Key Theme 1: Growing Tourism in the North 

The North is becoming more accessible, and people are flocking to experience the Arctic. The discussion explores how tourism can be developed together with the local citizens so that they reap the benefits of these visits.

Key Theme 2: Youth Mental Health and Wellbeing

There are reported increases in mental health concerns and a decrease in wellbeing within youth in the Arctic. The discussion will focus on work and initiatives being taken to address these challenges from a community and empowerment standpoint.

Key Theme 3: Education

Education is a pillar of community building in the North however educational practices in the Arctic must also be tailored to suit local needs and heritage. The discussion will focus on the educational work being exhibited throughout the ship.

Exhibition 1: Miracles of Nature 

Nature outside our window, is essential for human life. Throughout history we have interacted with nature and this very interaction has altered us. Nature has provided us with water, clean air and food, and raw materials for medicines, industry and buildings. Our crops have throughout history relied on insect pollination and the complex biological processes that create soil, and that in turn created the cultures and societies we see today. Nature has protected us from flooding, storms and extreme events when we have given it space to do so. These are the ecosystem services, natures fundamental miracles, that it provides us and miracles we often take for granted or are unaware of. Because some things can be difficult to grasp, especially when some things are as thin as air and not visible to see, this goes for greenhouse gasses (GHG).

This exhibition wishes to make the intangible tangible. It wishes to connect humans with the environment, our role and entwined relationship to our surroundings and how our actions, perceptions, worldviews, dreams for the future shape our surrounding world. It wishes to bring forward the delicate interconnection we humans have with GHG. It wishes to creatively visualise how GHG and ecosystem services are entwined with landscapes, snow, ice, women, youth, knowledge, infrastructure, fisheries, development, cultural heritage, etc. and how our futures impact and depend on this fragile interaction.

Exhibition 2: Living with the Ocean

How many people in the past and in the present imagined the future of the coasts and seas? An exhibition with many questions on the themes of myths, challenges, technology, food, and culture. Living with the Ocean is a travelling exhibition that grows and transforms each time it visits a new place. The exhibition communicates results from interdisciplinary research on the past, present and future of coastal cultures. It creates awareness about local, regional, and global challenges and it addresses the curiosity of different age groups and audiences. Further, it opens a co-creative space across arts and sciences that engages researchers and people around the world to re-think their relationship with water. Check out more about the exhibition here.