Registration & Mingling & Coffee

Introductions from the organizers

Katie Paterson (Artist), Anne Beate Hovind (Chair, Future Library Trust)

Dr. Liisa-Rávná Finbog (Ramavuol Liisa-Rávdná) is a Sami indigenous researcher, duojár, writer, and curator affiliated with the University of Tampere in Finland. Her work, which intersects Sami aesthetics and material culture, explores the dynamic interplay between art and indigenous politics, reflecting her roles as an academic, duojár, and curator. In 2021, she co-founded the Hásstuheaddji Artist Collective. Liisa-Rávná holds a curatorial position at KORO, Norway's national body for art in public spaces, and serves as the curator of discursive programming at MUNCH in Oslo. She authored "It Speaks to You: Making Kin of People, Stories and Duodji in Sámi Museums," published in 2023.

Nathan “mudyi” Sentance is a cis Wiradjuri librarian and museum educator who grew up on Darkinjung Country. Nathan currently works at the Powerhouse Museum as Head of Collections, First Nations and writes about history, critical librarianship and critical museology from a First Nations perspective.

15 min break

Tharron Bloomfield (Ngāti Porou) is a conservator and curator. He has held positions in New Zealand, Australia and the United States including the Auckland Museum, the UCLA/Getty Interdepartmental Program in the Conservation of Cultural Heritage, the National Museum of Australia, and the National Library of New Zealand. He is currently a Māori Heritage Advisor at Heritage New Zealand.

Juanita Kelly-Mundine (she/they) is a proud West Bundjalung and Yuin woman from the South-East of Australia. Her practice focuses on creating conservation and collection management strategies which prioritse First Nations community/ artist engagement, and the integration of Indigenous knowledges, systems of care and languages. Juanita's practice is also concerned with engaging Indigenous principles of custodianship in the preservation of intangible forms of artistic and cultural expression including choreographic, dance and performance modalities. Juanita is the First Nations Collections Coordinator at the National Museum of Australia.

Organic plant-based lunch, beautifully prepared by Rebecca Hawkes at Wilder Kitchen. Wilder Kitchen is a food studio based in Oslo specialising in utilising seasonal plants to connect people with nature through curated events. Food is created with the bounty offered by local organic farmers and supplemented with wild foraged ingredients. Wilder Kitchen hosts events that tell stories, offers up experiential dining and opportunities to connect with the neighbourhood and your neighbours.

Solomon Ratt was born to parents who were hunters and fishers. At the age of six Solomon was abducted from his home and taken to the residential school where he began his schooling. After the residential school he attended Riverside Collegiate High School. He attended the University of Regina earning two BAs and an MA. He is a recipient of the Saskatchewan Order of Merit (2021) and The Queens’s Platinum Medallion (2022). He taught Cree at the First Nations University since 1984 (as a sessional) and full time since 1986, retiring in 2022. Solomon’s publications include nīhithaw ācimowina - Woods Cree Stories (2014) and māci-nēhiyawēwin - Beginning Cree (2016), āhkami-nēhiyawētān - Let’s Keep Speaking Cree (2022), published by the University of Regina Press. Another book through the UR Press, published in January 2023, kā-pē-isi-kiskisiyān, ᑳᐯᐃᓯᑭᐢᑭᓯᔮᐣ, The Way I Remember won two Saskatchewan Book Awards 2024. Abstract: I remember when I was a child my parents told my brothers and I traditional Cree stories of the Cree cultural hero wîsahkîcâhk. The stories amused and entertained us as we were going to sleep. Many people think that these stories were simply children’s stories. However, wîsahkîcâhk exists betwixt the sacred and the profane and thus is revered by the Cree people. Stories of wîsahkîcâhk were more than children’s stories. They provided education on how to survive in a world always in flux. Once we were taken away to go to a residential school we no longer had access to this education as our schooling interrupted our education because stories were told only in the winter months when we were away from home. This presentation provides a background to the upheaval we faced when we were kidnapped to go to residential school and a brief look at my rediscovery of traditional stories in libraries followed by sharing a story. After the story there will be a discussion with questions and a sample of the type of activities that can be done in classrooms as a way of extending the experience.

