The Last Weekend: Outi Pieski

Pop over to our Families Welcome Desk and discover fun activities to do in the galleries. Enjoy exploring with our Explorer Backpacks and Tate Shapes activities. Get creative with our Sketchbook or Art Explorer cards.

Drop in activity – all ages

10.00–17.00, Gallery 9

Everyone is welcome to this playful and creative making workshop with artist Vicky Wiltshire, taking place throughout the weekend. Inspired by the artwork of Outi Pieski and Sámi craft and folklore traditions.

Deep Sea specimens handling session

10.30–12.00, Gallery 8

Linked to the Deep Sea programme of films and talks in the Foyle, an opportunity to handle specimens from the deep seabed and learn about their life in the abyss with Professor of Deep-Sea ecology Kerry Howell.

Artist's talk: Patrick Hughes, introduced by Anne Barlow, Director, Tate St Ives

11.00–12.00, Gallery 2

Patrick Hughes (b.1939) is a British artist based in London, who lived and worked in St Ives during the mid to late 1970s. He is the creator of ‘reverspective’, an optical illusion on a three-dimensional surface which plays with the principles of perspective to open up new ways of looking at the world. In this talk, Hughes will discuss his painting On Reflection: St Ives (c. 1975-8), recently acquired by Tate, and will share new directions in his current practice. He'll also discuss artists who worked in St Ives during the twentieth century, including his peers Patrick Heron, Terry Frost, Tony O’Malley and Reg Singh, as well as George Fagan Bradshaw, a marine painter and previous occupant of no. 3 Porthmeor Studios, where Hughes worked from 1976-79.

Performance: Jalvvi Niillas Holmberg

12.00 and 15.30, Gallery 6

Jalvvi Niillas Holmberg will be performing yoik and his poetry in the gallery. A yoik is a traditional form of song in Sámi music performed by the Sámi people of Sapmi, it is a musical act of feeling and a characterization of person, animal or surroundings. Niillas will also read from his poems, for more than a decade he has been involved in several movements against extraction in the traditional Sámi areas. His works often include themes around land-based knowledge and anti-colonial thinking.

Meet the Deep

Screenings / Handling session / Panel Discussion

The deep ocean covers more than 60% of the planet with biodiversity that is equal to our tropical rainforests. Home to complex and diverse forms of life that are continually being discovered, the deep seabed is the legally shared responsibility of humankind.

Whether you are interested in art, the environment, climate change, the imaginative space of the ocean, or would just like to learn more about this rarely explored topic, you are warmly invited to join us for this very special event as part of The Last Weekend.

Screenings of films by artist Emma Critchley; Common Heritage (2019), a short film about deep-sea mining and Sirens, an imagined encounter between a dancer and creatures from the deep-sea. Join in an informal workshop where you will be able to handle specimens from the deep seabed and reflect on what the deep sea means to you, followed by a live and online panel discussion with deep sea experts and activists.

This event will have British Sign Language (BSL) interpreters.

Meet the Deep is a special programme devised by artist Emma Critchley in collaboration with Mekhala Dave, a lawyer and curator based in Vienna and Fiona Middleton, marine researcher at the University of Southampton. ‘Meet the Deep’ is supported using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England.

Screenings

10.15, 11.15 and 12.15, Foyle

Common Heritage (2019) run time 25 mins. Director Emma Critchley

The drive to explore and exploit the sea floor means this once seemingly infinite landscape is now being carved up into territorial space. Common Heritage is an urgent response to the gold rush of deep-sea mining for rare earth minerals, exposing how layers of industrialisation, colonialism and territorial claim have affected the way we relate to our environment.

Sirens (2023) run time 7.45 mins. Director Emma Critchley

Sirens is a triptych of short films where we witness an encounter between a dancer and three creatures from the deep-sea. Part of artist Emma Critchley’s ongoing project Soundings, which explores how film, sound and dance might be used to connect us with the deep ocean and bring to light the pressing issue of deep-sea mining.

Panel discussion

14.00–15.30, Foyle

As a regulator of earth’s climate, a source of food and materials of cultural heritage and identity, how we choose to imagine, portray, and talk about the deep sea is fundamental to how we govern it. A question that has been debated for decades has reached tipping point: should we mine the seabed?

