Synthesizing Sustainability - Multispecies Storytelling and Plant Blindness

 

A multidisciplinary seminar about art, science and sustainability will take place in the Nordic house this Thursday between 16:00 and 18:00. The Institute for Sustainability Studies at the University of Iceland and the Nordic House are hosting the event series Synthesizing Sustainability – a Dialogue between Art and Science. This third and last event in the series will be held in English and will include interspecies storytelling, apples and apocalypse, plant blindness and musical expression in the Anthropocene. It will also be possible to stream the event through this link. Free admission and open to all with the limitation of current c19 restrictions.

 

How can art affect scientific narratives and make us see beyond plant blindness? 

How might plant-based sensoric experiences influence human 

perceptions of plants? How does habitat and displacement, conservation and postcolonial perspectives become the central focus of artistic research? And why apples and apocalypse?  

 

Karl Ágúst Þorbergsson - Performance Maker, Assistant Professor and Program Director at the Performance and Theatre Making course at the Iceland University of the Arts

Bryndís Snæbjörnsdóttir, Professor of Fine Arts, Iceland University of the Arts and Mark Wilson, Professor of Fine Art, University of Cumbria

Dawn Sanders - Associate Professor at the Faculty of Education, University of Gothenburg 

Music performance by musician Sóley 

 

Q&A 

After the event, there will be light refreshments and conversations! 

 

Dawn Sanders is an associate professor at the Faculty of Education at the University of Gothenburg (Sweden), where she specializes in biological didactics and botanical education. She led the interdisciplinary research project “Beyond Plant Blindness: Seeing the importance of plants for a sustainable world”, which consisting of researchers from art, science and education 

Bryndís Snæbjörnsdóttir and Mark Wilson practice research-based art, where they explore issues of history, culture and environment in relation to human and non-human animals. Their artwork has been exhibited internationally and they have published several research papers as well as collaborating in international interdisciplinary research projects. 

Karl Ágúst Þorbergsson is a performance maker, Assistant Professor and Programme Director at the Performance and Theatre Making Programme at the Iceland University of the Arts, where he also teaches courses on sustainability. Global challenges have been a central subject in his work, and he has held a series of satiric radio monologues on the topic impending apocalypse. 

Sóley is an Icelandic internationally renowned singer and songwriter. She has released several solo albums as well as collaborating with other musicians like Seabear, as well as being a member of Team Dreams. Global challenges have often been a central to her lyrics and musical expression. 

 

The creative fields are influential within society and serve important roles as communicators of new concepts and ideas. They can be driving forces for social paradigm shifts, and for creating new norms. It is important to foster an open and fertile dialogue between science and art and for these fields to support each other, exchange ideas and communicate while searching for creative solutions. 

In the event series, we gather people from the creative fields and science to discuss sustainability and opportunities that may be found in interdisciplinary endeavors between the different fields. The aim is to make connections and inspire and strengthen this dialogue.