A Standout Session on Artists, Culture, and Societal Challenges
A standout moment of the conference Nordic TAG 2026 was the session on May 7. Together, the speakers highlighted how contemporary cultural, artistic, and research practices engage with pressing societal challenges. The Nordic TAG (Nordic Theoretical Archaeology Group) Conference 2026 took place at Linnaeus University in Kalmar from May 6–9.
The session opened with Helene Larsson Pousette. She is one of the initiators of Ungovernable, which blends archival research, autobiographical performance, and collective strategies, and is supported by the university’s residency program.
Her talk, “Archiving is Resistance,” offered a powerful and urgent reflection on the political and ethical role of archives in contemporary society.
In a time marked by political unrest, climate crisis, and the erosion of democratic structures, Helene highlighted archiving as a form of resistance—resistance against invisibility and a means of advocating for justice. Drawing on diverse and compelling examples, she demonstrated how archives can preserve not only memory but also struggle.
Her talk addressed how archives are never neutral. While they provide access to documented voices, they simultaneously shape historical narratives through processes of selection, inclusion, and exclusion. By deciding what is preserved and what is left out, archives influence whose stories are remembered and whose remain hidden. In this context, Helene emphasized that active, intentional archiving can become an act of resistance, shaping both present understanding and future histories.
Helene Larsson Pousette brings extensive international experience as a diplomat, curator, writer, and cultural strategist. She has served as Counsellor for Cultural Affairs at Swedish embassies in Washington, DC and Serbia. As co-founder of the Stockholm Museum of Women’s History, she continues to shape new ways of working with memory, history, and cultural heritage.
Next speaker was artist Timo Menke, who presented Natureculture Preserve Marhult: Contaminated Sites as Field, Discourse and Material. His work explores the complex entanglements of nature and culture, focusing on contaminated landscapes as both material reality and conceptual space.
The session closed with artist John Sunderland, who presented Touching Darkness: Examining rural depopulation in the forests of Småland. His interdisciplinary research combines visual art, archaeology, and landscape studies to investigate themes such as depopulation, environmental change, and post-industrial trauma.