Despite the difficult circumstances in the pandemic and the related restrictions on travel, most of the planned visits could take place. A number of fantastic works have been created and the exchange with artists in a different environment has mutually enriched their artistic work. In words and images, this series of videos will introduce you to the work of the residents as part of the project.
Circumpolar perspectives
The climate crisis threatens all societies, particularly those living in the circumpolar north. While indigenous knowledges are increasingly recognized in international discourses, they are especially considered in response to the challenge of climate change. The program acknowledges the connection and interrelation between the urgency of the climate crisis and the relevance of indigenous rights and self-determination. The project is a starting point for knowledge-sharing and connecting discourses in the North with those in the South.
Established and emerging residency programs in Nunavik, Finland, Yakutia, Norway and Sápmi are forming a network to host artists and researchers within the frame of the project.
The residency aims to:
- connect and develop an exchange between residency programs in the circumpolar north.
- develop a circular exchange practice with the residents, providing the opportunity for them to interact and exchange their knowledges and practices with fellow residents and local communities.
The residents are individuals from diverse disciplines and practices (i.e. artists, researchers, writers, curators, storytellers, artisans, filmmakers, cultural workers, architects, scientists) who are indigenous or have a strong knowledge of and relation to indigenous communities in the circumpolar north. The residents will be invited to do a public presentation of their practice to the local communities.
Marie-Andrée Gill
Marije Jenssen
Tanja Maria Koistinen
Tatiana Filippova
Svetlana Romanova
Nancy (Niap) Saunders
¹ The title of the project comes from the long battle of Inuit to have their rights linked to climate change. The book of the same name by Sheila Watt-Cloutier (2015, Allen Lane Publication), testifies of her pioneering work in connecting climate change to human rights with the Inuit legal petition she and 62 fellow Inuit from Canada and Alaska launched to the Inter American Commission on Human Rights in Washington DC in 2005. Inuit leaders and climate change activists use this expression to capture their struggle and hope for political leaders to realize their communities are being severely impacted by climate change. Although the Commission did not go ahead with the Inuit petition they did have a historical hearing on the legal impacts and connections between climate change and human rights. Okalik Eegeesiak, Former Chair of the Inuit Circumpolar Council (ICC) used the expression in her discourse at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change COP 21 December 3, 2015 in Paris, France: “Climate change is not just an environmental issue it is a human rights issue and the melting of the Arctic is impacting all aspects of Inuit life, therefore, the final text must make the rights of Indigenous peoples operative and keep it in Article 2.2. We have the right to be cold” argued Eegeesiak.
The Goethe-Institut
The Right To Be Cold program has been developed with advisory from Tero Mustonen (Snowchange) and Elin Már Øyen Vister (Røst AiR). The Goethe-Intitut would also like to acknowledge the contributions of everyone currently involved: Aka Niviâna, Assinajaq, Avataq Cultural Institute, Dáiddadállu, Giovanna Esposito Yussif, Malakta, Patricia Rodas, Sámi Dáiddaguovddáš, Stina Aikio, Sunna Nousuniemi, The National Art Museum of the Republic of Sakha.
The residency chain is thematically part of the dossier The Right To Be Cold, with a growing number of texts by people from the circumpolar North under the motto « Climate Justice for the Arctic ». This is in turn embedded in the online magazine Ecologues - How We Survive the Age of Man, with contributions from experts around the world.
