The Department celebrates the publication of Girjegumpi: The Sámi Architecture Library, Joar Nango (ed. Axel Wieder, 2026), published by Bergen Kunsthall and Sternberg Press.
The book includes a research essay by Dr Sofia Nivarti, Associate Professor of Architecture, titled ‘Contradictory Contemporaneity? Sámi Building in Nordic Architectural Discourse / Vuostálas ovttaáigásašvuohta? Sámi huksen davviriikkalaš arkitektuvrralaš diskurssas.’
The book originates from the Festival Exhibition at Bergen Kunsthall in 2020, a major display of Sámi artist and architect Joar Nango’s work. Throughout his practice, Nango has questioned what Sámi architecture has historically been and what its potential might be in the future. In his practical and craft-based, as well as theoretical and conversation-based investigations, he utilises the Sámi culture’s sensitivity to its surroundings and the rhythm of nature to challenge normative understandings of architecture and building. The aim is to develop a future architecture that breaks the limits of the restrictive and commercial, to rather be described as post-capitalist, where the emphasis shifts towards collective use and sharing.
Nango’s Sámi Architecture Library, Girjegumpi, first shown in 2018, stands as a central and ongoing work in his artistic practice. It contains literature on Sámi building traditions, architectural theory, and postcolonial theory, as well as functioning as a nomadic platform for meetings and the exchange of ideas. Together with a richly illustrated presentation of the new term ‘indigenuity’ – a portmanteau of ‘indigenous’ and ‘ingenuity,’ which Nango uses to describe the Sámi tradition of repairing and creating things based on what is at hand – the Sámi Architecture Library becomes descriptive of the artist’s methodology and an active driver through the book.
This is the first comprehensive overview of Joar Nango’s projects, photographic archives, and architectural investigations. The texts are written by contributors Nango himself has invited into the conversation and collaborated with over time. By forming a discursive network around Girjegumpi, the writers become active participants in the project and keep it alive, as editor Axel Wieder writes in his foreword. The book’s research chapters were authored by Mathias Danbolt, Candice Hopkins, Tone Huse, Joar Nango, Taqralik Partridge, Sofia Nivarti, Sigbjørn Skåden and Axel Wieder.
The book, published as a bilingual edition in English and North Sámi, is published with the support of the Norwegian Ministry of Culture, Bergen City Council, Vestland County Council, the Sámi Parliament, the Norwegian Association of Art Societies, the H. Westfal-Larsen og Hustru Anna Westfal-Larsens Almennyttige Fond, Bergesenstiftelsen, Familien Brynildsens legat, the International Sámi Film Institute, Sparebanken Vest, the Fritt Ord Foundation, Arts Council Norway, and the Saami Council.
Girjegumpi: The Sámi Architecture Library, Joar Nango, 2026
Editor: Axel Wieder
Design: Blank Blank Studio, Petri Henriksson with Kaja Krakowian and Sandra Stokka
Language: English and North Sámi
Translation: Magne Ove Varsi
Publishers: Bergen Kunsthall and Sternberg Press
