Museum of Nonhumanity
Museum of Nonhumanity will host a series of weekend seminars, where invited Finnish and International practitioners discuss and develop possibilities for an inclusive society. The seminars are free of charge and will take place at the café of the museum.

PROGRAM

SATURDAY 10.9. 12–16PM
Re-imagining the Future Through the Past
(In English)
Seminar curated by: journalist Maryan Abdulkarim
Discussion: Suvi West, Pauliina Feodoroff and David Muoz
Moderator: Maryan Abdulkarim

The known history of human kind is one of oppressions and
transgressions against all living things. What is it to build a future through a past? What terms do we use to describe the systematic destruction and oppression which we fight? For whom are words significant and how do we bring about a vision for a future that is rooted in the past relationships with all living things?

SUNDAY 11.9. 12–16PM
Over the Borders! Gender and human rights
– towards freely flowing gender identities?
(In Finnish)
Seminar curated by: Pia Puu Oksanen, director of human rights issues, Amnesty Finland
The seminar is supported by Amnesty International – Finnish Section
Discussion: Pia Puu Oksanen / Amnesty, Juha Kilpiä, Maru Hietala, Aro Mielonen / Transforces

At the seminar we will hear statements; we will have open discussions; and we will enjoy the performative elements that the collaborators and participants create in the space. What would our reality look like if gender diversity and gender fluidity guided our understanding of gender and human rights? During these four hours we will ponder, empathize, and give room for this positive utopia.

SATURDAY 17.9. 14–16PM
Empathy, sociability and morality
(In Finnish
)
Seminar is curated by:
Elisa Aaltola – philosopher, and Sami Keto – activist / researcher

Empathy is a term which is rapidly becoming popular, but which still is seldom defined. The seminar explores the meaning of empathy and its different varieties. It will also map out empathy’s function in the history of human species, various problems related to empathy, and empathy’s role in the development of morality and sociability. The seminar will also offer different methods for increasing empathy skills.

SUNDAY 18.9. 12–17PM
Rights for the Majority! – How to make our society recognize animal rights
(In Finnish and English)
Seminar by Animalia / Salla Tuomivaara and Mai Kivelä
The seminar is supported by Animalia non-profit association.
Speakers: Jeff Mannes, Visa Kurki, Liisa Kaski, James Nikander
Moderator: Mai Kivelä

The human being is only one species amongst the animals, but we have excluded all the others from having any fundamental rights. Nonhumanity has meant inhuman behavior towards animals. However, the profound and clear distinction between humans and other animals is being challenged. Already some countries, such as U.S. and India, have declared certain rights for some of the other species. Is it possible in a human society to recognize animal rights? If so, how can we move towards such society?

SATURDAY 24.9.
 13–16:15PM
Frontiers in Retreat & Zooetics: Non-human, non-animal
(In English)
Seminar curated by: Tracey Warr and Jenni Nurmenniemi
Speakers: Tracey Warr, Dionizas Bajarunas, Mirko Nikolic
Moderator: Kira O’Really
Other program: Richard Skelton’s short film – In Pursuit of the Eleventh Measure

Rock, water, mushroom. How far can we go in our definitions of ‘life’, and where might its extension take us? Human relationships with other species, other life, have already changed and evolved towards greater empathy and the notion of rights and legal standing. What might a next evolution of relationships amongst all life forms look like? The non-human, the non-animal; how can we get beyond binaries and taxonomies? How might notions of the discrete, which are so deeply ingrained in our assumptions and language, shift towards better understandings of symbiosis, mutualism, and interdependence?

SUNDAY 25.9. 12–16PM
Decentering History – Artistic Interventions
(In English)
Seminar by History of Others / Laura Gustafsson and Terike Haapoja
Speakers: Giovanna Esposito Yussif, Minna Henriksson, Laura Gustafsson & Terike Haapoja

The seminar discusses artistic practices and projects that, by re-writing history, aim at mapping the blind spots of our culture. The common thread to all these approaches is the critique of western modernism, and the ways in which institutions of knowledge have normalized and justified discriminative practices. The series of seminars in the Museum of Nonhumanity will conclude with a panel discussion in which we will ask what does it take to decolonize a museum display, and how to include one’s own position in the critique.

Museum of Nonhumanity is co-produced by HIAP Frontiers in Retreat project, funded by the EU Culture Programme.