CoastARTS: Coastlines as Zones of Ecocultural Crisis: Shaping Resilience through Transnational Performance-based Arts

The NTNU team, led by PI Heli Aaltonen, will approach the theme of eco-cultural crisis through site- specific practice-led research with coastal communities in parts of Norway’s Atlantic coast where bird populations have been decreased by the combined effects of industrial salmon farming, oil and wind energy production, tourism, climate change and avian influenza. Drawing broadly on posthuman and new materialist perspectives, this work explores human–avian interactions in the context of environmental changes and in relation to environmental heritage and ecocultural identity. An arts and crafts scholar Pauliina Maapalo (PDRA1) and Aaltonen will co-design the research framework and conduct case studies in coastal regions between Trondheim and Bodø (600 km to the north), in collaboration with teachers, independent artists and other specialists (e.g. ornithologists). Through performance-based arts, the project aims to build ecocultural identities that reflect the urgent need for inter-species solidarity in times of ecological crisis. The research methodology blends participatory action research and material-discursive strategies with performance and new materialist approaches, emphasizing emotional and embodied engagements between humans and birds. Through these practice-led research methods, The project hopes to foster an ongoing dialogue about the urgent need for environmental stewardship and strengthen the resilience of both coastal communities and their avian companions in the face of ecological crisis. In the Norwegian part of the project collaboration between artists, researchers and local partners in art workshops is fundamental: - spring 2025 online-kick-off workshop with researchers, artists and local partners - fall 2025 a work-in-process workshop with artists and researchers - spring 2026 art workshops with local partners - fall 2026 online-sharing-workshop with researchers, artists and local partners