SATURDAY 14 OCTOBER AT: 12:00- 12:00, GALLERI NORD-NORGE

A panel discussion revolving around the theme for AMIFF 2023; BEND IT, MAYBE

FREE EVENT at GALLERY NORD-NORGE: Normanns gate 1, 9405 Harstad

Panelists: SASUSU RADIO (artist collective), Louisa Minkin (artist), and Davvet B. Solbakk (journalist and activist). Moderator: Hanne Hammer Stien (art historian, UiT The Arctic University of Norway)

Curator Kjetil Berge is behind this year’s theme, BEND IT, MAYBE. Here is the curator text:

"This year's festival title, BENDIT, MAYBE, is conceived as an open and solution-oriented call for deliberations on relational themes, with a focus on identity and affiliation.

These themes are constant topics in human interaction. In social media the stream of opinions flows on a large and persistent battlefield full of combative headlines with polarising and predictable arguments. Trolls and bots fight to publicise othering opinions with hateful headlines about people they don’t think belong. A bullying attitude meant to exclude people from the public debate as well as IRL.

BEND IT, MAYBE encourages a position of embrace, it shows the beginning of a curve, that can accommodate and change direction. It is humorous, invites reflection and deliberation and is an alternative to a default defensive stance. To envisage flexibility, afterthought, inclusion and open-mindedness as effective tools in relational power structures seems radical at this point.”

-Kjetil Berge