CPD Trip to Sápmi and Norway (16-20 September 2025)
Installation view of ‘The Sámi Pavilion’, 59th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia, 'The Milk of Dreams', Venice (23 April–27 November 2022). Photo: Michael Miller / OCA
CPD Trip to Sápmi and Norway
Tuesday 16 - Saturday 20 September 2025
with an optional extension of +1 day in Oslo
We are delighted to announce our partnership with the Office for Contemporary Art Norway, which has enabled our CPD international trip in September 2025. This opportunity will bring together a group of curators from the CAS network to meet and engage with artists, art institutions and organisations in Sápmi (the traditional Sámi area in the Northern regions of Fennoscandia) and Norway.
The contemporary global art discourse is increasingly focusing on the significance of indigenous practices, knowledge, and wisdom. This, together with current pressing issues—such as environmental change, global warming, and their effects on Arctic ecosystems—alongside themes of decoloniality in the European geopolitical context and the contrast between ‘the periphery’ and ‘the centre’, are profoundly relevant to contemporary art museums and collections worldwide.
Our interest in this research is furthermore deeply connected to our investigation on art and spirituality and the ways by which ancient belief systems and the living inheritances of past generations may inform contemporary art and curatorial practices. This trip, curated in collaboration with local scholar and practitioner Karolin Tampere, will provide the group of CAS members with a unique opportunity to immerse themselves in art and culture within an extraordinary context, enriching our understanding and broadening our perspectives on the power and value of art and artists in the Sápmi and Norwegian regions.
We will be announcing the artists and institutions we plan to visit soon.
Applications are open until Monday, May 20, 2025, before 10 am. We are offering a limited number of bursaries that will fully cover the cost of the trip, please apply here. However, we encourage our members to pursue additional fundraising efforts to help support the CAS budget. One potential source of funding is the Art Fund's Jonathan Ruffer Curatorial Grants.
For more information, please contact Dr Paula Zambrano, Curator of Programmes (paula@contemporaryartsociety.org)
