Feb 21, 2025: Presentation by Peter Schweitzer and Olga Povoroznyuk at the 2025 Barents Spektakel
Peter Schweitzer and Olga Povoroznyuk will participate in the 2025 Barents Spektakel, an annual art and culture festival in Kirkenes, Norway. In its 21st edition, the festival explores the theme “Remote Control,” fostering a cross-disciplinary exchange on the center-periphery model and the dynamics between central areas and peripheral (or remote) regions.
On Friday, 21 February, from 14:00 to 16:00 CET, the InfraNorth researchers will participate in the event “Remoteness Reframed: Arctic Urban EcoScapes and Biocultural Heritage” at Terminal B Kunsthall Kirkenes. This session will introduce and discuss a new research project they are involved in, titled Biocultural Heritage in Arctic Cities as a Potential Resource for Climate Adaptation (ARCA). The project applies the holistic concept of biocultural heritage to explore the complex interactions between natural and social systems and the capacity of Arctic urban communities to adapt to climate change. By reframing Arctic remoteness as a space of innovation and interconnectedness, it aims to offer new perspectives on urban sustainability and the role of biocultural heritage in addressing climate challenges.
During this event, Schweitzer and Povoroznyuk will give a talk titled “From InfraNorth to ARCA: Anthropological Engagements with Kirkenes,” where they will share preliminary results from the research conducted in Kirkenes as part of the InfraNorth project (including the future scenario workshops held in 2023) and discuss its connection to the ARCA project.
This event will also feature the participation of art historians Hanne Hammer Stien and Elin Kristine Haugdal (UiT The Arctic University of Norway); artist-researcher Olga Kisseleva (University of Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, France / Art & Science International Institute), geographers Vera Kuklina (George Washington University, USA) and Victoria Miles (Nansen Environmental and Remote Sensing Center, Norway); art critic Hilde Sørstrøm (Arctic University of Norway) and philosopher Olga Zaslavskaya (Art&Science International Institute).
The full agenda of the event can be found here and more details on the Barents Spektakel’s website.
