https://nordicotherwise.com CENTRE FOR NORDIC OTHERWISE (Official) Fri, 09 Aug 2024 23:37:42 +0000 https://nordicotherwise.com en https://nordicotherwise.com/HOME Fri, 09 Aug 2024 22:52:43 +0000 CENTRE FOR NORDIC OTHERWISE (Official) https://nordicotherwise.com/HOME <img width="10942" height="2485" width_o="10942" height_o="2485" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/0ccdd3918de6c8cdfdf3dbeacb2a1230d8780941196501e6bb3a7655a9d94555/CNO-Draft-Logo-06.png" data-mid="216136150" border="0" data-scale="79" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/0ccdd3918de6c8cdfdf3dbeacb2a1230d8780941196501e6bb3a7655a9d94555/CNO-Draft-Logo-06.png" /> Centre for Nordic Otherwise1 is a brand new pilot project for critical inquiry based in Aarhus, Denmark. It is by and for us2 QTBIPoC artists and cultural workers dedicated to resistance and liberation.3 We protect and specialize exclusively in the processes behind politically engaged work: &nbsp;CURRICULUM&nbsp;Apply to join a 5-day artist development course for politically-engaged artists, designers, and architects&nbsp; &nbsp;NETWORK&nbsp;Exchange underground work methods with fellow cultural workers through a network that’s online and IRL ︎︎︎︎︎︎︎︎︎ 1.&nbsp; Otherwise:&nbsp; See Otherwise Worlds: Against Settler Colonialism and Anti-Blackness&nbsp;(2020). Also, “Despite knowing otherwise, we are often disciplined into thinking through and along the lines that reinscribe our own annihilation.” —Axelle Karera, Blackness and the Pitfalls of Anthropocene Ethics (2019) 2. By and for us: See BUFU Collective (2015), How High (2001), Playing in the Dark by Toni Morrison,&nbsp;Krigwa Players theatre by W.E.B. DuBois and Regina Anderson (1920) 3. Resistance and liberation: See conversation by StrikeMoMA (Strike Museum of Modern Art), the Working Group of the International Imagination of Anti-National Anti-Imperialist Feelings (IIAAF), A talk with Sandy Grande, Stefano Harney, Fred Moten, Jasbir Puar, and Dylan Rodriguez (2021) https://nordicotherwise.com/curriculum Fri, 09 Aug 2024 22:52:08 +0000 CENTRE FOR NORDIC OTHERWISE (Official) https://nordicotherwise.com/curriculum CURRICULUM This isn’t your typical course. It’s a mind-bending, intimate, concentrated experience where you turn inwards and study the workings of your own critical art-making process. The week-long Curriculum is tailor-made for ambitious racialised artists and designers who explore socio-political contexts at an intermediate or advanced level. ︎︎︎Upcoming application period: To be announcedRead about Cycle 1 of the Curriculum here and here. SUBMIT AN EXPRESSION OF INTEREST Read about the process, location, and eligibility below. ︎︎︎ why apply? You’re ready to deepen your political commitments to an intermediate or advanced level. You want to bring together the critical theory you’re reading about, the things you’re making, and the everyday things you’re experiencing.&nbsp; You’re craving space and time exclusively for and exclusively by racialised artists. If you know, you know.&nbsp; process The unique process concentrates on 3 things: the materials the artist uses in their practicethe critical theoretical texts the artist engages the artist’s everyday politicized experiences being in the world WHO’S INVOLVED&nbsp; 4 artists will be selected to participate in each cycle. The Curriculum runs over a period of 5 consecutive days in-person. Each day is guided with facilitation and structured studio time. The process is facilitated by a Black-Asian independent scholar and former design educator at Parsons School of Design and Pratt Institute in NYC. She will run the workshop in partnership with a BIPoC coordinator. The workshop is hosted at Aysha Amin’s space, Andromeda8220, in Aarhus, DK. Read the Site section below for more. &nbsp;PROCESS&nbsp; The month prior: Virtual welcome and orientation meeting with Faciliator. Followed by a virtual meeting with all 4 participants, Facilitator, Coordinator, and Host to set guidelines and expections. Day 1: Settle into each other and our location. Learn 3 pre-requisite skills. Group dinner. Day 2: Continue practicing the 3 pre-requisite skills. Facilitator reveals the full process and methodology of the Curriculum. Set aims for Day 3 and 4.