Panel discussion with artists, marine specialists and activists

• Emma Critchley uses water as a formal material property within a range of media including film, photography, sound, installation and dance. Her work explores the underwater environment as a political, philosophical and environmental space
• Mekhala Dave is a lawyer and art academic based in Vienna. She is the ocean law researcher at TBA21 Academy and a doctoral researcher in contemporary art history and theory at the University of Applied Arts, Vienna.
• Professor Kerry Howell is Professor of Deep-Sea Ecology & deputy programme leader for Marine Biology and Oceanography at the University of Plymouth. She is co-lead of the UN endorsed Challenger 150 Ocean Decade Programme
• Pradeep Singh is a leading expert on international law, climate law, environmental law, the law of the sea, ocean governance and the legal aspects of deep seabed mining. A Fellow at the Research Institute for Sustainability in Germany he leads the IUCN's Commission on Ecosystem Management thematic group on Deep Seabed Mining and is the Deputy Chair of the Ocean Law specialist group at the World Commission on Environmental Law
• Khadija Stewart is an enthusiastic environmentalist from Trinidad and Tobago, passionate about inspiring behaviour change through knowledge sharing and innovative storytelling. She holds a degree in science in Environmental and Natural Resource Management, and two masters degrees in Sustainable Development and Climate Change and Development from SOAS University of London

Look Group Social

14.00–17.00

Take part in this self-led social which includes introductory exhibition talks and a chance to connect with other Look Group Members over light refreshments. Booking is essential.

Talk: Maja Kristine Jåma

16.00–17.00, Gallery 6

Maja Kristine Jåma is Governing Council member of the Sámi Parliament in Norway. Her talk in the gallery with Outi Pieski’s work will connect with important questions around ancestral return, Indigenous people’s rights and the relationship between humans, animals and nature. What happens to the land happens to the people living in and with the land. Land grabbing in Sápmi is affecting the very foundation of Sámi culture, language and livelihoods. How can people and animals be protected from new land uses and takeovers?

Drop in activity – all ages

10.00–17.00, Gallery 9

Everyone is welcome to this playful and creative making workshop with artist Vicky Wiltshire, taking place throughout the weekend. Inspired by the artwork of Outi Pieski and Sámi craft and folklore traditions.

Screenings

10.15, 11.15, 12.15, 1.15, 2.15, 3.15 and 4.15, Foyle

Common Heritage (2019) run time 25 mins. Director Emma Critchley

The drive to explore and exploit the sea floor means this once seemingly infinite landscape is now being carved up into territorial space. Common Heritage is an urgent response to the gold rush of deep-sea mining for rare earth minerals, exposing how layers of industrialisation, colonialism and territorial claim have affected the way we relate to our environment.

Sirens (2023) run time 7.45 mins. Director Emma Critchley

Sirens is a triptych of short films where we witness an encounter between a dancer and three creatures from the deep-sea. Part of artist Emma Critchley’s ongoing project Soundings, which explores how film, sound and dance might be used to connect us with the deep ocean and bring to light the pressing issue of deep-sea mining.

Talk: Outi Pieski

15.00, Gallery 6

We are delighted to welcome Outi Pieski back for the final weekend of the exhibition to hear directly from her on her body of work and her ongoing projects and increasing involvement as a spokesperson, activist and advocate for Sámi people's rights and environmental stewardship. Pieski raises questions about ancestral return, Indigenous peoples' rights, and the relationship between humans, animals, and land.

Talk: Asta Mitkijá Balto

14.00, Gallery 6

Asta Mitkijá Balto will talk about the situation for the Sámi as an Indigenous people in Norway. Her main focus is on Sámi art and the important role art plays for upholding the Sámi society. She will talk about the ways in which Sámi art mirrors and criticises situations and issues in society and how it also needs space to carry its own meaning.

Asta Balto

Asta Mitkijá Balto is a Sámi academic whose research focuses on Sámi traditional knowledge, values and ways of life as well as Indigenous education and research. Awarded an Honorary Doctorate by the World Indigenous Nations University, her work has provided perspectives to educate and help build Sámi perspectives across the health, arts, legal, political, and religious sectors.

Emma Critchley

Emma Critchley uses water as a formal material property within a range of art forms including film, photography, sound, installation and dance. Her work explores the underwater environment as a political, philosophical, and ecological space. Her work has been shown extensively nationally and internationally in galleries and institutions. In 2019, Emma was the winner of the Earth Water Sky residency programme with Science Gallery Venice, where she worked with the Ice Memory Project. The resulting film installation launched in the official Italian pavilion of the Venice Architecture Biennale 2021. Her current project Soundings, explores how film, sound and dance might be used to connect us with the deep ocean to help foster the meaningful connection needed to inspire care for the deep sea and its ecosystems.

