AARG 2021

 The poetics and politics of animal production

AARG 2021 gathering was part of the Gustafsson & Haapojan exhibition “Pigs“, which deals with the poetics and politics of pigs. Animal production and the industrial production and economic exploitation of bodies named animals has an impact on numerous aspects of society and environment. At the same time, production and the work needed for it is moving farther and farther (and more often) onto the borders of the field of vision.The seminar provided a background of the history and present situation of production in Finland. The law allows to use animals from other species: the agency and selfness of other species have been made invisible and insignificant, so they have become objects. Legislation often favours the economy and the pursuit of profit, but the climate crisis and pandemics may force us into social agreements on a more sustainable basis. The price of intensive production is not only paid by other animals, nature and future generations, but usually also by the people who make their living from it. The most important issue for the survival of human communities is food production. The seminar also highlighted more humane ways to solve it. Gathering was live broadcasted in Finnish on the 30th of September 2021 at 1.30pm to 4pm. the broadcast link and  program.

 

AARG is an annual discussion event addressing current themes in contemporary art and the countryside. The program of the Kunsthalle Seinäjoki is based on countryside and issues and phenomena arising from the urban-rural interface.

Art Curator
Sanna Karimäki-Nuutinen
Greetings from Kunsthalle Seinäjoki
Writer
Laura Gustafsson, moderator

SPEECHES

Animal Welfare Ombudsman
Saara Kupsala
Animal welfare regulation, farm animals
visibility and consumers knowledge on animal welfare

Researcher of regenerative food economics,
leader of the Invisible Work (Näkymätön työ) research project
Galina Kallio
Regenerative agriculture – land relations, invisible work
and possibilities and impossibilities of subsistence

Researcher, teacher / Åbo Akademi,
founder of the publication Global Journal of Animal Law
and the Finnish Animal Rights Lawyers Society.
Birgitta Wahlberg

Fundamental animal rights – what and why
Activist, photographer / Rights to animals
Kristo Muurimaa
Documentation of legal business through illegal means
– production facilities through candid camera