State of the Art – Elements for Critical Thinking & Doing

The publication wraps up the State of the Art Network (SOTAN) collaboration project. SOTAN has been a Nordic-Baltic transdisciplinary network of artists, practitioners, researchers, and organizations who have come together to discuss the role, responsibility, and potential of art and culture in the Anthropocene. By developing creative practices, transdisciplinary collaborations and public engagement, SOTAN has aimed to create resilience and concrete actions on how to live through the change in culture, economy and the environment and to find concrete, hands-on methods to deal with the Anthropocene and the environmental crisis.

With this publication, we want to take a closer look at how we as practising artists, researchers and cultural actors can create elements for critical thinking and doing which can assist us in navigating the complexities of the present. The publication is organised into four sections: 1) Understand Unfold Recognise, 2) Listening Introspection Immersion, 3) Translate, Communicate, Collaborate and 4) Reacting Acting Change. It is important to see these sections, not as strict compartments where the different contributions land in a definitive slot but more, as a guide through the rich material produced by the collaboration. The contributions range from the arts and curatorial practices to activism, humanities and economy, interspersed with recaps of activities organised by collaborating SOTAN entities during the last three years and other related material in the form of images, poetry or maps.

State of the Art – Elements for Critical Thinking and Doing is edited by Eric Berger, Mari Keski-Korsu, Marietta Radomska & Line Thastum.

State of the Art Network has been supported by Nordic Culture Point, Nordic Culture Fund, and A. P. Møller Foundation.

see Turfiction – A chapter written as result of a workshop in Iceland 2022 by Tinna Grétarsdóttir, Sigurjón Baldur Hafsteinsson, Antti Tenetz, Pia Fricker, Martin Howse, Mari Keski-Korsu, Teemu Lehmusruusu, Jana Erkkila-Hill & Judith Van Der Elst.