From Sápmi to Aotearoa: Connecting architecture and craft across the hemispheres
The Sámi Architecture Library by Joar Nango and collaborators at the Nordic Countries Pavilion.
The Sámi Architecture Library by Joar Nango and collaborators at the Nordic Countries Pavilion.
The Sámi Architecture Library by Joar Nango and collaborators at the Nordic Countries Pavilion.
Joar Nango and Girjegumpi’s collaborators at the inauguration of ‘Girjegumpi_The Sámi Architecture Library’ by Joar Nango and collaborators at the Nordic Countries Pavilion.
Joar Nango and Girjegumpi’s collaborators at the inauguration of ‘Girjegumpi_The Sámi Architecture Library’ by Joar Nango and co. at the Nordic Countries Pavilion.
Conversation on ‘Architecture in Sápmi’.
Joar Nango in ‘Girjegumpi’.
Joar Nango, Girjegumpi in Jokkmokk, 2018.
Joar Nango, Girjegumpi in Jokkmokk, 2018.
Sámi architect and artist Joar Nango and collaborators will visit Aotearoa from 18 Nov–3 December, leading up to an exhibition at Objectspace opening 6 pm, Friday 29 November, and running from 30 November 2024–16 March 2025.
Titled Building an archive of Indigenous architecture, the show is an iteration of Nango’s ‘Girjegumpi’ project (a nomadic Sámi architectural library), which was presented at the Nordic Countries Pavilion at the 18th International Architecture Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia.
Formally trained as an architect, Joar Nango’s practice includes collaborative site-specific installations and self-made publications that explore the boundaries between architecture, design and visual art. As one of only a few Sámi architects, amplifying ideas related to Indigenous contemporary architecture and traditional building customs are integral to his work.
Location: Objectspace, 13 Rose Road, Tāmaki Makaurau, Auckland
Opening: 6 pm Friday 29 November
Duration: 30 November through to 16 March 2025
Beginning during his time studying architecture, Nango has collected books and materials relevant to Sámi architecture and Indigenous worldviews. In 2018, these texts came to be housed in Girjegumpi, a nomadic Sámi architectural library that has since travelled across Sápmi, and into Europe and Canada. Within Girjegumpi, Nango offers a space for education and dialogue, addressing issues relevant to Indigenous architecture, resistance, and Indigenisation: the importance of collaborative work, consideration of resource use in urgently changing climates, locally grounded material flow and sensitive approaches to landscapes.
At Objectspace, Nango creates a continuation of Girjegumpi. This manifestation of the project centres on knowledge sharing and continues Girjegumpi’s foundations of interrogation and exchange. Prior to the exhibition opening, a group of Indigenous architects from Aotearoa, Sápmi and Australia gathered to offer texts that now become part of Girjegumpi. In Aotearoa, facilitating a space to consider Māori architecture was integral to the project and marks the beginning of exchange, tautoko and awhi for the practitioners present.
Within this exhibition, the publications, moving image from Nango’s archive, textiles and ephemera create a collection emblematic of the collaborative grounding of Nango’s practice. It is a gathering space, a reading room for study and a dreaming place for Indigenous imagination.
Joar Nango’s concept of Girjegumpi
The title Girjegumpi is derived from two Northern Sámi words: ‘Gumpi’ is a mobile cabin on runners, most often pulled by a snowmobile. ‘Girji’ means book. The construction of Girjegumpi draws on Sámi building traditions, characterised by improvisation, pragmatism and adaptation to environment.
Girjegumpi is a nomadic project that changes in different situations and contexts. It was exhibited for the first time as part of the Arctic Arts Festival in Harstad in 2018. It has been exhibited in Jokkmokk, Canada, Bergen, Oslo and most recently Bodø. In 2023, Nango, alongside a team of collaborators presented Girjegumpi at the Nordic Countries Pavilion at the 18th International Architecture Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia.
About the artist
Joar Nango is an architect and artist based in Romsa, Norway. His work is rooted in Sápmi — the traditional Sámi territory covering the northern regions of Norway, Sweden, Finland and the Kola Peninsula in Russia. Through building, site-specific interventions, design collaborations, photography, publications and video, Nango’s work explores the role of Sámi and Indigenous architecture and craft in contemporary thought. Nango’s work, including the long-term project Girjegumpi, is nurtured by parallel collaborations with other artists, architects, and craftspeople. Trained at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) in Trondheim, Nango graduated in Architecture in 2008. Since then, his work has been presented at documenta 14, Bergen Kunsthall, National Museum Oslo – Architecture, Canadian Centre for Architecture, Sámi Dáiddaguovddáš (Sámi Centre for Contemporary Art), and Kiasma.
This exhibition includes contributions from Eveliina Sarapää, Magnus Antaris Tuolja, Katarina Spik Skum and Ken Are Bongo.
Joar Nango: Building an archive of Indigenous architecture has been developed by Objectspace and supported by Nordisk Kulturfond’s Globus initiative and The Warren Trust.
Follow @objectspace for information and updates on upcoming events and exhibitions in both Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland and Ōtautahi Christchurch.