Mekhala Dave

Mekhala Dave is a lawyer and art academic in Vienna. She is the ocean law and policy analyst/legal researcher at TBA21–Academy and a doctoral researcher in contemporary art history and theory at the University of Applied Arts Vienna. She explores encounters located across knowledges and communities in the Global South at the intersection of activism and newly shaping ocean policy. She draws inspiration and spiritual guidance from water to the questions of historicity and the search for emerging “new” relations of identity and belonging.

Kerry Howell

Kerry Howell is Professor of Deep-Sea Ecology & deputy programme leader for the BSc (Hons) Marine Biology and Oceanography at the University of Plymouth. She is also an active academic researcher working on various topics related to conservation and sustainable management of the deep sea and High Seas, and marine habitat mapping. She heads the Deep Sea Conservation Unit, leads or co-leads a number of international initiatives and frequently sees her work embedded in conservation policies around the world.

Jalvvi Niillas Holmberg

Jalvvi Niillas Holmberg (1990) is an author, scriptwriter and musician from Ohcejohka, Sápmi. His works include prose, poetry, plays and a feature film. In the field of music he works as a vocalist and lyricist. Besides working solo he has performed with philharmonic orchestras and several genre-defying bands. For more than a decade, Niillas has been involved in several movements against extractivism in the traditional Sámi areas. The thematics of his works often encompass land-based knowledge and anti-colonial aspects.

Patrick Hughes

Patrick Hughes had his first solo show at Portal Gallery in London in 1961 and went on to teach at the Leeds College of Art from 1964-70. After leaving Cornwall in 1979 he lived and worked in New York before relocating to London in 1983. His books in print are The Newest Perspective (2023) and Paradoxymoron (2011).

Maja Kristine Jåma

Maja Kristine Jåma, 30 years old from a reindeer herding community Fovsen njaarke in the Southern Sámi area in the middle of Norway. Engaged in protecting and preserving land, especially fighting against the construction of wind power developments, and strengthening Sámi language, culture, and traditions. Engaged in Sámi politics at the Sámi parliament at the Norwegian side.

Outi Pieski

Since graduating from the Finnish Academy of Fine Arts in Helsinki (2000), Pieski has exhibited internationally for over two decades, most recently at Gothenburg Biennial (2023); Gropius Bau, Berlin (2022); Bonniers Konsthall, Stockholm (2022); the Biennale of Sydney (2022); Gwangju Biennale (2021) and the Venice Biennale (2019) and Outi Pieski is represented in many collections, among others National Museum Collection in Norway, Moderna Museet, Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma and the Sámi Dáiddamagasiidna – Sámi Art Collections in Norway. Pieski has received several awards, including the Finnish Academy of Fine Arts Award (2017), and the Finnish Cultural Foundation’s Grand Prize (2020).

Pradeep Singh

Pradeep Singh is a leading expert on international law, climate law, environmental law, the law of the sea, ocean governance and the legal aspects of deep seabed mining. He is currently a Fellow at the Research Institute for Sustainability in Potsdam, Germany, and at the same time also leads the IUCN's Commission on Ecosystem Management thematic group on Deep Seabed Mining and is the Deputy Chair of the Ocean Law specialist group at the World Commission on Environmental Law. Pradeep attends meetings of the International Seabed Authority as well as other multilateral ocean processes. He is an active member of several ocean research networks such as the Deep Ocean Stewardship Initiative and the Early Career Ocean Professionals. His academic qualifications include advanced degrees in law from the University of Malaya, the University of Edinburgh and Harvard Law School.

Khadija Stewart

Khadija Stewart holds a BSc in Environmental and Natural Resource Management, an MSc in Sustainable Development with Management Studies and a 2nd MSc in Climate Change and Development from SOAS University of London. She has participated in several UN Conferences, Our Ocean Conferences, the Peace Boat Ocean and Climate Youth Ambassador Program as well as the Peace Boat US Youth for the SDG's Scholar Program. She is the founder of Ecovybz Environmental Creatives a company focused on educating the public through environmental content creation and powerful storytelling initiatives. She is also the host of the EcoVybz Podcast and the Caribbean Regional Representative for Sustainable Ocean Alliance with the Deep Sea Mining portfolio.

Talks will be BSL interpreted.

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There are lifts to all Levels of the gallery, or alternatively you can take the stairs.

• Accessible and standard toilets are on Level 3, next to Gallery 6.
• A Changing Places toilet is on Level 3, next to Gallery 1.
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• Email visiting.stives@tate.org.uk
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Talks will be BSL interpreted.