&nbsp; Day 3: Guided studio time to work individually yet in the space together. Day 4: Guided studio time. Prepare to share your investigations with fellow participants on Day 5. Day 5: Share our shifts, questions, and insights with each other.&nbsp;Graduation ceremony and group dinner. Write hello@nordicotherwise.com to request the more detailed agenda. THIS IS NOT...&nbsp; In the Curriculum, participants will not produce new creative works—Nordic Otherwise specialises exclusively on processes behind socio-political art-making and cultural work. The Curriculum does not seek to teach participants about socio-political concepts—The workshop will provide participants with structured days and tailor-made exercises for each participant to investigate their own ongoing engagement with critical concepts and creative practice. A moment of protest becomes a Curricular object.&nbsp; The curricular object that Black Studies became —as a repertoire of critical inquiry— means that my generation of [B]lack scholars and creative intellectuals had to create fields of study and practice, not always with happy results.— Hortense Spillers,&nbsp;A Critical Journal of Black Politics, Culture, and Society (2020) eligibility checklist Participants must meet all criteria. You identify as a person who is racialised. You have a creative practice that is spatial and/or material. You work closely with a medium such as sculpture, performance, music, film, body movement, archiving, sound, internet, poetry, design, architecture, and/or more. You deliberately engage with socio-political concepts at an intermediate or advanced level through your artistic practice.These concepts may include, but are not limited to ecofeminism, Black critical thought, queerness, geo-political borderlands, abolition, disability, Afropessimism, and more. <img width="3648" height="5472" width_o="3648" height_o="5472" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/f821ea5f4ea95839f7a7059ec2c913ec529d133bbc6c1711485033326aaad509/5A_IMG_2972.jpeg" data-mid="216194637" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/f821ea5f4ea95839f7a7059ec2c913ec529d133bbc6c1711485033326aaad509/5A_IMG_2972.jpeg" /> <img width="3648" height="5472" width_o="3648" height_o="5472" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/c9f0d6cf793d9439c9243e03e7540dcb4e0047b8363733d8fb6c5d187d0f6446/6A_IMG_2991.jpeg" data-mid="216194636" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/c9f0d6cf793d9439c9243e03e7540dcb4e0047b8363733d8fb6c5d187d0f6446/6A_IMG_2991.jpeg" /> <img width="3648" height="5472" width_o="3648" height_o="5472" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/ed44337c9f08a528099db1634cf6f399060d4e61538afbb4f60c07737583cd19/7A_IMG_3013.jpeg" data-mid="216194638" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/ed44337c9f08a528099db1634cf6f399060d4e61538afbb4f60c07737583cd19/7A_IMG_3013.jpeg" /> <img width="3648" height="5472" width_o="3648" height_o="5472" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/d692b1d52693c3247fb383dc2d13d5dd11be8909b947e4c8fa3c648385521d66/8A_IMG_3027.jpeg" data-mid="216194642" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/d692b1d52693c3247fb383dc2d13d5dd11be8909b947e4c8fa3c648385521d66/8A_IMG_3027.jpeg" /> <img width="3648" height="5472" width_o="3648" height_o="5472" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/0afe8f8a9e18db9479338796eabec37eca6cd0f09d089853d4f50ca2fb5bce53/10A_IMG_3064.jpeg" data-mid="216194641" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/0afe8f8a9e18db9479338796eabec37eca6cd0f09d089853d4f50ca2fb5bce53/10A_IMG_3064.jpeg" /> <img width="3648" height="5472" width_o="3648" height_o="5472" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/bc863909f23f4676b777491f412118dc296f46d1a9bfc326e3129241881a0114/1A_IMG_2881.jpeg" data-mid="216194646" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/bc863909f23f4676b777491f412118dc296f46d1a9bfc326e3129241881a0114/1A_IMG_2881.jpeg" /> <img