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Báiki – a Sámi place in the open-air museum

New times require new narratives. What does a Sámi place in the open-air museum look like today – and tomorrow? In the structure and artwork Báiki, this is explored by Sámi architect Eveliina Sarapää and artist Raisa Porsanger. Through Báiki, the public is invited to experience and engage with Sámi perspectives, experiences, and knowledge.

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    Christian Andre Strand

Based on the joints and structure methods of a traditional hirsagoahti, a Sámi log dwelling, Eveliina Sarapää develops a contemporary interpretation of a Sámi space built with recycled materials found on site at the museum. Raisa Porsanger works on the installation based on an investigation of pattern traditions and with her own interpretation of a rátnu, a traditional Sámi wool blanket woven on a warp-weighted loom. 

Image from digitaltmuseum.org

The storehouse

The Southern Sámi reindeer owner Jonas Danielsen from Elgå in Hedemark built the buvrie (pole barn) for this site in 1998.

A longer-term campsite would typically also include a storehouse. A characteristic feature of Sami storehouses is that they stand on tall poles. The storehouse was useful for keeping items that were not always needed on the move, such as winter clothing. Food could also be stored there — for example dried reindeer meat — as well as sennegrass, which is used as insulation inside footwear.

Sámi interventions

Báiki is a northern Sámi word that can mean place, dwelling place, or settlement.

Given the national romantic backdrop of Norsk Folkemuseum, it is important to make Sámi perspectives visible on their own terms and conditions by looking toward the future without disregarding the site’s history. Using contemporary Sámi architecture and contemporary art as tools, a dynamic, interactive, and critical space is created where stories are not only preserved, but also explored, discussed, and reinterpreted.

Sámi interventions in the open-air museum is an ongoing collaboration between Norsk Folkemuseum and the nomadic art organizations Verdde. Through concrete collaborations with Sámi architects, duojárat, and artists, different ways of creating Sámi spaces and places are explored. The project provides insight into how the communication and presentation of Sámi building traditions, architecture, and cultural heritage can be developed at Norsk Folkemuseum’s open-air museum in the coming years.

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Norsk Folkemuseum manages archival, photographic, and object collections related to Sámi post-war architecture, including material collected by the Norwegian architect Kjell Borgen. Borgen carried out extensive studies for Norsk Folkemuseum on architecture, landscapes, and historical developments in settlement, fishing, hunting, reindeer husbandry, and agriculture in Sápmi. Through Báiki, the museum’s archival material is activated and challenged by allowing Sámi architects themselves to investigate and define Sámi architecture from a contemporary Sámi perspective.

The project is supported by Nordic Culture Point and Arts Council Norway