Seminar: 2nd Symposium on Spiritual Technologies – Ethnobotany within Witch Trials and the Capitalization of Health

​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ Click here for ONLINE attendance via Zoom for Friday 9 April

Program:

Thursday 8 April

Symposium Program: #1 Summoning the 8-pointed Star
(AT THE KUNSTHALL, NOT ONLINE)

Friday 9 April

Symposium Program: #2 Claviceps Purpurea: Sacred Fungus
(ONLINE AND AT THE KUNSTHALL)

Symposium Program #3 Neo-Pharmacopoeia & The Magical Body​
(ONLINE AND AT THE KUNSTHALL)​

Symposium Program: #4 Artist-curator Conversation and Book Launch with Diana Policarpo and Stefanie Hessler: Fungi, Witches, and Sexual Health Justice
(ONLINE AND AT THE KUNSTHALL)

Saturday 10 April

Symposium Program: #5 Witchcraft in Trondheim – Historical Walk
https://www.facebook.com/events/1380166815700329​

(NOT ONLINE)​

Symposium Program #6 Plant Ceremony
(NOT ONLINE)

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"2nd Symposium on Spiritual Technologies" will explore the history of witchcraft in Norway and Europe and the capitalization of health in the Middle Ages as well as its repercussions today. Joining the voices of artists, anthropologists, historians, herbalists, and researchers from related fields, the symposium offers talks, panels, a Witch Trial walk in the local area, ritualistic performances, and participatory performances and workshops in ethnobotanist and animistic practices.

The events raise questions such as: How can we approach nature as an intrinsically living archive and bearer of memory? Can we reimagine contemporary pharmacopeia, or the knowledge of medicinal drugs, to include learning from plants and folk medicines during today’s social health crises? What modes of convergence between new technologies, ceremonial spaces and ritualistic re-enactment, can we envision together?

The symposium is curated by Invisibledrum Art Platform, an artistic research collective investigating holistic practices and spiritual technologies within the field of arts and new ecologies, founded by Amalia Fonfara and Nazaré Soares. The theme emerges from the research of the Invisibledrum’s current initiative, The Witch Trial Project, and is closely aligned with Diana Policarpo’s exhibition, Nets of Hyphae, at Kunsthall Trondheim.

The symposium is organized with Invisibledrum Art Platform in collaboration with Kunsthall Trondheim and the Norwegian Historical Association (HIFO).

Supported by Trondheim Municipality, Trøndelag county council and Nordic Culture Fund.
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The events will take place at Kunsthall Trondheim with remote digital interventions and will be live-streamed. All events are free of charge but require advance booking.

Participants:

Diana Policarpo – Visual and sound artist currently exhibiting at Kunsthall Trondheim, PT.
Silvia Federici – Professor in Social Science, Hofstra University, New York, USA.
Torbjørn Alm – Professor in Botany, University of Tromsø (UiT), NO.
Mari Jerstad – MA in Medical Ethnobotany and BSc in Herbal Medicine, NO.
Linda Fjølstad – MA history, in Witch Trials of Trøndelag, NTNU, NO.
Júlia Carreras – Herbalist, researcher, specialized in ethnobotany, ES.
Marita Isobel Solberg – Visual artist affiliated with Invisibledrum Art Platform, NO.
Jessica Ullevålseter – Visual artist affiliated with Invisibledrum Art Platform, NO.
Nazaré Soares – Visual artist, founder of Invisibledrum Art Platform, ES.
Amalia Fonfara – Visual artist, founder of Invisibledrum Art Platform, NO.