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Join us for the launch of the first 2026 issue of Nordic Review of Architecture, a timely reflection on Sámi architecture and the role of criticism today.
Nearly twenty years after Joar Nango’s pioneering fanzine “Sámi huksendáidda”, this new issue looks and reflects on architecture recently built (or not) in the Sámi region. Through essays, close readings, and critical reflections, the issue highlights voices engaging with identity, symbolism, politics, and the pressures shaping Indigenous architecture today, from the Sámi Parliament in Karasjok to Samegården in Kiruna, and beyond.
Celebrate the release with us at ArkDes sitting around Joar Nango’s Činugahti right before it is deinstalled, and take part in a conversation about architecture, agency, and the future of critical writing
Participants
Moderated by Johanna Minde
Karl Bexelius
Elly Emma Hesjevik
Introduced by Carlos Mínguez Carrasco, Chief Curator at ArkDes and Anders Rubing, Editor-in-Chief, Nordic Review of Architecture.
With support from Fritt Ord.
Saturday, May 2, 2026
13:00–14:00
Hall 2, at the Joar Nango’s Činugoahti
Free admission
Swedish and English
Read more about accessibility at ArkDes here.
About the participants
Johanna Minde is an architect and duojár (Sámi craftsperson) whose practice combines architecture, design, and traditional Sámi handicraft – duodji. She is the Sápmi editor for the Nordic Review of Architecture.
Karl Bexelius is an architect with a focus on urban indigeneity. He explores architecture as an infrastructure for the transfer of traditional knowledge, and its relevance for Sámi agency within contemporary debate. Karl writes as an independent critic for Nordic Review of Architecture’s latest issue on Sápmi.
Elly Emma Hesjevik is an architect who grew up in the Sámi municipality of Porsanger in Finnmark. She has a particular interest in symbolism in Sámi cultural buildings and the defining power that architecture can exert on Sámi identity.
About Nordic Review of Architecture (NORA)
Nordic Review of Architecture (NORA) is an award-winning journal dedicated to architecture and criticism across the Nordic region. Founded by architects from the Nordic countries — including Greenland and Sápmi — NORA creates space for new and diverse voices and connects architecture to broader questions of society, culture, and politics.
On 26 March 2026, NORA received the Kritikerpriset from Sveriges Arkitekter at the Arkitekturgalan in Skellefteå.
The issue is available via noranora.no ↗, Tekstallmenningen, Nätverkstan (Sweden), and Danish Architectural Press.