Together with Dr. Marina Velez, Heidi Seppälä organised an artistic research symposium under Nordic Summer University’s Circle 7.

In April 2022, due to unforeseen circumstances, Heidi was running a symposium on her own for a carefully selected group of artist researchers. The theme of the weekend was the experiential processes in artistic practice. This symposium kicked off a three-year cycle of symposia, all curated and run by Dr. Marina Velez and Heidi Seppälä.

 

In Lāde, Latvia, the artists were collectively delving deep into the questions of How do knowledges emerge in artistic research practices through the experiential and What kind of knowledges are they?  This symposium, first one in the series of 6, provided opportunities for investigating and experiencing other forms of knowledge through building trust in imagination, intuition and working-with others in the artistic practice process.

 

The focus was the investigation of the methods, knowledges and reflective processes involved in artistic practice research in a collective effort to explore and articulate how, in artistic research, experience informs experience and the experiential changes the researcher and the practice as it unfolds.

The symposium was held in a beautiful country guesthouse. We had 9 artist-researchers, a philosopher and a chef sharing knowledge and practice over a thought-provoking, intense yet supportive and warm weekend.

Participants and Presentations of the winter symposium:

Vineta Gailite: Soil to soil textiles for outdoor structures.
Andrzej Marzec: Speculative workshops – when art and theory intertwine together.
Catherine Dormor: Claiming Space: material practices as agents for change
Helena Hildur: Practice Thinking; (Re)Turning to Art Work as Collaborative Inquiry
Katy Drake: Utilising participants experiences when employing a feminist methodology
Nadja Pärssinen: Walking as a playground of corporeality and creativity
Disa Kamula: Co-writing the future – experiential artistic research on collective writing process
Agnese Bordjukova: Felt and visible movement in the practice of Authentic movement
Susie Olczak: Immersion
Marina Velez Vago: The Political Animal
Heidi Seppälä: De-Colonial Pedagogies