENPI CBC. he program strengthened people-to-people and civil society contact at the local level. Actions in
the educational and cultural ields, as well as enhanced cross-border contacts,
aim to promote local governance and mutual understanding, and to improve
people's knowledge of history and cultural heritage. he program also aimed
to impact identity building towards a strong and positive northern identity by
celebrating the great variety of cultural traditions and languages, and the existence of indigenous peoples in the Barents region.
he X-Border Biennale took place as one of the irst activities in the New
Horizons project in the summer of 2013. Since then, the political relations
Figure 16. Tokio Maruyama:
‘Geographical Movement’
Photo: Marko Junttila
between Finland and Russia, as well as Sweden and Russia, have changed.
here are discussions on the Ukraine crisis, sanctions against Russia, propaganda, an information war and a psychological war. Russia has conirmed its
military strength in the Arctic region, where it has started to use military bases
again. Today, the situation in Ukraine also throws a shadow over northern and
Arctic cultural cooperation. herefore, the theme of the X-Border Biennale is
more topical than we could have imagined at the beginning of the project.
As Dan Lestander, one of the curators of the exhibitions, stated:
‘Arranging an art biennial brings knowledge, culture, art and understanding across the borders. It's important to continue the collaborations in order to bring the citizens of Barents together, not divide them.
Art is the best border opener I know.’
References
Cahan, S. E. & Kocur Z. (2011). Contemporary Art and Multicultural Education. In E.
Joo, & J. Keehn II. (Eds.) Rethinking Contemporary Art and Multicultural Education, (pp. 3–16). New York: Routledge.
Eland, A. D. (2002). Art and Cognition. Integrating the Visual Arts in the
Curriculum. New York: Teachers College.
Hernández, F. (1999). Cultural Diversity and Art Education: he Spanish Experience. In
D. Boughton & R. Mason, (Eds.) Beyond Multicultural Art Education: International
Perspectives (pp. 103–113). New York: Waxmann Publishing Co.
Huhmarniemi, M., Härkönen, E. & Jokela, T. (2015). (Eds.) Learning Xperiences – Art
Pedagogical Approaches in X-Border Biennial. (pp. 14–16). Rovaniemi.
Of the borders (2013). Retrieved from http://x-border.tumblr.com/.
Sikstörm C. & Lestander D. (2013). X-border Art biennial.
Göteborg: Göterborgstryckeriet.
X-border (2013) Retrieved from http://www.x-border.info/.
169
Contributor Details
Herminia Din is professor of art education at the University of Alaska Anchorage. Author or coauthor of ive books and over 20 peer- reviewed journal articles, she has presented at national and
international conferences and consulted with numerous organizations. She specializes in distance
and online learning for museums, and emphasizes using enhanced media for interpretation. She
holds a doctorate in art education from Ohio State University.
hdin@uaa.alaska.edu
Glen Coutts is a Professor of Applied Visual Arts and a Docent at the University of Lapland. He was
Reader in art and design education at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow until April 2010. He
writes regularly about issues in art education and is currently Vice-President of the International
Society for Education through Art and Principal Editor of the International Journal of Education
through Art.
glen.coutts@ulapland.i
Tinna Gunnarsdóttir is an adjunct at Iceland Academy of the Arts, department of Design and
Architecture. She has been a freelance product designer based in Reykjavik, Iceland since 1993.
Her work has been exhibited all over the world in numerous Art and Design exhibitions.
tinnag@lhi.is
Gunvor Guttorm is Professor in duodji (Sámi arts and crafts, traditional art, applied art) at the
Sámi University College in Guovdageaidnu/Kautokeino in Norway. She is currently rector at
the Sámi University College. She has taught both undergraduate and graduate courses in duodji
at Sámi University College level, both practically and theoretically. She has written several articles
about how the traditional knowledge of sámi art and craft is transformed to the modern lifestyle.
gunvor.guttorm@samiskhs.no
Tuija Hautala-Hirvioja PhD has been professor of art history at the Faculty of Art and Design at
University of Lapland since autumn of 2004. Her research concerns Northern art and culture and
Finnish contemporary art, particularly within the framework of Wihuri Collection. Before becoming a lecture at the University of Lapland she was a curator at the Aine Art Museum from 1986 to
1995. Hautala-Hirvioja has written several articles, books and catalogues on her research ield.
tuija.hautala-hirvioja@ulapland.i
Maria Huhmarniemi is a university lecturer in University of Lapland, Faculty of Art and Design.
She worked as one of the coordinators in the X-Border Art Biennale.
maria.huhmarniemi@ulapland.i
Rita L. Irwin is Professor of Art Education at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada.
She is also Past President of the International Society for Education through Art and is a Past Chair
of the World Alliance for Arts Education. She is best known for her work in expanding how we
might imagine and conduct arts practice based research methodologies through collaborative
and community-based collectives.
rita.irwin@ubc.ca
Timo Jokela is Professor of Art Education and Dean of the Faculty of Art and Design, University of
Lapland. He is leader of the Thematic Network on Arctic Sustainable Arts and Design, University of
Arctic. Jokela works actively as an environmental artist and community artist, often using natural
materials and the cultural heritage of the North and the Arctic as a starting point for his works. He
has been responsible for several international and regional art-based research projects in the ield
of art education, visual art and design.
timo.jokela@ulapland.i
Dr. Carl Leggo is a poet and professor at the University of British Columbia, Canada. His books
include: Growing Up Perpendicular on the Side of a Hill; Come-By-Chance; Lifewriting as Literary
Métissage and an Ethos for Our Times (co-authored with Erika Hasebe-Ludt and Cynthia Chambers); Poetic Inquiry: Vibrant Voices in the Social Sciences (co-edited with Monica Prendergast and
Pauline Sameshima); and Sailing in a Concrete Boat: A Teacher’s Journey.
carl.leggo@ubc.ca
Antti Stöckell is an artist and art educator in Rovaniemi, Finland. He has been a university teacher
in art education at the University of Lapland, faculty of Art and Design, since 2008. As a postgraduate student he is working on his doctoral thesis about using art as a tool for processing experiences of environmental changing in mining projects.
antti.stockell@ulapland.i
Päivi Tahkokallio is Founder and CEO of Tahkokallio Design+, a Finnish design thinking and
strategic design agency. Päivi, with her 25 year long track record on social design, is one of the
irst master minds behind arctic design, helping i.e. the city of Rovaniemi to partner up with
Helsinki, the World Design Capital in 2012, and was the catalyst in the inclusion of arctic design in
the national Arctic Strategy of Finland. Päivi is the chair of the Design Committee at the Lapland
Chamber of Commerce, and a member of Ornamo Board. She became Fellow of RSA, Royal Society of Arts in Great Britain, in 2013.
paivi@tahkokallio.i
Valerie Triggs is an Assistant Professor of Art Education at the University of Regina, Saskatchewan.
Her research interests explore the methodological implications of aesthetic practice as a condition
of learning, a force for social organization and as a way in which new reality is added to the world.
Additional research has focused on the role of the school advisor in school practicum settings.
Contributions include publications in peer-reviewed journals as well as book chapters in several
edited books.
valerie.triggs@uregina.ca
171