width="3648" height="5472" width_o="3648" height_o="5472" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/d77c62011f0504ed743dba4c28e4e0935766de0ccf8ce6e92e875d47ed30c22e/3A_IMG_2940.jpeg" data-mid="216194644" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/d77c62011f0504ed743dba4c28e4e0935766de0ccf8ce6e92e875d47ed30c22e/3A_IMG_2940.jpeg" /> <img width="3648" height="5472" width_o="3648" height_o="5472" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/e82372e13fd9e853ce659cbad87343dada61d7115b241775ac73982a2a44ad7b/2A_IMG_2914.jpeg" data-mid="216194643" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/e82372e13fd9e853ce659cbad87343dada61d7115b241775ac73982a2a44ad7b/2A_IMG_2914.jpeg" /> <img width="3648" height="5472" width_o="3648" height_o="5472" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/38927bf374a8b3f7a726eb3ed425c6b7e4c7468707525b04cad5e66c8e5efa9f/9A_IMG_3056.jpeg" data-mid="216194640" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/38927bf374a8b3f7a726eb3ed425c6b7e4c7468707525b04cad5e66c8e5efa9f/9A_IMG_3056.jpeg" /> <img width="3648" height="5472" width_o="3648" height_o="5472" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/1bfbf257014abeb8777b2c71ca90c8368e793cb733435c7aaf0d29774929433d/4A_IMG_2944.jpeg" data-mid="216194639" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/1bfbf257014abeb8777b2c71ca90c8368e793cb733435c7aaf0d29774929433d/4A_IMG_2944.jpeg" /> <img width="3648" height="5472" width_o="3648" height_o="5472" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/ed44337c9f08a528099db1634cf6f399060d4e61538afbb4f60c07737583cd19/7A_IMG_3013.jpeg" data-mid="216194638" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/ed44337c9f08a528099db1634cf6f399060d4e61538afbb4f60c07737583cd19/7A_IMG_3013.jpeg" /> ︎︎︎Images of paper models resulting from Materializing, by designer Myriam Diatta, 2021 <img width="1240" height="1876" width_o="1240" height_o="1876" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/8784324ee957f62f81af994ca6dfe3c175cba237e2f7deb9840de7e05e107798/Credit-Myriam-Diatta-2025_-2025-07-31-at-10.24.22AM.png" data-mid="237641535" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/8784324ee957f62f81af994ca6dfe3c175cba237e2f7deb9840de7e05e107798/Credit-Myriam-Diatta-2025_-2025-07-31-at-10.24.22AM.png" /> <img width="1252" height="1876" width_o="1252" height_o="1876" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/c836d05f273796834d73960476dc63cc2f39845793f50d85e0170ee173efacb3/Credit-Myriam-Diatta-2025_-2025-07-31-at-10.24.02AM.png" data-mid="237641536" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/c836d05f273796834d73960476dc63cc2f39845793f50d85e0170ee173efacb3/Credit-Myriam-Diatta-2025_-2025-07-31-at-10.24.02AM.png" /> <img width="1278" height="1934" width_o="1278" height_o="1934" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/78625b2c4d7304099fd9c99f9a894371f34d7fdba4ef32708cb722d8d028415b/Screenshot-2025-08-30-at-9.40.28PM.png" data-mid="237641567" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/78625b2c4d7304099fd9c99f9a894371f34d7fdba4ef32708cb722d8d028415b/Screenshot-2025-08-30-at-9.40.28PM.png" /> ︎︎︎ Images of the Materializing process, featuring a sculptor, dancer, musician, and architect, 2025 siteAndromeda 8220Gudrunsvej 788220 Aarhus G, Denmark&nbsp; <img width="2048" height="1536" width_o="2048" height_o="1536" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/eaf250cf19819442a911ec4e12082239ccbd66cf048c2c7640271e860c309185/333231071_235917048772107_3798409726403851756_n.jpg" data-mid="216194634" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/eaf250cf19819442a911ec4e12082239ccbd66cf048c2c7640271e860c309185/333231071_235917048772107_3798409726403851756_n.jpg" /> <img width="825" height="550" width_o="825" height_o="550" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/df3bd5771952742a6d7b4312066779932f979f2815a1abcef85487eef84762fb/Andromeda8220-1.jpg" data-mid="216194635" border="0" alt="PHOTO CREDIT: PREBEN STENTOFT" data-caption="PHOTO CREDIT: PREBEN STENTOFT" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/825/i/df3bd5771952742a6d7b4312066779932f979f2815a1abcef85487eef84762fb/Andromeda8220-1.jpg" /> The Curriculum is hosted at Andromeda8220—one of the Centre’s partners—in Gellerup (Aarhus), Denmark. Read about the historical, political, and cultural contexts of Andromeda 8220. background APPROACH&nbsp; The approach behind the Curriculum is based in Black critical thought, performance studies, and design. In 2023, Monash University's Faculty of Art, Design &amp; Architecture (Melbourne, AU) nominated the research behind the Curriculum for their Doctoral Thesis Excellence award.