FIELD_NOTES – Living Methodologies
14 – 24 September 2025
Kilpisjärvi Biological Station, Enontekiö

Running bi-annually since 2011, Field_Notes brings together a group of inter/transdisciplinary practitioners to experiment with collective research and approaches to fieldwork while also responding to wider contemporary issues.

As part of the Feral Labs Network, Field_Notes deconstructs the concept of the traditional scientific laboratory in favour of research and knowledges that are situated and responsive to locales and contexts. Here the land and human/more-than-human ecosystems are not something to simply research in or about but research with.

Field_Notes – Living Methodologies responds to shifts in the field of art and science insisting that how we research matters. Engaging with specific sites via a range of methodological approaches has been vital to previous Field_Notes; building on past iterations, this feral field lab attends to the methodologies themselves.

Methods carry ethical and political weight; methods are not simply instruments to be selected at will, but practices that have consequences for the relationships, bodies, materials and knowledge systems they engage with. They demand attentiveness to context, accountability to the beings and environments involved, and an openness to being shaped by the process itself. Rather than treating methods as extractive or universally applicable, they require a commitment to ongoing negotiation, care, and responsiveness, resisting the tendency to instrumentalise knowledge for convenience or efficiency.

How do fieldwork encounters call us into ethical relationships with the lives—human, more-than-human, material—that they engage? How might we rethink “data” in ways that honor the complexities of lived, entangled field experiences? How do we cultivate methods that emerge through lived, embodied experience rather than imposing external research logics? What kinds of practices, commitments, and collaborations enable research methodologies to be reshaped by plurality rather than merely incorporating it?

During the laboratory a group of 15 participants will work together to examine, exchange and experiment with different methods and approaches towards shaping a future ethics and politics of researching in the field in Kilpisjärvi and beyond. The group will be composed of 7 practitioners selected from this call, and 7 practitioners who are invited to bring methods, prompts and provocations for the group to collectively test and trouble in site-sensitive ways. While some activities will be guided, Field_Notes – Living Methodologies embraces a slow pace and gives space for questions, actions and responses to emerge from and with the site and the group. Invited guests include: Anastasia (A) Alevtin, Sam Nightingale, Astrida Neimanis, Aleksija Neimanis, Leena Valkeapää, with more to be confirmed.

How to Apply

The application form includes a short biography; a statement of interest (including how your practice aligns and might contribute); a C.V. and/or website or portfolio.  

The deadline for this open call is 31 March 2025 at 23:59 (EEST). The selected participants will be informed by mid April. We welcome applications from professionals in all stages of their careers.

Access

People applying should note that includes a lot of walking and hiking outdoors, sometimes on challenging terrain and harsh weather conditions. We will provide the selected attendees with more information on the weather conditions etc. to ensure they have a realistic idea of what kind of gear and clothes they should bring.

Should you have access needs that we should consider, please include these in your application. Access needs will not impact the selection.

Travel

The field laboratory takes place over ten days, 14 to 24 September. Bioart Society organises a charter bus from Rovaniemi (FIN) to Kilpisjärvi Biological Station departing Sunday 14 morning and returning Wednesday 25 morning. The bus journey takes 7 hours. Participants are responsible for their travels to/from Rovaniemi.

Costs

Field_Notes – Living Methodologies is part funded by the Creative Europe project Rewilding Cultures. Through this Bioart Society subsidises the costs of the return travel from Rovaniemi to Kilpisjärvi, accommodation and meals at the Kilpisjärvi Biological Station.

If you have funding to cover the costs of participating please let us know in your application so that we may support more people who do not. We are happy to provide you with an official invitation letter, if you are applying for funding.

The selected participants are required to provide copies of their travel tickets to Rovaniemi to secure their place. The participants are also required to have their own insurance (travel, health and equipment).

For questions and inquiries contact yvonne.billimore[at]bioartsociety.fi

Field_Notes – Living Methodologies is part of the Feral Labs Network and Creative Europe project Rewilding Cultures 2022-2026 joining partners from eight EU countries (Finland, Slovenia, France, Austria, Greece, Croatia, Denmark, Portugal) in their common interests in art-science and art-technology research and in capacity building of creative communities and hubs, to host process-based activities like peer learning, field work, research and co-creation, instead on presentation of finished artworks.

Photo: Till Bovermann, Field_Notes - North Escaping, Wait and Hear group, 2023.