UmArts — Research Centre for Architecture, Design and the Arts

This research project The Collaborative Arctic-Nordic Atlas: A critical cartography on environmental (in)justice aims to collate and visualizs data related to social and environmental injustice from a spatial perspective.

The Arctic region is disproportionately affected by climate change and has a huge impact on the global climate system. Several studies investigate the causes, effects, and challenges of climate change in this region, along with platforms visualizing data on climate change projections. Yet, there are very few mapping tools that combine non-visible fluxes and infrastructures, and their impact on the human scale.

The goal of the Collaborative Arctic-Nordic Atlas is two-fold: on one hand it aims to embed social and environmental justice in future design strategies of climate change adaptation; and on the other hand, it aims to empower and give voice to traditionally unheard communities affected by processes of injustice.

The project aims to develop and apply an intersectional mapping and territorial analysis methodology, to spatially visualize natural resources, and agents of disturbance (economic activities such as mining, infrastructure related to marine routes, energy or communications, deforestation or forest fires), and their implication on a larger planetary scale regarding economic exploitation, ecological racism or indigenous disenfranchisement. We will concentrate the research on subjects such as transborder Nordic cultures, melting permafrost, arctic vulnerabilities, changing ecosystems: challenges which require a transnational diplomacy through the arts and design.

The Collaborative Artic Atlas: A critical cartography on environmental (in)justice is a project by Alejandro Haiek Coll in partnership with Raquel Colacios, Luis Pimentel and Tomas Mena.

On Saturday 3 December everyone is welcome to take part in the opening of the winter garden with a public event starting with a roundtable discussion indoors in the Architecture School (UMA). Followed by the installation of the winter public space which will reactivate the high level courtyard between Bildmuseet and Konsthögskolan. If the experimental structure works, and the weather permits, we will try and keep it up for extra days to allow for extended public engagement.

The event will gather architectural and artistic practices which experiment with the re-activation of public spaces in Umeå, Rome and Constantinople. The creative process is at the core of this collective exploration producing interdisciplinary connections and allowing unexpected meetings and new perspectives on crucial global challenges.

This will be the first installation of the Small Visionary Project ‘Retake/Reuse: experiments to reactivate public space: the winter garden’. It will explore how architecture can operate as a device for collective practice and public engagement; to investigate how urban winter gardens can have a regenerative social impact in Nordic, urban contexts, and how temporary structures can help us formulate new responsive, ecological environments.

Saturday 3 December Program

The morning discussion will take place in an hybrid format, from the theatre space at Umeå School of Architecture (UMA) and zoom.

In the afternoon you can participate in the winter garden installation in the square between Bildmuseet, UID and the Art School.

Please feel free to join for the day or just pass by for one of the moments, you are more than welcome to join with your families and friends!

Programme

10.00 Introduction to the Small Visionary Project (Maria Luna Nobile, Marie Kraft, Alejandro Haiek) and the collaboration with Circolo Scandinavo on the intersection between art and architecture.

10.10 Round table #1 Artist in residence (UMA Theatre): Introduction to the project Reuse/Retake (Rome/Umeå/Iceland)

10.15 – 10.20 (Stalker) la circostanza

10.20 – 10.35 (Helena Wikström) Artists residency in Rome

10.35 – 10.50 (Funduk – Basak Tuna + Matteo Locci) Artists residency in Umeå

11.00 Round table #2 Architecture as a device (UMA Theatre): Reactivating public space in the urban context, the architectural object as a device, collaboration and intersection between disciplines.

11.05 – 11.15 (Bruit du frigo – Hocine Aliouane-Shaw) La fabric du Lac

11.15 – 11.25 (Carla Collevecchio) UMA Pavillion

11.25 – 11.35 (Alejandro Haiek) The Winter Garden

13.00 – 17.00 Opening of the Winter Garden Public Space on the Art Campus: in the square between Bildmuseet and the Art School with Alejandreo Haiek + Team, Fatemeh Moradi + team, The Human Interaction

Collaboration Partners

The Winter Garden project is an intersection between culture, art, architecture, human interactions and environmental science, addressing climate emergency and the need for nature, in a transdisciplinary collaboration between:

Umeå School of Architecture

SVP Project Coordinator: Maria Luna Nobile

Project Installation: Alejandro Haiek

Technical advisors: Tomas Mena, Alejandra Diaz

Project team: Rebecca Rudolph, Raffaele Errichiello

Circolo Scandinavo

Director: Marie Kraft

Department of Informatics

UX Lab: Fatemeh Moradi, Umeå University.

Project team: Hiran Herath, Kevin Charles Dalli, Parisima Alaie , Viktor Sjöström, William Sahlin.

Department of Environmental Sciences
Project advisor: Gesche Blume-Werry

The Retake/ Reuse experiments to reactivate public spaces: the winter garden project explores how participatory processes can be a tool to develop architectural languages and renegotiate a city’s infrastructure in response to the climate emergency and the need for winter public spaces. Working through artistic practices and research explorations, this project investigates how urban winter gardens can have a regenerative social impact in Nordic urban contexts and how temporary structures can help us formulate new architectural languages. Working with members of the public, students and experts in art and architecture, the project facilitates knowledge sharing leading to the realisation of a physical full-scale prototype at the Arts Campus, Umeå University, on Saturday 3 December, 2022.

Everyone is welcome to take part in this public event starting with a roundtable discussion indoors in the Architecture School (UMA) 10.00-12.00. Followed by an installation of the winter public space which will reactivate the high level courtyard between Bildmuseet and Konsthögskolan 13.00-17.00

This will be the first installation of the Small Visionary Project ‘Retake/Reuse: experiments to reactivate public space: the winter garden’ supported by UmArts. It will explore how architecture can operate as a device for collective practice and public engagement; to investigate how urban winter gardens can have a regenerative social impact in Nordic, urban contexts, and how temporary structures can help us formulate new responsive, ecological environments.