A different kind of Arctic summit: how the arts transform the discourse

I’ve been to dozens of Arctic conferences and summits. None were like the Arctic Arts Summit this year in the Swedish city of Ubmeje/Umeå. Sure, many of the topics were similar: climate change, geopolitical aggression, Indigenous rights. But the Art Summit addressed them in vastly different ways compared with the significantly larger international Arctic conferences elsewhere.

The first notable difference was the screaming absence of the power-point presentation. I went to a dozen break-out panel discussions and there wasn’t a single power point with graphs, bullet points and words. How truly wonderful it was to not have to listen to someone read lists from a screen for hours!

This may explain why the vibe was palpably different. The audience was leaning in, listening. There seemed to be more patience, more mutual respect and tolerance. People were more present. The sessions were active conversations, interspersed with live singing or a poetry reading. If a session used the backdrop screens, it was to show pictures, videos and films.

Notably, this Arctic summit put Indigenous delegates at the center of discussions, instead of making them a polite add-on. From rewriting history to advocacy, conversations focused on how to use art to connect within a community and between communities, as well as with other communities beyond the Arctic.

The question that piqued my interest most was: can art bolster communication? If so, how? I wondered about this professionally, as a journalist, and personally, as a recent graduate of the CuratorLab program at Konstfack in Stockholm. I strongly believe art can be used to convey a message in a way that words alone cannot. Did the delegates agree with me?

The answers varied, depending on the artists’ goals and target audiences. Some of the delegates wanted to connect to their cultural neighbors in a vast region challenged by expensive and difficult travel. Some wanted to send a message to their nation-state governments. And others wanted to speak to the world. Our audience at Arctic Today aligns perhaps with all three.

I was struck by a panel discussion about a recent exhibition at Bildmuseum called Art & Truth Telling. An artist on the panel, Elme Ämting, explained how she made 26 drums for the exhibition.

They represented the confiscation of 26 drums in Sjeltie/Åsele in 1725, the largest known seizure of its kind. For those who know what this means, the symbolism is powerful and meaningful. For those who don’t, the exhibit serves as a cultural and historical lesson of how the Swedish government banned and removed drums from Sami homes, as they were a regarded as a sign of evil and a threat to Christianity.

Another example of how artists used art to heal and raise awareness was a 2006 exhibit called Rethinking Nordic Colonialism. It included a map made by cinematographer and multimedia artist Inuk Silis Høegh which reversed placenames and put Greenlandic ones on all the Danish cities. In this map, the country Danmark becomes Qallunaat Nunaat and the capitol city København becomes Nunap Utsussua.

Speaking of Greenland, panelists from the country came together to assure everyone they are doing just fine. In the geopolitical area, they can often be portrayed as victims who are not in control of their destiny. A panel on the last day put forth a different point of view. The panelists, Greenlandic artists and art institutions leaders, started by recognizing that they are the only Indigenous people in a majority in their country, and with a recognised language taught in school.

They have self-governance and can build their institutions and infrastructure to suit their needs. They have changed the placenames that were in Danish back to Greenlandic. The intention of the panel was to inspire other communities, and was a welcome change to the common practice of discussing Greenland only in the context of Trump and Denmark.

Many panels spoke about Sami truth and reconciliation. Sweden is the last Arctic government to still be in the process of addressing their colonial past of drum-banning, culture-shaming, identity-suppressing control. One panelist said that the distance between the truth and the reconciliations should be wide, allowing for time to consider the reconciliation after the truth is revealed.

Other panelists spoke of their rage and anger that needed to come out. Some spoke of their drive and curiosity to reconnect with their ancestors and move forward. All said this can be done through art.

Sometimes art is funny, or at least sarcastic — the best form of humor in my view. Nordting, in a cheeky riff off Jon Stewart’s “The Daily Show,” covered seemingly every Arctic topic under the sun with a grin (you can watch the show here).

Although the rooms were full of artists, there was little in the way of pretentiousness. Performances abounded at the summit, but almost no one used the word “performativity” to talk about a dance or song. Coming from Stockholm, that was a relief.

Instead, there was an informed, grounded discussion about art practice, collaboration and respect. Ivar Beddari, a storyteller from Salmijärvi in Páččjok — a border valley east in Sápmi — exemplified this approach. He said he spent weeks connecting with the sound “ma” and “Mama,” which can mean mom and earth in various languages.

He sang a joik with Camilla Therese Karlsen, a Sámi artist from the Norwegian side of Sápmi. That session began with Marjorie Kunaq Tahbone from Nome, Alaska, who kick things off by lighting a traditional seal-oil lamp. Of all the sessions, this one made the biggest impression on me.

Back to the question in my mind about art and power in storytelling. Here’s a collection of answers I heard throughout the summit:

• Art can reconfigure narrative.
• Art can build relationships.
• Art can be a megaphone.
• Art can be a mirror to society.
• Art calls for co-creation, not collaboration.
• Art can expose history.
• Art can question the truth in everything.

So if art can fuel communication, all of these are great reasons for other Arctic conferences to consider embedding the artist’s view into their own events. We all need more of this.

Marybeth Sandell is the editor-in-chief of Arctic Today.