Elin Már Øyen Vister is artist and forager with their base on Røst, South -Westernmost part of Lofoten (Norway/Sápmi). With a broad background in audio and music (as DJ and producer, and in-field recording and radio), they bring an interdisciplinary approach and experience of a multitude of practices to their expression. Már is occupied with listening as life practice and as a way to compose, sense, and experience the world, much inspired by Pauline Oliveros’s Deep Listening philosophy and aesthetic philosophy.

Dylan Robinson is a Stó:lō artist, curator, and writer, as well as an Associate Professor in the School of Music at the University of British Columbia. As a member of the Skwah First Nation he is committed to Indigenous resurgence, particularly through his work with Indigenous students across the arts, and prioritizing the use of Indigenous languages. Robinson is the author of Hungry Listening: Resonant Theory for Indigenous Sound Studies (2020), a book that examines Indigenous and settler colonial practices of listening. With Candice Hopkins, he is also the curator of Soundings, an exhibition that features an ever-growing number of Indigenous art scores and performances, currently touring internationally with Independent Curators International.

30 min break

Marita Isobel Solberg is a visual artist, chanter and musician who works with numerous artistic directions that includes performance art, sculpture, ceramics, soundart and installationart. She holds holds a master's degree from Oslo National Academy of the Arts. Marita grew up in Manndalen / Olmmáivággi / Olmavankka in the Northern-Troms region, but her closest ancestral roots are from the Northern-Norwegian, Sámi, Swedish and Finnish. She has since childhood explored different artistic and musical genres, and enjoys a career as musician and vocalist. Currently working from an artist studio at Kysten-Troms Fylkeskultursenter in Tromsø, Norway, she actively lives a nomadic life on the Norwegian and international music and art scene. As part of her practice, Solberg incorporates her strong connection to the northern Norwegian culture and landscape by actively supporting the Arctic cultural scene. She has participated in Nordland Music Art Week, The Riddu Riđđu Festival, Barents Spektakkel, North-Norwegian Art Center in Svolvær, Bukta Open Air Festival, The True Northern Arts Festival, Vårscenefest, North Norwegian Art Museum in Tromsø, Sámi Dáiddáguovvdas, the fictional Sámi Daiddamusea and Tromsø Center for Contemporary Art.

15 min break

Jo-ann Archibald Q’um Q’um Xiiem, is a member of the Stó:lō First Nation and has kinship in St’at’imc First Nation in British Columbia, Canada. She received a Bachelor of Education (B.Ed.) degree from the University of British Columbia, a Master of Education (M.Ed.) degree and Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) degree from Simon Fraser University. Over a 45-year educational career, Q’um Q’um Xiiem has served as a school teacher, curriculum developer, researcher, author, university leader and professor. She is Professor Emeritus in the Faculty of Education, University of British Columbia. Q’um Q’um Xiiem’s scholarship relates to Indigenous knowledge systems, storywork/oral tradition, Indigenous educational history, teacher and graduate education, and Indigenous methodologies. In 2018, Q’um Q’um Xiiem, was appointed an Officer of the Order of Canada for her lifelong contributions to advancing Indigenous education in K-12 and post-secondary education through policy, programs, curricula, and research. Abstract: Q’um Q’um Xiiem - Jo-ann Archibald will share her perspectives, experiences, and reflections about Indigenous Storywork (ISW), starting with its genealogy from various Indigenous Elders. She will discuss how ISW’s seven principles of respect, responsibility, reverence, reciprocity, holism, inter-relatedness, and synergy came about through experiencing Indigenous traditional and life-experience stories. Since the 2008 publication of Indigenous Storywork: Educating the Heart, Mind, Body, and Spirit, she and many storyworkers have used ISW in various geographical, cultural, educational, research, and (inter)disciplinary contexts. Q’um Q’um Xiiem will share some examples of the varied contexts of Indigenous Storywork where the intangible, memory, traditional teachings, and contemporary culture meet.

Organic plant-based dinner, beautifully prepared by Rebecca Hawkes at Wilder Kitchen. Wilder Kitchen is a food studio based in Oslo specialising in utilising seasonal plants to connect people with nature through curated events. Food is created with the bounty offered by local organic farmers and supplemented with wild foraged ingredients. Wilder Kitchen hosts events that tell stories, offers up experiential dining and opportunities to connect with the neighbourhood and your neighbours.