Topic outline

  • NoVA symposium week 2021

    Welcome to the NoVA symposium week

    A Nordic Paradise – is there such a thing? It would never have come about without Nordic professional art teacher cooperation.
    Acci Forsman: Nordic Pictorial Cooperation. In “Nordic Paradise?” pamphlet, 1987.

    The aim of this one-week intensive course is to take a closer look at what could be possibly mean by Nordic visual studies and art education. While Nordicity, Nordicness, and the so-called Nordic Model have been associated with equality, societal wellbeing, and social democracy, the idea of a “Nordic paradise” should be approached with caution. After all, the Nordic countries have also long histories of exclusionary nationalisms, exploitation of natural resources (both locally and globally), and colonizing endeavors (both locally and globally). This doesn’t mean that the Nordic countries should be thought as a “paradise lost” (especially if the whole idea of paradise has been a myth from the beginning) – rather, these contested and complex histories of the region merely point to the need to constantly rethink what is it that we are doing here in the Nordic region and why.

    Taking this into consideration, what kind of entry points to Nordic visual studies and art education could we come up today? What kind of questions about Nordicity, Nordicness, and the Nordic Model should we, in NoVA, ask? What kind of practices in the expanded field of art and education in the Nordic region might help us to rethink “Nordic Paradise,” why and how?

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    Our week consists of three interrelated components:

    “Micro research” in research groups

    Before the symposium, I’m asking you to form three research groups based on your shared interests. The focus of the groups is up to you – the most important thing when forming these groups is that they support your thesis work in one way or another.

    The task of each group is to form a joint approach to the thematics of the symposium beforehand, possibly do some preparatory tasks (see the “Shared sessions” for further information), and work together during the week towards our little “publication” (see Research “publication” below). This work can include interviews, artistic practice, writing, etc. during the week; it’s up to you to decided collectively how might you work together.

    The reason why I’m calling this “micro research” is that the “research” I’m asking you to do can be also quite experimental and take many different forms. While our methodology course hopefully gave you some ideas of what kind of methodologies and methods are out there and how might you use them, you don’t need to choose one methodology and stick with it (you can, if you want). However, what I do ask you to do is to think together what might your collective work research be and how might this “research” help you to practice the skills you might need in your thesis research in the future.

    Shared sessions

    I have invited three speakers to our symposium: Ane Hjort Guttu, Pigga Keskitalo, and Dahlia El Broul. More information about their topics and possible readings will be sent later.

    In addition to these speakers, each group will facilitate one two hour session for others. You can, for example, invite one of the people listed in the Google Docs to give a presentation after which you facilitate a discussion with them. Or, you can do some research on the topic (e.g. interview some of the people listed in the Google Docs) and based on your research, plan some shared activities for all of us. Or, something else. This will be a pedagogical exercise where you can test out your ideas with the rest of is.

    Research “publication”

    Since it’s good to have some kind of a closure to our activities during the week, we will compile a little research “publication” from our findings. The reason I’m writing “publication” in quotation marks is that I want to leave its form open for now. The format of that publication can derive from the work that you do during that week and it’s up to us to see what kind of form or format makes sense. Also, it can be something that we share only to each other, or something we make public (either online or offline). I have scheduled us time to discuss these questions together during the last day of the symposium.