Tenth Annual Conference of Arctic Social Sciences

Activity: Participating in or organising an event › Participation in conference

Description

Rethinking visual art practices in the Highlands and Islands from an archipelagic perspective

The evolution of visual art in the Highlands and Islands reveals expanded practices which are locally grounded and at the same time involved in a matrix of cultural relationships beyond the local. These practices generate networks of social and cultural interchange which contribute to changing social relations not only within their local communities, but also in relation to other places. Networks emerge which undermine the notion of the ‘edge’ or ‘remoteness’ and lead to questions concerning the status of place in a global context and the role of cultural imagination and exchange in dismantling the legacy of colonialism, hierarchy and duality implied by ‘edgeness’. As Arturo Escobar asks, can we, by critically interrogating the local, re-invent our thinking, and thus the world, “according to the logic of a multiplicity of place-based cultures?” (Escobar, 2001) In this presentation I propose to examine socially engaged art practices in the Highlands and Islands, including Shetland, from an archipelagic perspective, where there is no fixed centre, but a multiplicity of place-based cultures, interrelations and overlaps that employ immersion, openness, connection, relational process and “fluid movement across porous margins.” (Thompson, 2017. How have these practices emerged and where might they lead us?
Period16 Jun 2021
Event typeConference
LocationArkhangelsk, Russian FederationShow on map
Degree of RecognitionInternational

Keywords

  • Highlands and Islands
  • Visual Art
  • archipelagic perspective
  • socially engaged art

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