Anselmo Matusse explained that in his work it is important to have a dialogue between himself, the research and the subjects of the research. As he immerses himself in communities, there needs to be reciprocity between the participants so that new knowledge is invited. Ingela Ihrman saw that in her artist practice dialogue can mean to invite listening and the use of imagination. Through these tools she finds that voices that are perhaps beyond humans may be given space. In continuing the conversation, facilitator Pernilla Glaser began unpacking how these dialogues can be constructed. Per Olsson recounted how, in his research, he used music to invite new forms of dialogue and as a tool for levelling power structures. At one time, he had invited participants to write a symphony together as a way to create equitable dialogues. Maria Tengö brought in the idea of opening up dialogues through disseminating ownership and inviting participants to take ownership, thus transforming external forces into internal and supporting participants to build their own understanding of the importance of a conversation, thus granting them the space to have a dialogue that matters. Finally, Anselmo Matusse remarked that the reason for these diverse forms of dialogues is to uplift voices previously unheard and to acknowledge that there is unexplored knowledges that do not conform to the traditional academic settings. In these dialogues these knowledges may be accessed to (re)discover ways of understanding the world.The panel discussion, at this point, moved into breakout rooms.

The breaking rooms, each of them lead by one of the speakers, allowed the listeners to discuss the deeper implications of their art or academic experiences. The discussion gave the listeners chance to ask the presenters about their thoughts and confront them with the perspectives of their own.

The second and third session will take place on June 2021.

Living Library is produced in collaboration between Climate Change Leadership at Uppsala University, Stockholm Resilience Centre at Stockholm University and Uppsala konstmuseum, and supported by Mistra Environmental Communication. The Living Library is facilitated by Pernilla Glaser.