This LASER Talk, as part of Designs for a Cooler Planet program in Helsinki Design Week, will discuss different perspectives on the Arctic and its lifewords, informed by research in the fields of art, design, science and technology. Leonardo Art Science Evening Rendezvous (LASER) Talks are hosted at Aalto University by the LASER Team: Laura Beloff, Pia Fricker, Ksenia Kaverina, Kirsi Peltonen, Nitin Sawhney and Koray Tahiroğlu.

The panel guests – artist Kaisu Koivisto, designer and researcher Emilia Tikka and professor, ice mechanics researcher Jukka Tuhkuri are all closely working with the Arctic region and will relate to the theme of ADAPTATION with critical questions concerning environmental, geopolitical and perceptual changes affecting living and non-living entities in the region, that Finland is also part of. The impact of climate change is leading to a significant range of transformations in the Arctic, for example by allowing new transportation routes to emerge that will impact both local and global situations on many levels. Brief presentations by speakers will be followed by a discussion and Q&A with the audience.

The event is co-hosted by Laura Beloff, Professor of Visual Culture and Artistic Practices and Pia Fricker, Professor of Practice, Computational Methodologies in Landscape Architecture and Urbanism, and coordinated by Ksenia Kaverina, curator and doctoral candidate at Aalto University.