Parallel Norths: Shared Ecocultural Entanglements
A Monthly International Exhibition Series Exploring Northern and Arctic Regions at the Intersection of Art, Research, and Pedagogy.
"Parallel Norths – Shared Ecocultural Entanglements" is a monthly changing international exhibition series presented during Oulu’s year as the European Capital of Culture in 2026. The series highlights contemporary phenomena and critical questions related to northern and Arctic regions through art, design, research, and art education.
The exhibition series presents the artistic processes of artists, art educators, and designers affiliated with the University of the Arctic’s (UArctic) Thematic Network on Arctic Sustainable Arts and Design (ASAD). Over the course of the year, works by practitioners from eight different countries will be exhibited, emphasizing UArctic’s strong commitment to international and cross-border collaboration.
Approaching the northern and Arctic regions from an ecocultural perspective, the exhibition foregrounds the complex interconnections between environment, culture, and society. The exhibited works engage with urgent themes such as climate change, the use of natural resources, biodiversity loss, and livelihoods, ways of life, and identities rooted in northern regions. The works reflect on how ecological changes shape cultural practices and consider the challenges, responsibilities, and possibilities these transformations generate in the present and for the future.
Photo: Timo Jokela
The curator of the exhibition series, Professor Emeritus Timo Jokela, explains:
"By placing works created in different countries and across diverse northern regions side by side, the exhibition makes visible the complex and often unseen entanglements of ecosystems and cultures. At the same time, it highlights the importance of international collaboration, shared knowledge, and art in understanding and addressing ecological and cultural challenges."
Parallel Norths invites audiences to pause and engage with the multilayered realities of northern regions, and to consider how art, design, and art education can function as spaces for critical reflection, dialogue, and the development of ecocultural perspectives that foster hope and sustainable futures.
Mirja Hiltunen: Encounters in Nuuk – All of Us Are 70% Water, 2023.
Kuvakollaasi / Photocollage, Valokuvat / Photos: Mirja Hiltunen ja Timo Jokela
The exhibition series is part of Oulu2026 – European Capital of Culture and supports its goals of strengthening northern expertise, cultural sustainability, and international interaction. Living, borderless Sámi culture is featured extensively within the Oulu2026 programme through concerts, exhibitions, and seminars. This understanding and addressing ecological and cultural challenges. Parallel Norths series also brings forward other Arctic cultures, notes Maria Huhmarniemi, who continues Timo Jokela’s work within the University of the Arctic networks:
"The Arctic is home to dozens of Indigenous cultures as well as a wide range of minority, dominant, and border cultures. The region’s cultural traditions and contemporary expressions are exceptionally rich. Many of these cultures have historically been subjected to cultural, linguistic, and geopolitical colonialism. Decolonisation and the recognition of communities living in close connection with nature are central themes within the ASAD network and are also reflected throughout this exhibition series."
The exhibition Sustainability Seals opens the series. Its works were created through joint workshops in art and social psychology held in Greenland’s capital, Nuuk, as well as in the Inuit communities of Narsaq and Maniitsoq. The works create encounters with the landscape, the community, and particularly with young people, exploring ecoculture as the entanglement of nature, humans, and culture—as a force shaping identity, as living heritage, and as a foundation for a sustainable future.
Photo: Timo Jokela
The exhibition features works by Timo Jokela, Mirja Hiltunen, Peter Berliner, Tina Enghoff, and Søren Zeuth, developed in collaboration with local communities. Maria Huhmarniemi emphasizes the exhibition’s topical relevance:
"The ASAD network has been developing Arctic art and art education for over a decade. An exhibition focusing on Greenland is particularly timely at a moment when power politics have brought renewed colonialist ambitions toward the region into the center of international news."
The exhibition series is curated by Professor Emeritus Timo Jokela of the University of Lapland. He has previously served as Professor of Art Education, UArctic Chair in Arctic Art and Design, and as the leader of the ASAD network.
The exhibition venue:
Café Antell Piha, Kauppurienkatu 7, Oulu
Contact:
Timo Jokela, timo.jokela@ulapland.fi
Photos: Photos from the exhibition: Timo Jokela, 2025
Information about the works on display:
Timo Jokela
Keskusteluja hylkeen kanssa / In Conversation with a Seal
Lumi- ja jääinstallaatiot / Snow and ice installations
Narsaq 2025, Nuuk 2025, Narsarsuak 2025 Valokuvat / Photos: Timo Jokela
Mirja Hiltunen
Kohtaamisia Nuukissa - me kaikki olemme 70 % vettä
Encounters in Nuuk – All of Us Are 70% Water, 2023.
Kuvakollaasi / Photocollage, Valokuvat / Photos: Mirja Hiltunen ja Timo Jokela
Peter Berliner, Tina Enghoff, Soeren Zeuth
Muotokuvat artivismina inhimillisyyden ja kestävän tulevaisuuden edistämiseksi
Potraits as Artivism for Humanisation and Sustainability, 2024.
Valokuvat /Photos: Tina Enghoff, Soeren Zeuth, Maniitsoqin nuoret / young people from Maniitsoq