Arctic Art Summit 2026

Art and Mining Thursday 18 June, 10.45-11.45​, Tagnig in Väven

Artistic planetary investigations into extraction. Today AI is driving new mining and prospecting for iron ore, rare earths to builddatacentres and SMR’s. Sweden is experiencing an increase in mining across Sápmi, including moving the town of Kiruna, and newprospecting for Uranium; Trump is attempting to take over Greenland for its rare earths; Art activists in Repparfjord are protestingagainst the new copper mine in Norway. This panel brings together artists investigating mining and extraction in Sweden,Greenland, Norway, Finland, Canada. How artists are tackling these geopolitical forces at a local scale?​

Resilient Radio Thursday 18 June, 10.45-11.45​, Tagnig in Väven

Analogue and digital Radio broadcasting is an essential communications network in times of peace and crisis. Thispanel considers radio as a cultural space for creative radio art and performance, capturing real time experience,archiving important debates, building resilient communities and resilient networks for preparedness. We want tofocus on radio as the subject matter – how does radio work in the Arctic? For Indigenous communities? Acrossfrequencies? To help build resilient communities? What are the new radio technologies being developed today?

Art and Truthtelling Wednesday 17 June, 10.45-11.45​, Vävenscenen in Väven

This panel brings together curators, curatorial researchers and artists from across Sápmi (Sweden, Finland, Norway) to explore the relational, decentred, and localised approaches to exhibition-making and contemporary art. The panel takes place in the context of the Truth commission for the Sámi people on the Swedish side of Sápmi. Focusing on the year-long Art and Truth Telling collaborative project curated by Anca Rujoiu and Anneli Bäckman that opened at Bildmuseet, Umeå, in October 2025, and continues at Gaaltije Sámiskt Museum in Östersund from 9 May – 17 October.

Art & Sustainable Transformation Tuesday 16 June, 13.00-14.00, Multisalen, Väven​

Artists and art educators working with socially engaged and Land-Based practice embedded in communities find newand rediscover old ways of sustainable transformation. Contemporary educational practice and research call for atransformative shift toward more humble and sustainable ways of living, recognition of planetary limits, and renewedmeaningfulness rooted in relationships with the Land and communities. This panel will bring together perspectiveswhich emphasise knowledge and learning as inseparable from place and community, rethinking the decolonisation ofeducation and the renewal of relationships between Indigenous peoples, other Northerners, cultures and the Land. 

Crafting Knowledge Tuesday 16 June, 10.45-11.45​Multisalen, Väven

This panel brings together researchers who consider ways in which knowledge is produced through making. Samicrafting knowledge, known as Duodji, is a vital cultural tradition that involves using natural, local materials likereindeer parts, birch wood, and wool to create both functional and decorative items. This panel brings together newapproaches to Duodji, as knowledge is passed down through generations and includes skills in carving, weaving, andsewing, often with patterns that hold cultural and symbolic meaning. While traditional forms have been passed down,modern Sami artisans also incorporate new techniques and materials while maintaining a deep connection to natureand their heritage. 

Deposing geoengineering Tuesday 16 June, 15.30-16.30​, Women’s History Museum, Väven

Geoengineering, controversially, today refers to vast, scaleless solutions for global warmingmitigation. Of all the myriad problems stemming from it, the suggestion of famine points to perhapsthe most insidious question geoengineering raises: How will these interventions affect Land-basedcultures, patterns, and relations? Which regions and hemispheres will be worst impacted by theseunknown effects? And who will regulate and control these unwitting technologies? We therefore aimto present a panel that offers various positions on its technological history, along with culturalperspectives and Land-based approaches that question and resist the impacts of this highlyproblematic area of techno-scientific research.