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Exhibitions / Joar Nango

Joar Nango

Photo: Laurian Ghinițoiu. 2023. CC BY-SA 4.0. 'Girjegumpi: The Sámi Architecture Library' by Joar Nango and collaborators at the Nordic Countries Pavilion (18th International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia).
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Hall 2

Joar Nango

Architecture Contemporary Sápmi

Step into an installation and screening space to discover Post-Capitalist Architecture TV – a series of six conversational films created by Joar Nango and Ken Are Bongo.

Joar Nango is an architect and artist whose 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.

In the six-episode TV series Post-Capitalist Architecture TV (PCA-TV), Joar Nango and Ken Are Bongo introduce Sápmi. Travelling through Arctic landscapes, they explore architecture at the scale of building techniques to the intangible power relationships that govern the land today. Among other themes, PCA-TV is an ongoing study of architecture after capitalism. Guests range from researchers and craftspeople to artists and activists.

First designed and built for Girjegumpi: The Sámi Architecture Library1 presented in Venice, Italy, in 2023, the work addresses the relevance of Indigenous culture in architectural discourse and construction today. Expressing the importance of collaborative work, building techniques and use of resources in rapidly changing climate conditions, the installation highlights the architect’s position towards a more polyphonic understanding of the world.

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    Photo: Laurian Ghinițoiu. 2023. CC BY-SA 4.0. 'Girjegumpi: The Sámi Architecture Library' by Joar Nango and collaborators at the Nordic Countries Pavilion (18th International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia).

Contemporary Projects in the ArkDes Collection

The ArkDes Collection presents Swedish architecture and design across the last 150 years. The final chapter of the collection’s exhibition presents the work of contemporary practitioners in the Nordic Region addressing how architecture and design can address current and future challenges for society. In 2024, ArkDes presents works by Joar Nango.

Collaborators

Katarina Spik Skum, Ken Are Bongo, Anders Sunna, Anders Rimpi, Mary Ailonieida Sombán Mari, Tobias Aputsiaq Prytz, Arne Terje Sæther

Photo: Marco Cappelletti. 2024. CC BY. Joar Nango.
Photo: Knut Åserud. 2022. Joar Nango in Venice.

Joar Nango (born in 1979, Áltá) is an architect and artist based in Romsa/Tromsø. 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 is nurtured by parallel collaborations with other artists, architects, and craftspeople. Among many other initiatives across two decades of practice, he is a founding member of the architecture collective FFB (2010). Nango alongside Snøhetta, Econor, and 70°N arkitektur are designing the new Sámi National Theatre and Sámi High School and Reindeer Husbandry School in Guovdageaidnu/Kautokeino, currently under construction.

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, Nasjonalmuseum Oslo – Architecture, Canadian Centre for Architecture, Sámi Dáiddaguovddáš (Sámi Centre for Contemporary Art), and Kiasma. In 2023, Nango and collaborators presented Girjegumpi: The Sámi Architecture Library in the Nordic Countries Pavilion at the 18th International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia, commissioned by ArkDes, the Museum of Finnish Architecture, and the National Museum of Norway.