Before Heading into Summer… Here's What Keeps Us Busy!
Before heading into a well-earned summer time, we want to share a few highlights from the past few weeks. From conferences and excursions to film screenings and inspiring encounters, it’s been a rich and rewarding end to the semester for our team.
🥗 Meeting with Rosanna Raymond
Ruby had the pleasure of meeting New Zealand artist and activist Rosanna Raymond! A long-time collaborator of both Noémie and Ruby, Rosanna has worked extensively at the intersections of art, conservation, museum practice, and cultural heritage. She is also a founding member of the Pacific Sisters, an influential collective of Pacific artists, performers, and activists.
During their meeting, they discussed Ruby’s current research, with Rosanna generously offering references and contacts to consider. They also exchanged ideas around Rosanna’s ongoing work on indigenising the archive in a Moana way—a powerful approach to cultural memory, care, and agency rooted in Pacific epistemologies. Their conversation reflected on past collaborations and future paths for community-engaged art practice.
🌊 PAA-E Conference, Norwich (June 18–20, 2025)
At the Pacific Arts Association–Europe annual meeting AN OCEAN OF CONNECTION: OCEANIC ART, ARTISTS AND MUSEUMS, Ruby presented her research on Trans-Indigenous Rematriation. A visit to the Sainsbury Centre also offered the opportunity to view Yuki Kihara’s powerful installation Darwin in Paradise Camp.
📍 ENS Conference in Paris
Soon after, Ruby Satele Asiata attended the ENS Conference at the École Normale Supérieure, engaging in vibrant academic discussions at the intersection of arts and research.
🌍 IX International Forum for Doctoral Candidates in the History of Art of Eastern Europe, Berlin (June 2, 2025)
Anna-Marie Kroupová participated in the IX. Internationales Doktorand*innenforum Kunstgeschichte
des östlichen Europa in Berlin, joining fellow doctoral researchers in exploring current art historical perspectives from across Eastern Europe.
🌿 Alisa in Hamburg: Museums – An Environmental History
Alisa Santikarn took part in a workshop in Hamburg for the upcoming book Museums: An Environmental History, co-authoring a chapter with Noémie Etienne. Alisa presented their joint research titled A Natural History of Ethnography: Following People and Plaster Casts in the Viennese Collections, which traces the environmental and material dimensions of ethnographic practice through the movement of bodies and objects in Vienna’s museum collections.
🎧 Excursion to Brunnenpassage: “Shhh… Interweaving Forms of Listening”
As part of the course Sound and Songs in the Visual Arts, Laura Bohnenblust and her students visited Brunnenpassage. With artist Graziele de Sena and curator Zuzana Ernst, they explored the art and politics of listening as a transformative social practice.
🎬 Decolonial Film Night
As part of the lecture Museums, Exhibitions, Conservation (Prof. Noémie Etienne), and initiated by students from the course Decolonial Theories in the Context of Latin America (Dr. Laura Bohnenblust), we hosted an optional movie night. The screening featured short films by Bárbara Leite Matias Kariri and Marcelo Costa Cuhexê Krahô, alongside Dahomeyby Mati Diop—sparking thoughtful conversations on decolonial narratives in film.
Wishing you all a restful and inspiring summer!
We’re grateful for the people we met, the ideas we shared, and the momentum we’re carrying into the next semester. See you soon!