Forest School by New Theatre Institute of Latvia

From October 2022 to March 2023, The New Theatre Institute of Latvia organizes the project “Forest School”, in which, through an online field work cycle (6 online discussion sessions), curator Bek Berger and artists Rebeka Birch, Daniel Peltz and Sissi Westerberg, together with artists, scientists and environmental activists of other countries, are going to explore the forests of their countries, discuss the different ecosystems of the forest and their importance in the society of the specific country. Each session will be hosted from a forest location, inviting plants, creatures, soil and rocks, into the discussions with us. Working in a commons structure, or an ‘everyman’s rights’ structure, the forest school ultimately aims to open up to different disciplines within art and research; researchers in biology, botany, lichenology, carbon, agricultural history, social science, but also to other forest professionals and enthusiasts, for example forestry services, or commercial forestry, as well as wildlife rangers, hunters, mushroom collectors, cabin dwellers and natural dye plant gatherers. We will use the networking period to meet with and start working relationships with these collaborators.

A forest in our context is not a wild space, but a place where humans and other species mingle; where humanity has intervened to talk about history and ecology out of its own prism. The artists and scientists represented by the “Forest School” will develop a strategy to work responsibly and ethically on issues related to nature in order to transfer these skills to other interested disciplines.  During the network period the founding practitioners will test these strategies through workshopping together online in various forest locations. We welcome anyone, from any discipline,  who is interested in shared forested futures, to join us in these discussions.

Forest school session times:

4.10.2022 13:00 – 14:30 (EEST) 12:00 – 13:30 (CET)

Recording of the first session:

8.11.2022 13:00 – 14:30 (EEST) 12:00 – 13:30 (CET)

5.12.2022 13:00 – 14:30 (EEST) 12:00 – 13:30 (CET)

6.01.2022 13:00 – 14:30 (EEST) 12:00 – 13:30 (CET)

9.02.2022 13:00 – 14:30 (EEST) 12:00 – 13:30 (CET)

7.03.2022 13:00 – 14:30 (EEST) 12:00 – 13:30 (CET)

To join the sessions, use this zoom link – https://us06web.zoom.us/j/83197557311

Forest school’s creators:

Rebecca Birch (NO) is an artist working with entanglements of people and their local landscapes, her long-term research project Lichen Covered Stick traced histories of human-lichen encounters. She is currently Visiting Scholar at Oslo School of Environmental Humanities.

Bek Berger (LV) is an artist and the artistic director of the New Theatre Institute of Latvia. In her personal practice she has been working across German, Italian and Latvian forests and peatlands researching mechanisms to create art for non-humans.

Daniel Peltz (SE) artist, co-founder of Rejmyre Art Lab and Professor of Site and Situation

Specific Practices at the Academy of Fine Arts in Helsinki.

Sissi Westerberg (SE) artist, co-founder of Rejmyre Art Lab and Senior Lecturer at Konstfack University College of Arts Crafts and Design in Sweden.

The event is implemented by the project “ACT: Art, Climate, Transition”. Supported by the EU program “Creative Europe” and the Nordic-Baltic mobility program “Culture”.