Post-Capitalist Architecture TV, Part 3

Project Spotlight: On decolonization and architecture.

Creating Indigenous Sovereignty Possible Futures
Artist Joar Nango stands in front of his red sprinter van, parked at the building that houses Ken Are Bongo’s studio—a blocky orange building with a large vinyl print featuring a Sámi woman in a Rosie-the-Riveter pose.
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Renowned Tromsø artists Joar Nango and director Ken-Are Bongo are creating their own digital TV series where they introduce their home and local environment in Sápmi. They travel through snow-covered landscapes with a mobile TV studio in their red sprinter and snowmobile. Along the way, they meet guests over a campfire coffee cup, such as academic researchers, craftsmen and activists. They explore popular construction techniques for large-scale political power structures that form the basis of the social structure in the north. Nango & Bongo takes us to the Post-Capitalist Architecture Universe (Pca-TV) and the ongoing study of architecture after the fall of capitalism.

Artist Joar Nango stands in front of his red sprinter van, parked at the building that houses Ken Are Bongo’s studio—a blocky orange building with a large vinyl print featuring a Sámi woman in a Rosie-the-Riveter pose.
Joar Nango and Ken Are Bongo, Post-Capitalist Architecture TV, Part 3: On decolonization and architecture (video still) (2020).

Part 3: On decolonization and architecture

What are Indigenous people? What is architecture? What is decolonization? Together with art historian Mathias Danbolt (University of Copenhagen) and architect Chris Cornelius (University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee), a member of the Oneida Nation of Wisconsin, Nango looks at the representation and visualization of Sámi culture, architecture and life. An example is Knud Leem’s book «Beskrivelse over Finmarkens Lapper deres Tungemaal, Levemaade og forrige Afgudsdyrkelse» (1767), which features a series of illustrations based on earlier paintings, which Danbolt recently discovered in the Royal Library in Copenhagen, featured in the exhibition in Bergen.

Credit: The first three videos in the Post-Capitalist Architecture series were produced by Bergen Kunsthall as part of the official festival program for the Bergen International Festival in May 2020. COURTESY THE ARTISTS. 

This story is part of the Norway Partner Spotlight. View more content from the Spotlight here.

Article Tags

Norway | Sápmi | Community | Conceptual Art | Decolonization | Education | Film | First Nations | History | Indigenous | Sámi | Visual Arts
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