Skol ✿ The Nordic forest

Garland

“The forest is not a resource for us, it is life itself.” – Indigenous Sámi proverb

Almost 70% of the geography called Sweden’s surface is covered by forest, therefor an interesting diversity of relations to the forest both today and historically exists here something that also in present within the crafts. Today, we see how as a result of the “green transition”, the forest is becoming increasingly politicised with with separate interests that cut through the forest with drastically different perceptions on its life and value.

Christine Zetterlund

Please enjoy a walk through stories from Scandinavia.

Rosa Taikon: Jewellery as a medium of struggle - Join us for a Reinventing the Wheel talk by Christina Zetterlund about silver jewellery, Roma culture and Swedish craft.
Hand teaches hand: Craft education in Denmark - We speak with Hanne Brøbech Sønnichsen about the arguments over craft education in Denmark today.
1 square metre of linen: Life begins where the Internet ends - We speak with Hillevi Skoglund about a Swedish project involving thousands of participants who each plant and process a plot of linen.
Luleå Protocols for Knowledge Exchange – 2022 - As part of Sweden's Luleå Biennial, Garland facilitated a pilot knowledge exchange to develop a reciprocal platform for global knowledge sharing.
Tack Skogen: Beauty in the blemish - MADAM Snickeri celebrate the wood that the industry rejects, finding beauty in the stains, holes and deformities.
Bird, fish or somewhere in between - Sofia Björkman and Karin Roy Andersson together exhibit a series of works that animates discarded materials, re-forming nature out of detritus.
A stick is never too long or too short - Silje Figenschou Thoresen follows a tradition of improvisation, starting from a mining rubbish pit and ending in a pristine art gallery.
Kuulua vuohmaan: Belonging to a mire - Ida Isak Westerberg returns to the queer space of mire in order to recover their Tornedalian identity, imprinting their tapestries with its colours.
Goahten: At home with Sámi - There is more to Swedish furniture than IKEA. Katarina Spik Skum has produced authentic iconic Sámi furnishings that reconnect with nomad roots.
Oh, will felting ever make it into Artforum? - Norwegian Crafts commissioned a series of videos by Siri Hjorth and Sebastian Makonnen Kjølaas that reflect the opposing worlds of art theory and folk crafts.
New Spring, Old Gods: Adornment for the people of the bear - Inari Kiuru shares the Finnish cultural roots that ground her work, reflecting an enchantment of nature. 
Illuminating Julie Ewington’s essay - Julie Ewington's essay on Kirsten Coelho contains many references to iconic images of light and objects. Ewington exercises her considerable experience in art curating and history to activate Coelho's single porcelain vessel with a world of visual associations. This is one of the methods by which she manages to captivate the reader for 5,000 words while writing about a single object.

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