Joar Nango: Girjegumpi

Girjegumpi: The Sámi Architecture Library is a nomadic, collaborative library put together over the last fifteen years by architect and artist Joar Nango. It is an archive comprising an expanding collection of more than 500 books embracing topics such as Sámi architecture and design, traditional and ancestral building knowledge, activism, and decoloniality. This archive also includes artworks, films, tools, reused materials, and more.

This year Nango, alongside a team of collaborators, unfolds this structure, social space, and source of knowledge around architecture in Sápmi at the Nordic Countries Pavilion at the 18th International Architecture Exhibition—the Venice Biennale. The pavilion officially represents Finland, Norway and Sweden through ArkDes, the National Museum of Norway, and the Museum of Finnish Architecture.

As an itinerant, collective library, the project has evolved and expanded with site-specific adaptations as it has travelled to different locations in Sápmi and the broader Nordic region. This journey involves multiple collaborations, including artists and craftspeople including Katarina Spik Skum, Anders Sunna, Ken Are Bongo, and Anders Rimpi, among others. As a gathering space, it hosts large groups of people. As a reading room, it offers an environment for solitary study and reflection. As a critical project, it builds spaces for Indigenous imagination.

Nomadic by design, Girjegumpi is a living project addressing the relevance of Indigenous culture in architectural discourse and construction today: the importance of collaborative work, building techniques and use of resources in rapidly changing climate conditions, the use of locally grounded material flow and sensitive approaches to landscapes and nature. It highlights the architect’s position towards a more polyphonic understanding of the world.

Girjegumpi collaborators include
Håvard Arnhoff, Ken Are Bongo, Petter Bratland, Stefano Crosera + Margherita Pasqualato (Cantiere Daniele Manin), Mathias Danbolt, Ole-Henrik Einejord, Astrid Fadnes, Jenni Hakovirta, Eirin Hammari, Elin Haugdal, Petri Henriksson, Tone Huse, Robert Julian Hvistendahl, Iver Jåks + Jon Ole Andersen, Anne Kare Kemi, Annik Kristiansen Hagen, maka design, Grete Johanna Minde, Karen Inger Anne Nango, Nils John Nango, Anne Henriette Nilut, Ole Thomas Nilut, Raisa Porsanger, Tobias Aputsiaq Prytz, Anders Rimpi, Katrine Rugeldal, Wimme Saari, Sámi Architecture Dictionary Group, Arne-Terje Sæther, Katarina Spik Skum, Mary Ailonieida Sombán Mari, Četil Somby, Anders Sunna, Anna-Stina Svakko, Eystein Talleraas, Petter Tjikkom, Magnus Antaris Tuolja

Collaborating institutions include
Ájtte, Arctic Arts Festival—Festspillene i Nord-Norge, Sámi Dáiddaguovddáš (SDG), RDM—Sámiid Vuorká-Dávvirat, UiT—The Arctic University of Norway

Girjegumpi is a project first initiated in 2018 by Joar Nango and Festspillene i Nord-Norge. When not travelling, Girjegumpi is hosted by Sámi Dáiddaguovddáš (SDG) in Kárášjohka/Karasjok.

Joar Nango
Joar Nango (b.1979, Áltá) is an architect and artist based in Romsa/Tromsø, 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.

Event details
The “Architecture in Sápmi” conversation will include Astrid Fadnes, Jenni Hakovirta, Johanna Minde, Joar Nango, Káre Raija Anti, Katrine Rugeldal, Eveliina Sarapää, and Magnus Antaris Tuolja. The launch of Supplement 7: Uncle Doug’s Fishing Shack will feature Joar Nango and David Thomas in conversation, moderated by Jennifer Papararo (Editor, Supplement).

Commissioners: Kieran Long, ArkDes—The Swedish Centre for Architecture and Design; Carina Jaatinen, The Museum of Finnish Architecture; Stina Høgkvist, The National Museum of Norway / Curators: Carlos Mínguez Carrasco and James Taylor-Foster, ArkDes / Project Manager: Luba Kuzovnikova, ArkDes / Production support in Venice: M+B Studio; eiletz ortigas/architects / Team at ArkDes: Johanna Fogel, Stefan Mossfeldt, Elisabet Norin, Emma Weinerhall, Maria Östman / Hosts & Librarians: Pia Karttunen, Laura Lucchini.