What is a forest? Visual and artistic engagement with woodland

Public two-day kick off seminar for research project Norwegian Wood: Extraction landscapes, art and visual culture in Denmark and Norway 1730 to 1860.

The question seems simple; “what is a forest?” Yet giving one answer to such a question is not easy. Forest types differ widely, and are informed by factors such as latitude, temperature, rainfall patterns, soil compositions and human activity. The definition of a forest is also dependent on who is doing the defining. A businessperson, a biologist, farmer, ornithologist or artist might all have widely different understandings of what a forest is and - consequently - what a forest should be. If we shift the perspective to include non-human agents, the definition broadens even more. What is a forest for the mice, foxes and owls? Or for the mycelium, the root like structure of fungus that scientists claim is central in plant-to-plant communication and which has generated the term “the wood wide web?”

The goal for two-day seminar at the University of Copenhagen called “What is a forest?” is not to find the ultimate answer to this question, but rather to rummage around in the many and varied interpretations of forests with a particular emphasis on the field of arts and visual culture. By asking scholars, artists and artists-scholars to reflect on “what is a forest?” in connection with their work the seminar wishes to explore the myriad ways in which forests have been understood and represented both in historical and contemporary contexts.

Programme

Monday 24 November

10:30-11:00	Coffee and fruit
11:00-11:30	Tonje H. Sørensen (University of Copenhagen, Denmark): Welcome and presentation of project Norwegian Wood: Extraction Landscapes, art and visual culture in Denmark and Norway 1730-1860.
11:30-13:00	Session 1 11:30-12:00: Stephanie O’Rourke (St. Andrews, Scotland): ‘How to Diagram a Tree’ 12:00-12:30: Dan Karlholm (Södertörn University, Sweden): The Surreal Forest 12:30-13:00: Asbjørn Grønstad (University of Bergen, Norway): Forest Imaginaries.
13:00-14:00	Lunch
14:00-15:30	Session 2 14:00–14.30: Mathias Danbolt (Copenhagen University, Denmark): "Palmtrees and Plantation Landscapes: Colonialism, Art, and Ecological Destruction”? 14: 30-15:00: Marie Ngiam (University of Oslo, Norway): (Dis)connected ecologies: Extraction and extractive practices in pre-modern Southeast Asia (1600-1800)". 15:00-15:30: Toms Kokins (Umeå University, Sweden): Life between two forests – Sociocultural dynamics of forests in 20th century Latvia.
15:30-16:30	Reception with wine and snacks.

Tuesday 25 November

09:00-09:30	Coffee and fruit
09:30-11:00	Session 3 09:30-10:00 Mårten Snickare (Stockholm University, Sweden): Forestal Art Histories: Relationality, Materiality, Agency 10:00-10:30: Camilla Berner (Artist, Denmark): "Underskoven"_the forest as an art work 10:30-11:00: Synnøve Marie Vik (KODE art museum, Norway): What is the value of a forest? Forestry in contemporary artistic practices
11:00-11:15	Short break
11:15- 12:45	Session 4 11:15–11.45: Line Marie Thorsen (University of Copenhagen, Denmark). "Fragments of possible forrests - aesthetic explorations of mosaic landscapes" 11:45–12:15: MaryClaire Pappas (SCAD, USA): Pulp Fiction: Jean Heiberg and the Paper and Fiber Research Institute. 12:15-12:45: Gry Hedin (SMK, Denmark): Cows in the Forest – Agroforestry as Asynchronicity in Danish Landscape Painting
12:45-13:00	Lunch
13:30-14:30	Reflections and comments. Plenary discussion: What is a forest?
14:30-15:00	Tonje H. Sørensen: Closing remarks and the way forward.

Registration

The seminar is open to all who want to attend. Please indicate your interest in attending by sending an e-mail to tonje.sorensen@hum.ku.dk

Funding

The seminar made possible through the support of Novo Nordisk Fonden.

About Norwegian Wood: Extraction landscapes, art and visual culture in Denmark and Norway 1730 to 1860

The project Norwegian Wood: Extraction landscapes, art and visual culture in Denmark and Norway 1730 to 1860 (2025-2029) is funded by the Novo Nordisk Foundation and located at the University of Copenhagen. Led by PI Tonje Haugland Sørensen the project is an inquiry into the intersection of art, resource extraction, and forestry in Denmark and Norway from 1730-1860. Building on the fact that depictions of forests is a particularly popular motif in both Danish and Norwegian art history the project will explore how these depictions are more than national and/or romantic symbols but should instead be understood as a formative part of the growing industrialisation and globalisation occurring in these countries during this time.

A central premise for the project is that depictions of forests are not neutral ‘representations’ but dynamic historical and social agents whose function and context change across time and space. In that capacity a formative question is how forests have been depicted, both as environments, symbols and extractive landscapes. Moreover, how are depictions of landscapes connected to questions of ownership, access and management and how has visual material been employed to allow the viewer to identify the land and its components as a resource available to be removed, optimised and/or monetised.