BOOKS: ‘From the Source’

Join us for an evening of BOOKS, a program series on the books that have shaped us and why we love them.

In this special edition of BOOKS we will be joined by critically acclaimed Indigenous and non-Indigenous voices in visual art from across the world, discussing the insights of Indigenous knowledge and publishing at a time when non-nationalist forms of territorial belonging are ever more important amid a fractious global socio-political climate.

In a truly unique gathering, the program will feature contributions by Bidjara/Garingbal artist D Harding, Peruvian artist Claudia Martínez Garay, Sāmoan/Persian/Cantonese artist, writer, curator and researcher Léuli Eshrāghi, Tate Adjunct Curator, First Nations and Indigenous Art Pablo José Ramírez, and Sāmoan artist Yuki Kihara.

In introducing and toasting the launch of Čatnosat: Indigenous Art, Knowledge and Sovereignty we will be joined by artist, researcher, and co-editor Liisa-Rávná Finborg. The program celebrates the Dutch launch of Čatnosat, the catalog of the Sámi Pavilion of the 59th Biennale Arte, co-published by Valiz and OCA / Office for Contemporary Art Norway. This is the first time that Sámi artists exclusively represent Sápmi, their Sámi homeland, in a national pavilion in Venice, and the first time the Sámi are recognized as a nation in a pavilion bearing their name. The book Čatnosat serves as a project in its own right to provide further reflections on Sámi art and knowledge, considering Sámi notions of non-linear time and the centrality of story-telling, sound, and the spoken word.

Together these contributors will share personal highlights among Indigenous art histories and the books that document them. How can we look at the international histories of Indigenous Art and its relation to Indigenous Knowledge? What does it mean to document Indigenous knowledges in print and image? How do Indigenous forms of territorial belonging challenge and suggest modes of resistance to currently resurgent nationalist tropes?

The event is conceived and moderated by Kunstinstituut Melly Research and Programs Manager Vivian Ziherl, together with Valiz.