The North Escaping

The current climate crisis is transforming our world rapidly, with the most rapid transformations seen in the northern latitude. As the climate changes, it does not only alter habitats and livelihoods, but it affects entities in a much deeper way. The North Escaping captures this mental state which not only includes fear and anticipation of change, but also the loss of a certain world and the birth of a completely new one. Something is slipping away, slowly, and we are not sure what all this means.

A change in weather, ecosystems, agriculture, human settlements and cultures is ahead because of the redistribution of water, plants and animals (including people) across natural and artificial borders. We know that the North is already escaping, with the number of snow cover days decreasing, with new species entering the country from the south and the range of others narrowing in the north, and with children not learning to ski. It is not an overstatement to say that the way we answer to this change, how we ignore, resist or adapt, will be defining the future of existence of the northern cultures and livelihoods.

Under the umbrella of The North Escaping, the Bioart Society will organize a series of activities. This includes six transdisciplinary research residencies at the Ars Bioarctica residency program, accommodated with a public outreach program in Helsinki, and the production of artworks, workshops and events stemming from the residencies.

The aim of the residencies is to explore the current and approaching transformations in the North, to investigate the possible consequences of these developments, and how we can build cultural capacities to deal with them. The residencies call for the arts to work with design, architecture, natural sciences, humanities, engineering, indigenous stakeholders, the public at large – and other who feel they have a say in this – in transdisciplinary collaborations to develop new skills and knowledge.

The North Escaping is supported by Nordisk Kulturkontakt.

 

 


Photo: Björn Kröger

IORE/AORTA - A Terrestrial Hope...
Hannah Wiker Wikström travelled to Kilpisjärvi Biological Station for The North Escaping residency in July 2024. During her time in residency, she worked with a film, which will be a part of a longer research on timespacematter imagination.
Guest post | Hannah Wiker Wikström | 16 October 2024
Electric Ecologies Under the High Sun...
Christine Hvidt travelled to Kilpisjärvi Biological Station for The North Escaping residency in June 2024. During her time in residency, she worked and lived through the frames of Electric Ecology, training sensing and spending time with the places and the peoples there.
Guest post | Christine Hvidt | 30 August 2024
Hannah Wiker Wikström travelling to...
Hannah Wiker Wikström travels to Kilpisjärvi mid-July for The North Escaping residency. During her time in Kilpisjärvi, she will continue her ongoing research on post-industrial heritage in a Nordic context through the prism of fetal-maternal microchimerism and the troubling of time and scale.
1 July 2024
Illusion Machines at Kilpisjärvi
Neal Cahoon writes about his experiences in the North Escaping residency in Kilpisjärvi Biological Station.
1 July 2024
Christine Hvidt travelling to...
Christine Hvidt travels to Kilpisjärvi over the weekend for The North Escaping residency. During her residency, she will be approaching Kilpisjärvi as an entwined network of electrical bodies.
2 June 2024
Hilde Methi and Neal Cahoon currently...
Hilde Methi and Neal Cahoon are currently in Kilpisjärvi in The North Escaping residency, following up some curatorial threads from their previous work together.
3 May 2024
Between Sferics and Rust. On the...
Jacek Smolicki spent two weeks at Kilpisjärvi Biological Station within the North Escaping residency. During his stay, he engaged in a series of listening excursions, soundwalks and field recording sessions exploring past, present and future soundscapes of this unique environment.
Guest post | Jacek Smolicki | 5 September 2023
'Aha, mmm! got along without you...
aRzu and Maria Lepistö are having their North Escaping residency at the Kilpisjärvi Biological Station. They are planning to create an augmented sound expedition and will present their work at SOLU Space on 24th of May.
Guest post | aRzu | 14 May 2023
Three open calls for Ars Bioarctica...
Three open calls for Ars Bioarctica residency programmes at the Kilpisjärvi Biological Station. Deadline for applications 2nd June 2023.
12 May 2023
the conjuring of what is and isn't
aRzu and Maria Lepistö are having their North Escaping residency at the Kilpisjärvi Biological Station. They are planning to create an augmented sound expedition and will present their work at SOLU Space on 24th of May.
Guest post | aRzu | 8 May 2023
Maria Lepistö and aRzu selected for...
North Escaping residencies are transdisciplinary research residencies taking place at the Kilpisjärvi Biological Station.
Guest post | elle | 8 December 2022
Jacek Smolicki selected for the North...
North Escaping residencies are transdisciplinary research residencies taking place at the Kilpisjärvi Biological Station.
24 November 2022