With visual artists, musicians, dancers, choreographers, authors, scenographers, designers, directors, actors and yoikers, we have created new and long-awaited art for public space in Kautokeino as well as several brand new art works. 

Dáiddadállu 10 jagi will continue into 2025 and we will fill exhibition arenas and stages, hills and mountains locally, nationally and internationally with new Sámi contemporary art. 

Welcome to Dáiddadállu’s big 10-year celebration!

Guovdageainnu áhkut

Art in public space and visual artwork in the group exhibit

In 2021, Hilde Skancke Pedersen created an installation called Áhkut, consisting of seven gouache paintings on paper. Now the artist has created an outdoor public art version of the installation.

The artwork conveys a tribute to the traditional women who live in Kautokeino and elsewhere in Sápmi. These strong women have a unique history and very special knowledge of Sámi way of life and culture, and are a great inspiration with their strength, their indomitability and their courage. Several people still wear Gákti, Sámi traditional clothes, on a daily basis, effortlessly carrying on the Sámi craft tradition of duodji.

For these women, it is natural to always wear the Gákti, but they may represent the last couple of generations to do this. The artist sees this installation as a cultural-political, historical and feminist statement.

Skancke Pedersen's work is a tribute to women, and not least to Sámi women, who have acted as glue in Sámi society, both within the family, in triple work at home, in reindeer herding and other professional work, and in political life. They have had to navigate the unclear structures between the historical matriarchy and macho society, and they have lived through a hard period of Norwegianisation.

When the artist created the original installation, she wanted the work to radiate warmth, care, gratitude, love, life wisdom and humor, something the work also has been met with where it has been shown. Through the public artwork Guovdageainnu áhkut the work has now been made available to everyone, at all times of the day and in all seasons.

HILDE SKANCKE PEDERSEN

Supported by: Nasjonalmuseet, Nordnorsk kunstnersenter, Dáiddadállu ja RiddoDuottarMuseum.

Vuosttaš latnja/The first room

Graphics, sculpture in clay and fur installation

Vuosttaš latnja / Det første rommet / The First Room is an exploration of primordial feminine aspects in the Sámi culture, which touches for example care, warmth, femininity, climate and collectivism. Artist Susanne Hætta is influenced by the Sámi goddesses, religion and mythology. The materials fur, wood and clay are mirroring several thousand years old archaeological findings of pottery and rock art i Sápmi. Hætta wants to come closer to the female values and deities in the Sámi religion.

Care: The title alludes to the embracing qualities of the womb, which in truth is the first room a human experiences.

Warmth: In the arctic and sub-arctic climate zone where Indigenous peoples lives, there is a critical need for warmth and heating. Sufficient warmth and predictable temperatures at the right time of the year are the conditions of life for the nature that Indigenous peoples live from, and live in. Women keep their family warm by providing clothes and materials for shelters.

Femininity: Skins and fur are tactile materials. In Sámi tradition, duodji of fur, skins and textile, dipmaduodji, have been the women’s domain. By using these materials, the artist pays hommage to the adaptation skills in the Sámi culture.

Climate: Indigenous peoples in the arctic need the climate they have adapted to through thousands of years, with seasonal changes. Fur is a material that has made life in the arctic possible. At the same time, they experience climate changes that shifts the balance in Sámi lives, and the conditions for life changes.

Collectivism: Collective methods and ideology have a stronger standing in Sápmi than in the more individually oriented majority society. In the artists work she seeks ancient knowledge both within people, from literature and science.

SUSANNE HÆTTA

Funded by: Dáiddadállu, Sámi Dáiddačehpiid ja Girječálliid Buhtadusfoanda (SKFV) ja Bergensensenstiftelsen leat dorjon.

Suoidnekaboom

Performance art and visual art

In "Suoidnekaboom", reindeer stomachs and senna grass meet with performing arts and living bodies. The work explores the physical materials in relation to materials' inherent potential, cultural use and context.
Following an invitation to create new works for Dáiddadállu's 10th anniversary, Maret Anne Sara has invited stage artists Anitta Katriina Suikkari and Anja Saiva Bongo Bjørnstad, Alexandra Wingate and Li Taiga to interact and interpret some of the physical materials and works Sara has worked with recent years, with a particular thematic context for "Pile o´Sápmi" and the series of works for the Venice Biennale in 2022. "Suoidnekaboom" is a work where individual artistry and different artistic branches, experiences and expertise, meet in free space. The group has worked closely for over 2 years, both in physical workshops and conversations, to understand what the visual art and materials mean in relation to the performing arts and for us in a collective sense.

From this, a performance art piece has emerged that examines existential durability under pressure. How does prolonged pressure affect the complex inner landscape, in relation to oneself and others? How does the inner life live in sync or out of sync with the external life, and what does this do to people, relationships and society? The work focuses on important discussions related to the work with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in the wake of the harsh pre-Norwegian treatment of the Sámi, and the ongoing mechanisms of this which are still strongly felt in Sápmi today. Where small societies are often based on dependency relationships in both material and immaterial contexts, at the same time that immaterial values and relationships are put in competition with individual material survival.

Visual art and artistic direction: Maret Anne Sara

Movement material: Anja Saiva Bongo Bjørnstad, Anitta Katriina Suikkari, Li Taiga, Alexandra Wingate and Anna-Katri Helander

On stage: Anja Saiva Bongo Bjørnstad, Anitta Katriina Suikkari and Li Taiga

Choreography: Alexandra Wingate

Assistant Visual Arts: Li Taiga

Thanks to Beaivváš Sámi Nášunalteater and Ole Tomas Nilut, Jan Cato Nilut and Olav Johan Eira for technical support. With support from Dáiddadállu, Dáiddafoanda, Arts and Culture Norway and Davvi center for performing art.