What leaps of faith, means and ends are required in order to move towards culture(s) embracing the diversity of an expanded community of organic and inorganic beings? What kinds of positions and practices of co-existence, agency and communication can be imagined into being in the face of the threatening climate breakdown? Furthermore, where may the de-centring of the human perspective lead to scientific and artistic modes of knowledge and representation, and vice versa?

Open Stage forms an experimental platform within the conference, where art and science are brought into dialogue across a range of media. Open Stage invites proposals from artists and researchers focused on envisaging futures to come from the shifting position of cultures and the arts. The aim is not to illustrate prevailing theories or critical positions with art works, but rather to challenge both art and science to push the limits of the possible and the knowable. For example, how can different methodologies of investigation, expression and signification open towards other, non-human modes of being in, sensing and making sense of the world? To date, no single vocabulary of academic language or form of art suffice to address this alone. But a set of critical encounters may begin to do so.

Open Stage makes a claim, in practice, on the indispensable role of the arts in cross-disciplinary dialogue and in the production of knowledge. The arts offer spaces and particular methodologies that allow for the dialogue of complex or even contradictory views, here brought together in the face of the urgency to address the ecological challenges of today and to work towards sustainable futures. Meanwhile the most radical re-imagining is emerging now in the field of arts and culture(s) from the fertile ground on the porous boundaries of disciplines. Open Stage is an experiment in the activation of these very boundaries between myriad modes of artistic and scientific research. The stage is open for the unruly, the out of order(s), and the yet-to-be-recognized.

Format(s) for Open Stage:

The presentations proposed for Open Stage can be in any format or mode of address, from academic posters to performances, images, sound, objects, installations, etc. The selected presentations will be mainly exhibited and/or performed in a temporary exhibition space at the conference venue (Old Harbour, see Venue), accessible both to the conference participants and to the wider public throughout the duration of the conference. Proposals for interventions into the surrounding urban space will also be considered. The venue is in central Helsinki, in close proximity to the harbour.

Technical requirements and other specifications concerning the presentation should be included in the application. The curatorial team will discuss the format of the installation and/or performance in closer practical detail with the shortlisted applicants.

The call for proposals for Open Stage closes on 05/01/2015

Curatorial team:

• Taru Elfving (Curator PhD)
• Terike Haapoja (artist / researcher)
• Saara Hannula (artist / researcher)
• Jenni Nurmenniemi (curator)

SUBMIT YOUR PROPOSAL: Online submission system opens on Wed 12/11/2014