On March 21–25, 2022, the fine arts students of the Estonian Academy of Arts participated in a workshop organized within the KUNO network, which took place at the Abisko research station in northern Sweden. The research center, located 200 km north of the Arctic Circle, currently collects and analyzes data mainly on climate change and its effects on the polar regions.
Thanks to the Swedish Polar Research Secretariat’s art program, the research station also has a long tradition of involving artists. The students met with Keith Larson, a climate change researcher, and researchers and artists residing at the center. They explored the Arctic climate, discussed the visualization of climate change, the relationship between art and science, and the power and inability of art in the anthropocene, performed and collected material for their art and creative research.
Sophie Louise Oxley Durand, Joosep Kivimäe, Johannes Luik, Katariin Mudist, Kati Müüripeal, Noah Emmanuel Morrison, Xingpei Shen, Aap Kaur Suvi, lecturers Laura Kuusk and Linda Kaljundi participated in the workshop.
The project was made possible thanks to the support of the KUNO network and the Faculty of Liberal Arts of the Estonian Academy of Arts. The Estonian Academy of Arts joined the Abisko research station project in 2020, when 16 students from the KUNO network, Christoph Draeger from the Umeå Academy of Arts, Keith Larson from the Abisko Climate Change Research Center and Laura Kuusk from the Estonian Academy of Arts met online for a week.