“Designing Trust through Future Literacies” lecture to feature Anne Beate Hovind at Luther College Oct. 21

DECORAH, IOWA— Luther College will host Anne Beate Hovind, who specializes in commissioning public art projects and developing public spaces in Norway, for the lecture Designing Trust through Future Literacy at 2 p.m., Oct. 21, in the Center for Faith and Life’s Concert Recital Hall. The event is free and open to the public.

Anne Beate Hovind

The event, organized by the Center for Ethics and Public Engagement and the Nordic Studies program, will discuss how and why to take a “future literacies” approach to soil, water and time in order to design long futures. Following the lecture, Hovind will lead a workshop, Seeding Collective Futures, where attendees will break out into small groups to discuss prompts on how to design long futures locally around foodways, collaborative organizations and practices of learning and teaching.

One of the public art projects Hovind oversees is the Future Library, an installation by Scottish artist Katie Paterson, which began with planting 1,000 trees in a forest outside of Oslo in 2014. In 100 years, in the year 2114, the trees will supply the paper for an anthology. One writer contributes a piece to the anthology each year for the next 100 years. Canadian author Margaret Atwood was the first writer to contribute a piece to the project.

As of now, the writings are held in trust in a specially designed room in the new public library Deichman Bjørvika in Oslo, Norway.

“I admire Hovind’s capacities to create user experiences that are pragmatic in surprising, ethical and artful ways,” said Andy Hageman, director of the CEPE and a professor of English at Luther. “Equally exciting is that local organizations and individuals are expressing interest in learning about future literacy and using the workshop as a chance to do some speculative design work that brings together diverse perspectives and voices.”

About Luther College

At Luther College in beautiful Decorah, Iowa, students explore big questions and take action to benefit people, communities and society. Luther’s academic programs, experiential approach to learning and welcoming community inspire students to learn actively, live purposefully and lead courageously for a lifetime of impact. Learn more at luther.edu.