&nbsp;SECTOR AND INDUSTRY&nbsp; Contemporary cultural institutions in Nordic countries have increasingly been representing a growing diversity of works by young artists who immerse themselves in critical and racialized perspectives. However, processes specifically to develop the critical artist and the criticality of their work—beyond lectures and discussions—are limited. Nordic Otherwise contributes to filling the gap by running its Curriculum.&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;ART, DESIGN, AND ARCHITECTURE&nbsp; Racialised creative practitioners engage with theoretical texts as an integrated part of their process. For example, American Artist (US) engages with Fred Moten’s book, In The Break: The Aesthetics Of The Black Radical Tradition; Dina El Kaisy Friemuth (DK) works with Ariella Asha Azoulay’s book, Potential History: Unlearning Imperialism. For the artist who contends with the socio-political condition, knowing, making, and being are engaged simultaneously. Each mutually influences the others at once. Nordic Otherwise seeks to develop strategies capable of supporting these critical processes. what else?&nbsp; Check out other must-know schools and courses that focus on (1) critical theory, (2) artistic practice, (3) centering QTBIPoC.Note: The following are not affiliated with Nordic Otherwise.&nbsp; ︎︎︎&nbsp;Accountability MappingBy Daria Garina, a course for abolition and developing Transformative Justice skills through one’s own bodyOnline ︎︎︎ Wynter-Wells Drawing School for Environmental LiberationBy Torkwase Dyson, an experimental curriculum based in Black critical thought, focused on the relationship between architecture, infrastructure and water Roving in the US ︎︎︎&nbsp;Reconstructions By Marie-Louise Richards at&nbsp;Royal Institute of Art, a course to reimagine spatial practices “otherwise”–learning from Black feminism Stockholm&nbsp;︎︎︎&nbsp;School for Poetic Computation An experimental school for art, code, hardware and critical theory New York City︎︎︎ WYFY School and graduation By BUFU, A learning community seeking to love Us well with practice, dreams, &amp; care⠀New York City https://nordicotherwise.com/our-network Fri, 09 Aug 2024 23:06:16 +0000 CENTRE FOR NORDIC OTHERWISE (Official) https://nordicotherwise.com/our-network NETWORK The Network for Nordic Otherwise focuses on underground work methods essential for navigating the art, design and culture industries as racialised individuals. We will hold online clinics to swap, document, and develop work methods. The first Network meeting will be held soon. Thanks for your patience. Pre-register now!︎︎︎ what’s a work method? DEFINITION&nbsp; For the purposes of the Network, we define a work method as a tactic that an individual or group uses specifically to maintain their initiatives made by and for racialised individuals. A work method can be a tool, strategy, technique, ritual, protocol, or routine. EXAMPLES&nbsp; Through the Network, we can exchange tactics for controlling how photographs of us are misused by others without consent, rituals for drawing boundaries to protect exclusive events, or strategies for fundraising initiatives that are disruptive and hard to fund. Work methods can be adminstrative, social, spiritual, emotional, and much more. aims and limitations The Network aims to shed light on the cultural technologies we come up with for ourselves and that we learn from others. The Network is not a community. Though the hope is that real personal relationships are built through our shared aims and our meetings, the Network cannot be responsible for facilitating close, long-term relationships between its members. become a member Pre-register for The Network Join our group chat Meet fellow members and&nbsp;get announcements about upcoming meetings Participate in Network meetings! You can offer, exchange, ask for, and learn new methods for sustaining spaces that are exclusively by and for usThe Network will eventually transition to paid memberships. This will let us directly compensate and support the folks who organize and facilitate each meeting we have—making the initiative socially sustainable.