On this page you can find more detailed descriptions of the workshops and other sessions.
To take a closer look at the art-science program, click here.
Day 1 - Session 2: Canopies of Care screening: Short Films
Discussion with Ines Montalvao, Cyane Findji, Myriam Gras, Thomas Westphal, Uli Westphal
As part of Artists with Evidence' Canopies of Care program, this screening brings together short films and video works that explore care in relation to the atmospheres, places and communities we inhabit and are part of. Moving across human and more-than-human worlds, the films invite us to consider how care takes shape through relationships with our environments, shared experiences and forms of interdependence. The screening will be followed by a conversation with some of the creatives and the audience.
Short films:
Between Two Shores by Henna Asikainen (7’58’’)
Future Pasts by Henna Asikainen (4’21’’)
Home of Fire by Mohamed Sleiman Labat (16’28’’)
Flowers of the Glacier by Cyane Findji and Myriam Gras (9’35’’)
TBD by Thomas and Uli Westphal
Day 2 - Art-science collaboration in a changing environment
Ines Montalvao, Program Director, Artists with Evidence
Something in the Air: Practices for Shared Futures
What happens when art, science and society meet to imagine different ways of inhabiting a changing world? Drawing on Artists with Evidence' interdisciplinary practice, this talk explores how creative collaborations can open spaces for connection, critical inquiry and collective imagination. Through practices of listening, storytelling and knowledge-sharing, it considers how we might cultivate new relationships across disciplines, communities and environments, and create space for more shared and caring futures.
Film screening: DESERT PHOSfate by Mohamed Sleiman Labat
DESERT PHOSfate is an experimental documentary film that weaves through the story of phosphate, exploring the multi-layered narrations about connections to land, sand particles, plants, human and mineral displacement. The film explores ways of telling about realities, metaphors and poetics in the desert. It highlights connections between ecological justice, colonial practices, environmental violence, traces of anthropocentric mineral extractions, and the loss of indigenous and nomadic ways of living.
Day 2 - Parallel Sessions
Session 1: Nature in the Shade of Fundamental Rights. The Language and Silence of the Law
Rights for Nature (The Rights of the Silent/ Hiljaisten oikeus group); Juhani Haukka, Cristal Alakoski
The Constitution defines legal personhood for human beings, corporations and public law entities. Nature, however, lacks this status, leaving the rights of nature in the shade of our legal system. In its citizens’ initiative, the Hiljaisten oikeus (The Rights of the Silent) group proposed, for the first time in Finland, fundamental rights for nature. They are now involved in the EU-level initiative Rights for Nature. The workshop will introduce the current state and history of the rights of nature, followed by a collective discussion in which participants can raise their own observations and ideas into a shared space.
Juhani Haukka is a film director specialising in documentary filmmaking (MA, Aalto University), whose essayistic and poetic expression often focuses on what otherwise remains unnoticed and without space. In addition to his film degree, he holds a degree in history from the University of Turku, specialising in psychohistory. Among his works are Etsitkö töitä? (Looking for a Job?), a socially engaged, multidisciplinary project exploring work, time and community, created with Lauri Antti Mattila (2019–2022), and Elämän muisti (The Memory of Life), a film exploring the inherited memory of life (2022). He has also published the book Etsitkö töitä? (Poesia, 2021).
Cristal Alakoski is a Helsinki-based cinematographer (MA, Aalto University) who has worked as a cinematographer and director on documentary and fiction films, music videos and commercials. Alongside cinematography, she works on fine-art photography projects and product photography. Alakoski enjoys experimenting with different formats, from film to digital. She holds a Master’s degree in Cinematography from Aalto University’s School of Arts, Design and Architecture (2022), as well as a minor in business studies from the School of Business. She has participated in several prestigious masterclasses.
Session 2: Common Ground: Designing Spaces with Verganic Permaculture
Jon Dunn
What does it mean to share the ground we live on, and how can we design spaces that care for it?
This workshop introduces and explores the principles of veganic permaculture and their application in rural and urban environments. Together, we will put these principles into practice, creatively exploring how a space could be (re)designed to support diverse forms of life and more sustainable communities.
Participants are welcome to bring photographs and measurements of a space they would like to transform, as well as seeds to exchange. No previous experience needed - everyone is welcome!
The session includes a Collective Listening of Mareike Dobewall’s “Soil Life” piece from “Winter’s Silence”
Jon Dunn is a permaculture designer, artist, architect, and community gardener based in Finland who specializes in veganic permaculture. He holds a Permaculture Design Certificate (PDC) and focuses on plant-based, cruelty-free growing methods without animal inputs. He leads workshops, community gardening initiatives, and talks, in projects such as PermaTalks, the Nordic Permaculture Festival, and Peripheral LINKs Convergence, focusing on building veganic gardens and redesigning spaces sustainably. He is a member of the Vegan Organic Network.