James Taylor-Foster
Selected writing 2015 – 2023
  • About
  • Category
  • Title
  • Publication
  • Year
  • Curatorial
  • ✶ Joar Nango: Girjegumpi, Venice
  • 2023
James Taylor-Foster
editor & writer of essays & reviews,
architectural designer,
maker of exhibitions
Selected writing 2015 – 2023
  • ✶ Joar Nango: Girjegumpi, Venice

Girjegumpi: The Sámi Architecture Library is a nomadic, collaborative library put together over the last fifteen years by architect and artist Joar Nango. It is an archive comprising an expanding collection of more than 500 books embracing topics such as Sámi architecture and design, traditional and ancestral building knowledge, activism, and decoloniality. This archive also includes artworks, films, tools, reused materials, and more.

In 2023 Nango, alongside a team of collaborators, unfolds this structure, social space, and source of knowledge around architecture in Sápmi at the Nordic Countries Pavilion at the 18th International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by ArkDes (@arkdesc)

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

As an itinerant, collective library, the project has evolved and expanded with site-specific adaptations as it has travelled to different locations in Sápmi and the broader Nordic region. This journey involves multiple collaborations, including artists and craftspeople including Katarina Spik Skum, Anders Sunna, Ken Are Bongo, and Anders Rimpi, among others. As a gathering space, it hosts large groups of people. As a reading room, it offers an environment for solitary study and reflection. As a critical project, it builds spaces for Indigenous imagination.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by ArkDes (@arkdesc)

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

Nomadic by design, Girjegumpi is a living project addressing the relevance of Indigenous culture in architectural discourse and construction today: the importance of collaborative work, building techniques and use of resources in rapidly changing climate conditions, the use of locally grounded material flow and sensitive approaches to landscapes and nature. It highlights the architect’s position towards a more polyphonic understanding of the world.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by ArkDes (@arkdesc)

Girjegumpi: The Sámi Architecture Library by Joar Nango and collaborators at the Nordic Countries Pavilion (18th International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia). Photo: Laurian Ghinițoiu (2023). CC BY-SA 4.0.
View of Girjegumpi: The Sámi Architecture Library by Joar Nango and collaborators at the Nordic Countries Pavilion (18th International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia). 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). Photo: Laurian Ghinițoiu (2023). CC BY-SA 4.0.
Collaborators and guests of Girjegumpi: The Sámi Architecture Library at the Nordic Countries Pavilion (18th International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia). Photo: Laurian Ghinițoiu (2023). CC BY-SA 4.0.
Joar Nango
Girjegumpi: The Sámi Architecture Library
Nordic Countries Pavilion, 18th International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia
Girjegumpi collaborators include Håvard Arnhoff, Ken Are Bongo, Petter Bratland, Stefano Crosera + Margherita Pasqualato (Cantiere Daniele Manin), Mathias Danbolt, Ole-Henrik Einejord, Astrid Fadnes, Jenni Hakovirta, Eirin Hammari, Elin Haugdal, Petri Henriksson, Tone Huse, Robert Julian Hvistendahl, Iver Jåks + Jon Ole Andersen, Anne Kare Kemi, Annik Kristiansen Hagen, maka design, Grete Johanna Minde, Karen Inger Anne Nango, Nils John Nango, Anne Henriette Nilut, Ole Thomas Nilut, Raisa Porsanger, Tobias Aputsiaq Prytz, Anders Rimpi, Katrine Rugeldal, Wimme Saari, Sámi Architecture Dictionary Group, Arne-Terje Sæther, Katarina Spik Skum, Mary Ailonieida Sombán Mari, Četil Somby, Anders Sunna, Anna-Stina Svakko, Eystein Talleraas, Petter Tjikkom, Magnus Antaris Tuolja
Collaborating institutions include Ájtte, Arctic Arts Festival – Festspillene i Nord-Norge, Sámi Dáiddaguovddáš (SDG), RDM – Sámiid Vuorká-Dávvirat, UiT – The Arctic University of Norway
Girjegumpi is a project first initiated in 2018 by Joar Nango and Festspillene i Nord-Norge. When not travelling, Girjegumpi is hosted by Sámi Dáiddaguovddáš (SDG) in Kárášjohka. The Nordic Countries Pavilion officially represents Finland, Norway and Sweden through ArkDes, the National Museum of Norway, and the Museum of Finnish Architecture.
Commissioners Kieran Long, ArkDes; Carina Jaatinen, The Museum of Finnish Architecture; Stina Høgkvist, The National Museum of Norway Curators Carlos Mínguez Carrasco and James Taylor-Foster (ArkDes)  Project Manager Luba Kuzovnikova (ArkDes) Production Support in Venice M+B Studio; eiletz ortigas | architects Team at ArkDes Johanna Fogel, Stefan Mossfeldt, Elisabet Norin, Emma Weinerhall, Maria Östman Hosts/Librarians Pia Karttunen, Laura Lucchini
May 20 — November 26, 2023
Nordic Countries Pavilion, Giardini della Biennale, Venice
See the exhibition at arkdes.se