&nbsp; history In the Nordic region, work methods are often casually borrowed from long-standing political traditions outside the region. This causes disconnects between what we value in theory and what we do in practice. That’s why the Network seeks to instill a culture of citation in the region. The Network thickens our connections with the specific lineages, individuals, places, needs, and periods of time from which they originate. The idea for the network stems from conversations among peers had over dinner, after lectures, and on metro rides. These conversations made clear how many of us are craving connections with fellow BIPoC cultural workers and creative practitioners who work at the intersection of creative practice and liberation. We want the mutual exchanges made through the Network to deepen how we do our work—meaning, the inner, intimate, personal work we do towards collective action. https://nordicotherwise.com/about Fri, 09 Aug 2024 23:37:42 +0000 CENTRE FOR NORDIC OTHERWISE (Official) https://nordicotherwise.com/about ABOUT US In the project of liberation, conceptual art and design can play a crucial role among activism, schooling, training, rebellion, spiritual practices, medicine, engineering, public health, planning, and research. Artists and designers whose practices are conceptual and political have the potential to bring a distinct skillset: to negotiate concepts and speculate in concrete, visible ways—enabling us to imagine otherwise.&nbsp; Centre for Nordic Otherwise was created to address the urgent need for many more spaces where racialized individuals in the Nordic region, who are working towards liberation through conceptual and artistic means, can find support.&nbsp; team Myriam Diatta, PhD FounderAarhus, Denmark Yasmin Ibrahim CoordinatorHelsinki, Finland collaborators ASSATA Library and publisher celebrating revolutionaries of the global majorityOslo, Norway Andromeda8220 Collaborative art and architecture gallery Gellerup, Denmark advisory circle The Advisors for Nordic Otherwise are a circular and intergenerational group of warm, sharp practitioners. Some advisors are professional consultants who support collaborations and facilitate solidarity-based methods. Some advisors are the very earliest supporters of the idea for Nordic Otherwise and bring their trusted reputations and cultural knowledge in their respective Nordic cities. Abdul Dube Professional Consultant, ArtistAarhus, Denmark + Berlin, Germany Amy Gelera Designer, Chair of Somos S.U.R.Helsinki, Finland Aysha Amin Curator, Founder of Andromeda8220 Copenhagen, Denmark Host of Curriculum Workshop Jonelle Twum Filmmaker, Founder of Black Archives SwedenMalmö, Sweden Lina Patel Professional Consultant, FacilitatorMelbourne, Australia Marcia Harvey Isaksson Artist, Founder of SouthnordStockholm, Sweden Nina Cramer Art Historian, CuratorCopenhagen, Denmark Board Member Piniel Demisse Librarian, Co-founder of ASSATA Oslo, Norway Funding Partner institutional funders <img width="1181" height="283" width_o="1181" height_o="283" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/11395e556d43d0a8174594739aee753929f1ad60ac79551528f00b4da67f4da2/Nordisk_Kulturfond_White_RGB.png" data-mid="241236294" border="0" data-scale="49" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/11395e556d43d0a8174594739aee753929f1ad60ac79551528f00b4da67f4da2/Nordisk_Kulturfond_White_RGB.png" /> <img width="6738" height="1200" width_o="6738" height_o="1200" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/5f93f0d00d2e168d93fba8b7a714289961fc166fb57fc800326ec37e8534594f/KR_Arts-Council-Norway.png" data-mid="241236293" border="0" data-scale="72" data-no-zoom src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/5f93f0d00d2e168d93fba8b7a714289961fc166fb57fc800326ec37e8534594f/KR_Arts-Council-Norway.png" /> licensing CC BY–NC–ND 4.0︎︎︎ Last site update: December 2025 cvr/se no.&nbsp; 45033708 Site Updated: January 2026