arctic living
High North News and the True Nortern Arts Festival: Who owns the narrative of the North?
What Can We Learn From Finland? About Myths, Truths and Cooperation With our Nordic Neighbour
Harstad (High North News): Finland has a different history from Norway, but also much in common. How do we build trust, preparedness and resilience in a society? What does it mean to be prepared without becoming afraid?
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For the fifth time, High North News and the True Northern Arts Festival invite the public to open and exploratory conversations about the role of the High North in an unsettled time. We promise sharp perspectives, strong voices and artistic contributions.
The debates are moderated by Arne O. Holm, editor of High North News. The last of this year’s debates is about our neighbour Finland.
Finland has a different history from Norway, but also much in common. How do we build trust, preparedness and resilience in a society? What does it mean to be prepared without becoming afraid?
The main guest is Kristina Junttila Valkoinen, a Norwegian-Finnish performance artist, educator and researcher, and one of the festival’s featured artists. In her artistic work, she explores identity, belonging, faith and community, including through the performance Blood & faith - a blood service. With her Finnish background and her theatrical perspective, she opens up a conversation about what Finland can teach us about security, self-understanding and community in unsettled times.
On the panel, we meet Laura Piitulainen, senior adviser and coordinator for Team Finland at the Embassy of Finland in Oslo, Ragnar Bøifot, news editor at Fremover, Sanna Salo, senior researcher at the Finnish Institute of International Affairs, and Trond Nilsen, deputy commander of the Army and chief of staff at the Army Staff.
Together, they delve into the question of what Finnish experiences may mean for Norway, for the High North and for those of us who live with preparedness, neighbourly relations and geopolitical unrest close to everyday life.
Birk Arvola provides a musical interlude.
