The Office for Contemporary Art Norway (OCA) is pleased to announce a symposium to conclude the programme of off-site and discursive events accompanying the exhibition Let the River Flow. The Sovereign Will and the Making of a New Worldliness. Let the River Flow reflects upon the role of the arts in The Áltá-Guovdageaidnu Action (c. 1978–82), an eco-Indigenous uprising which changed the course of Sámi and Nordic history. The exhibition showcases the role of Sámi artists in the Action, and the solidarity of their non-Sámi counterparts. It also presents contemporary artistic positions, both Sámi and international, exploring the legacy of this civic protest movement today, at a time of growing global Indigenous power. Let the River Flow simultaneously claims and challenges the place of Sámi art among new global, modernist museologies dedicated to expanding the canon of art history to a worldwide scale.
On Sunday, June 3 from 11am to 4pm, a closing Symposium will be held at OCA in Oslo to offer insights into issues of art, guardianship, land, nature and colonial consumption in relation to Indigenous artistic practices. This event will include presentations by Sámi author Marry Áilonieida Somby on writing and literature in the staging of the Action; Sámi scholar Irene Snarby, contextualising the art of the legendary Sámi artist Iver Jåks (1932–2007) from a duodji perspective (a term mis-labelled as Sámi handicraft, which in fact encompasses a Sámi worldview, spirituality, Sámi knowledge, conceptions of nature and the making of objects in relation to life); Sámi musician and yoiker Sara Marielle Gaup, on art and guardianship; Sámi artist Pauliina Feodoroff on her work at the intersection of ecological restoration and film; Oslo-based musicologist, educator and musician Áine Mangaoang on the relationship between songs and protest; renowned Māori curator Megan Tamati-Quennell will present central moments in recent Māori artistic production with particular focus on leading Māori artist Ralph Hotere and Senior Māori artists Emily Karaka and Shona Rapira Davies; London-based, Bangladeshi artist, writer and researcher Nabil Ahmed, together with Papuan nature guardians Mama Yosepha Alomang and Markus Haluk, London-based human rights campaigner Andrew Hickman, and human rights lawyers Veronica Koman and Fadjar Schouten-Karwa will speak on recent research into environmental regulation, spatial and media practices and the law relating to the impact of mining in West Papua, as an environmental issue connected to current challenges across other Indigenous contexts, such as that of the Sápmi region.
Click here to go to the contributors’ biographies.
Before commencing the Symposium, on Sunday, June 3 at 10am, OCA invites you to a guided tour through the exhibition led by OCA’s Director Katya García-Antón.
For more information, please contact OCA’s Communication Manager Tara Hassel.
A Workshop led by Nabil Ahmed will be held in Tromsø in collaboration with the Tromsø Academy of Contemporary Art and Creative Writing on Friday, June 1 from 10:30am to 3pm. The event has a maximum capacity limit and requires registration. If you’re interested in attending and receiving a reading list, please email Liv Brissach with the subject line “Let the River Flow. Tromsø Workshop.” Your email should include your statement of motivation and a short biography.
Let the River Flow. The Sovereign Will and the Making of a New Worldliness
Let the River Flow is the fruit of three years of dialogue with artists, scholars, and peoples across Sápmi (whose land crosses four nation-states: Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia). The exhibition showcases the essential role of Sámi artists in the Action, in particular the seminal Mázejoavku: Sámi Dáiddajoavku (Sámi Artists’ Group, 1978-83), as well as the solidarity of non-Sámi counterparts. It presents rare historic works, side-lined from the Nordic art history canon, a selection of duodji, as well as material from the Archives of the Protest Movement against the Damming of the Áltá-Guovdageaidnu Water System, and new contemporary commissions that explore the legacy of Áltá today.
Let the River Flow is curated by Katya García-Antón with Antonio Cataldo. The project has been honoured by the guidance of an Advisory Council consisting of Sámi scholars, Prof. Harald Gaski and Dr. Gunvor Guttorm. The exhibition design is the result of discussions between the curatorial team and the Sámi-Norwegian collaboration of the architects A-Lab (Káre R. Anti) and Torsteinsen Design.
Artworks by: Áillohaš/Nils-Aslak Valkeapää, Maria Thereza Alves, Jon Ole Andersen, Jimmie Durham, Elle Márjá Eira, Mai-Lis Eira, Aage Gaup, Trygve Lund Guttormsen, Josef Halse, Geir Tore Holm and Søssa Jørgensen, Rose-Marie Huuva, Berit Marit Hætta, Susanne Hætta, Iver Jåks, Keviselie/Hans Ragnar Mathisen, Britta Marakatt-Labba, Joar Nango and Tanya Busse, Rannveig Persen, Synnøve Persen, Máret Ánne Sara, Arvid Sveen, Catarina Utsi and Elin Már Øyen Vister.
The Office for Contemporary Art Norway
The Office for Contemporary Art Norway is a non-profit foundation created by the Norwegian Ministries of Culture and of Foreign Affairs in 2001, with an “arm’s length” policy. Its principle aim is to foster dialogue between the art field in Norway—including Sámi practitioners—and the international arts scene, as well as supporting these artistic figures in their activities around the world. As a result, OCA’s discursive, exhibition, publishing, residency and visitor programmes focus on bringing the plurality of practices and histories at the forefront of international artistic debates to Norway, and participating in such debates both nationally and internationally. OCA has been responsible for Norway’s contribution to the visual arts section of the Venice Biennale since 2001.
