ABOAGORA 2019 was held on August 21–23 at the Sibelius Museum in Turku. Via art and various academic disciplines, the Symposium investigated the element of “Earth” – a fundamental aspect of human life, spanning the past as well as our present situation, and our hopes for the future. The presentations discussed of instance ecological concerns for planet earth, the empathy and animal rights, the concrete historicity of trees, forests and soil and studied identity, belonging, and being in place. The multi-disciplinary discussions illuminated the fundamental groundedness of humanity in soil and dust – as a metaphor within the arts, as a concrete evolutionary process, and as a moral demand for care and indebtedness.

Aboagora 2019 started a new five-year thematic plan for 2019–2023 under the title The Five Rings, referring to The Book of Five Rings, written in 1645 by Miyamoto Musashi.

AGORA Speakers

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The Agora lectures are available on ABOAGORA’s YouTube channel:

Sandra Swart (Professor in the Department of History, Stellenbosch University)

“Animal Rites, Rights and Whites – The Politics of Animal Slaughter in South Africa”

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mirko nikolić (environmental humanities artist/researcher)

“the arcane of terran reproduction”

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Tino Mager (Postdoc at the Chair of History of Architecture and Urban Planning, TU Delft)

“Earth: The Illusion of Permanence”

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Pauliina Feodoroff (Screenwriter, director and Sámi activist)

“Skäädsual- Skää´dsuâl- What is the Birth Story of This Age/ What Form Can an Atonement Take”

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Photos: Otto-Ville Väätäinen & Pekko Vasantola