Joar Nango
Girjegumpi: The Sámi Architecture Library

The book originates from the Festival Exhibition at Bergen Kunsthall in 2020, and includes texts by Mathias Danbolt, Candice Hopkins, Tone Huse, Joar Nango, Vivi Noahsen, Taqralik Partridge, Sofia Singler, Sigbjørn Skåden, and Axel Wieder.

Throughout his practice, Sámi artist and architect Joar Nango has questioned what Sámi architecture has historically been and what its potential might be. 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 the art of building. The goal is to create a future architecture that breaks the boundaries of the restrictive and commercial, and can instead be described as post-capitalist, where the focus turns toward 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. The architecture library contains literature on Sámi building traditions, architectural theory, and postcolonial theory, and additionally functions 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 come from 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 is published with the support of the Ministry of Culture and Equality, the City of Bergen, Vestland County Council, the Sámi Parliament, Norske Kunstforeninger, the H. Westfal-Larsen and Wife Anna Westfal-Larsen’s Charitable Foundation, the Bergesen Foundation, the Family Brynildsen’s Legacy, the International Sámi Film Institute, Sparebanken Vest, the Fritt Ord Foundation, Arts Council Norway, and the Saami Council.