In the framework of our ongoing collaboration with artist Laure Winants as part of the Studiotopia 2.0 program, we invite you to a LASER Talk bringing together artists and researchers whose practices offer new ways of sensing and thinking through permafrost’s material and metaphorical transformations
The permafrost is not merely as a climate indicator, but as a living and dying surface—one that holds stories, secrets, and signals for the future.
Across the Arctic and sub-Arctic regions, the frozen soil that has underpinned ecosystems, Indigenous cultures, and scientific certainty for millennia is thawing. Permafrost—once considered a stable, unmoving archive of Earth’s climatic history—is now in flux, collapsing both literally and symbolically under the weight of global heating. This transformation is not only geophysical; it is cultural, psychological, and political. Melting permafrost releases greenhouse gases, awakens dormant microorganisms, and disrupts traditional ways of life. But it also raises deeper questions about memory, loss, resilience, and how we relate to our changing planet.
PARTCIPANTS
Elise Guillaume (artist) and Dr. Marine Severin (environmental psychologist) present the sound project Waves of Resonance. Focusing on the sensory and emotional landscapes of marine sounds, from the North Sea and the Arctic, the project investigates how listening can deepen human-ocean connectedness and encourage pro-environmental attitudes.
Laure Winants (artist) and Anastasiya Halauniova (sociologist at Sciences Po) present Time Capsule. This project investigates how permafrost regions are inscribed with disappearing knowledge systems—linguistic, cultural, and environmental—and how those losses echo far beyond the Arctic.
PRACTICAL
Wednesday 24 September, 7 – 8.30 pm
Join us in person at Gluon, Rue de l’abattoir/Slachthuisstraat 4-6, Brussels
Or join the livestream here
The Leonardo/ISAST LASERs are a program of international gatherings that bring artists, scientists, humanists and technologists together for informal presentations, performances and conversations with the wider public. The mission of the LASERs is to encourage contribution to the cultural environment of a region by fostering interdisciplinary dialogue and opportunities for community building to over 50 cities around the world.
The LASER Talks Brussels are curated by Alexandra Dementieva in collaboration with Edith Doove.
