Summer Institute in Venice
Summer Institute in Venice
May 6-13, 2019
Venice, Italy
The first Inuit Futures Institute, took place in Venice (6-13 May 2019) in collaboration with the Office of Contemporary Art Norway, and the Inuit Art Quarterly, published by the Inuit Art Foundation. The Inuit Futures Institute in Venice mobilized a critical mass of Inuit arts leaders to provide hands-on mentorship opportunities in film analysis, curatorial practice, and art criticism to emerging Inuit students of the arts from across the Canadian Arctic on-site on the occasion of award-winning video arts collective Isuma’s representation of Canada at the 2019 Venice Biennale, marking the first presentation by Inuit artists at the Canada Pavilion.
Coinciding with this historic event, the Inuit Futures Summer Institute in Venice partnered with the Inuit Art Foundation to publish a special digital and in print issue of Inuit Art Quarterly showcasing critical and creative contributions by Inuit students attending the institute. For this one-of-a-kind issue of the IAQ, emerging curators, artists, critics and writers produced dynamic, creative coverage of this global art event, offering a distinctly Inuit perspective on the Biennale. This is the first issue of Inuit Art Quarterly to feature solely Inuit contributors, which can be found here.
The Inuit Futures Summer Institute in Venice was honoured to collaborate with the Office of Contemporary Art Norway to catalyse and strengthen exchanges between Inuit and Sámi artists and curators, and to activate Sámi and Inuit Futures as well as Indigenous circumpolar alliances. We are thrilled that inspirational Sámi leaders Aili Keskitalo, Sámi President of Norway; Tiina Sanila-Aikio, Sámi President of Finland, Per-Olof Nutti, Sámi President of Sweden, and Henrik Olsen, Council Member on Cultural Affairs from the Sámi Parliament in Norway, were present to offer insights into Sámi perspectives today and into the future, as well as deepen connections and dialogue among the next generation of Inuit and Sámi artists, scholars and curators.