KUVATA WEBINAR #8
From Caring to Provocation

14.1.2025 at 12:00-13:30
Online on Teams
Enrollment: https://docs.google.com/forms

Objectives of The Webinar

The significance of sustainable development for one’s artistic work. Understanding the topic in the context of employment. The perspective of other-than-human species, posthumanism.

About the Speakers

Maria Huhmarniemi is a Vice Dean and Associate Professor at the Faculty of Arts and Design, University of Lapland. She is dedicated to art and research that enhances sustainability transformations through art. She has created socially and environmentally engaged art and pioneered arts-based methods to address local and political issues. In her talk, Huhmarniemi will shed light on the role of art and artists in initiating value change and levering sustainability – which is urgently needed.

Plan B is a Finland-based street artist who has been working anonymously under their artistic pseudonym for decades. Renowned for creating thought-provoking, politically charged works, the artist utilises public spaces (often without authorisation) as their canvas, operating outside the context of traditional art venues. Plan B’s art confronts global injustices, exposes the brutal realities of war, and satirises the excesses of consumerism and capitalism, leaving a lasting impression on audiences and passers-by alike. In his talk, Plan B will be exploring the transformative power of street art as a tool for advocacy, information, and connection. His presentation will look into the role of public art in amplifying marginalized voices, fostering dialogue, and challenging societal norms, drawing on compelling examples from Plan B’s own impactful work.

Visual artist Nina Rantala is an soil activist and a leader of the multidisciplinary Apart We Shall Perish -team together with visual artist Visa Suonpää. Apart We Shall perish is a project about restoring connection to the land and with ourselves, learning subtle coexistence and understanding the importance of soil. Their practice is to create dialogues and find concrete ways to work together with the living, active entity, soil. In her presentation, she will open their artistic practice and their current project, the Concealed Forest, a micro-forest, to the new psychiatric hospital in Turku.

Schedule and Structure

12:00-12:05
Welcome and a short introduction by the Kuvata Project Manager Fanny Niemi-Junkola

12.05–12.30
Maria Huhmarniemi (Vice Dean and Associate Professor at the Faculty of Arts and Design)
Keynote: “Art as Sustainability Catalyst” – The role of art in relation to sustainable development, sustainability and sustainability transition, empathy, posthumanism.

12:30-12:50
Plan B (Street Artist): on transformative power of street art as a tool for advocacy, information, and connection.

12:50-13:15
Nina Rantala (Visual Artist)
Presentation of the project “Apart We Shall Perish /Erillään katoamme”.

13:15-13:25
Q&A

13.25-13.30
Closing by Fanny Niemi-Junkola

What is KUVATA

With the aim to produce targeted training for visual artists, the KUVATA project will create equal opportunities for visual artists in today’s evolving world through knowledge and education.

The main project partner is Tampere University of Applied Sciences (TAMK). The University of Lapland’s Faculty of Art and Design will yield training in areas such as sustainability, responsibility, and anti-racism in the visual arts. Globe Art Point will supply educational content on topics such as equality, diversity, and ethics in the field of art, not forgetting copyright issues.

More information here: www.tuni.fi.