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James Taylor-Foster
editor & writer of essays & reviews,
architectural designer,
maker of exhibitions
  • CuratorialI.
  • ProjectsII.
  • PublicationsIII.
  • SpeakingIV.
  • WritingV.
I.Curatorial
  • ✶ Joar Nango: Girjegumpi, Venice2023
  • ✶ WEIRD SENSATION FEELS GOOD, London2022
  • ✶ Mira Bergh × Josefin Zachrisson: Utomhusverket2022
  • ✶ The Limits of Our World: LARP and Design2022
  • Solicited: Proposals2021
  • Studio Ossidiana: Utomhusverket2021
  • WEIRD SENSATION FEELS GOOD, Stockholm2020
  • Architecture Projects: Skeppsbron + Brunnsparken2019
  • Cruising Pavilion: Architecture, Gay Sex, Cruising Culture2019
  • The Craft of Swedish Videogame Design2019
  • Petra Gipp and Mikael Olsson; Sigurd Lewerentz – Freestanding2018
  • Space Popular: Value in the Virtual2018
  • You Are Not Alone2017
  • In Therapy2016
  • Keeping Up Appearances2015
II.Projects
  • ASMR, An Exhibition Trailer2022
  • Watch & Chill 2.0: Streaming Senses2022
  • ASMRology2021
  • Plug-in Poesi2020
  • Interdependence: Stockholm and pandemia2020
  • Future Architecture Rooms2020
  • SOFT GOSSIP2020
  • Mukbang Veneziano2020
  • Körper2019
  • Architecture on Display2018
  • Boxen at ArkDes2018
  • The Stones of Venice: A Kimono2017
  • Misunderstandings (A Reliquary)2016
III.Publications
  • ✶ softspot2021
  • Living on Water2017
  • Elemental Living2016
  • People, Place, Purpose2015
IV.Speaking
  • ✶ Scaffold #612022
  • Salons, The New Architecture School2022
  • Protagonist of the Erotic: A Bed2022
  • OAT Academy, Curating Architecture2022
  • ✶ Protagonist of the Erotic: An Island2021
  • A Future for Exhibitions2021
  • Future Architecture CEx2020 Focus Talks2020
  • Modevisningar är den flyktigaste formen av arkitektur2018
  • Exhibition Models2017
V.Writing
  • Wang & Söderström: Royal Chambers2023
  • Lisa Tan: Dodge and/or Burn2023
  • Luki Essender: Of Yous2023
  • Studio Ossidiana on the Sentimental Scale of the City2022
  • A Strange Sort of Weight2021
  • What’s Mine Is Theirs: an interview with Max Lamb2020
  • ✶ Screen Glow Sedation2020
  • No Time to Stand and Stare2020
  • On Norra Tornen2020
  • ✶ Don’t Fear a Snowflake2020
  • In Riga, A Conference On Architecture and Migration2019
  • On Practical Futurology2019
  • Foreword: On the Manifesto2019
  • Making Believe with Charlap Hyman & Herrero2019
  • ✶ To Speak As If In Capital Letters2019
  • Baltoscandia: A Complex Utopia2018
  • ✶ Virgil Abloh, Editor in Brief2018
  • A Weak Monument2018
  • Sigurd Lewerentz: Villa Edstrand2018
  • On the Cruising Pavilion2018
  • A Diary of Virgil Abloh’s First Louis Vuitton Show2018
  • ✶ The Boat is Leaking. The Captain Lied.2018
  • Concrete Mountain2017
  • ✶ On Liquid Modernity2017
  • ✶ #003399, #FFCC00; The Meaning of a Flag2017
  • Pillars of Society: “Jantelagen”2017
  • Exhibiting the Postmodern2017
  • Future Architecture and the Idea of Europe2017
  • Domains of Influence2017
  • Ingress: Black Rock City2017
  • In Dialogue With Gravity2017
  • Rem, Redacted2016
  • Media States, Or The State of Media2016
  • A Piece of England to Call One’s Own2016
  • Upon This Rock (I Will Build My Church)2016
  • The Design of the Species2016
  • Venice Isn’t Sinking, It’s Flooding2016
James Taylor-Foster
editor & writer of essays & reviews,
architectural designer,
maker of exhibitions
Selected writing 2015 – 2023
Curatorial
  • ✶ Joar Nango: Girjegumpi, Venice 2023
  • at the Nordic Countries Pavilion, 18th International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia by Joar Nango and collaborators
Back

Girjegumpi: The Sámi Architecture Library is a nomadic, collaborative library put together over the last fifteen years by architect and artist Joar Nango. It is an archive comprising an expanding collection of more than 500 books embracing topics such as Sámi architecture and design, traditional and ancestral building knowledge, activism, and decoloniality. This archive also includes artworks, films, tools, reused materials, and more.

In 2023 Nango, alongside a team of collaborators, unfolds this structure, social space, and source of knowledge around architecture in Sápmi at the Nordic Countries Pavilion at the 18th International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by ArkDes (@arkdesc)

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

As an itinerant, collective library, the project has evolved and expanded with site-specific adaptations as it has travelled to different locations in Sápmi and the broader Nordic region. This journey involves multiple collaborations, including artists and craftspeople including Katarina Spik Skum, Anders Sunna, Ken Are Bongo, and Anders Rimpi, among others. As a gathering space, it hosts large groups of people. As a reading room, it offers an environment for solitary study and reflection. As a critical project, it builds spaces for Indigenous imagination.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by ArkDes (@arkdesc)

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

Nomadic by design, Girjegumpi is a living project addressing the relevance of Indigenous culture in architectural discourse and construction today: the importance of collaborative work, building techniques and use of resources in rapidly changing climate conditions, the use of locally grounded material flow and sensitive approaches to landscapes and nature. It highlights the architect’s position towards a more polyphonic understanding of the world.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by ArkDes (@arkdesc)

Girjegumpi: The Sámi Architecture Library by Joar Nango and collaborators at the Nordic Countries Pavilion (18th International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia). Photo: Laurian Ghinițoiu (2023). CC BY-SA 4.0.
View of Girjegumpi: The Sámi Architecture Library by Joar Nango and collaborators at the Nordic Countries Pavilion (18th International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia). 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). Photo: Laurian Ghinițoiu (2023). CC BY-SA 4.0.
Collaborators and guests of Girjegumpi: The Sámi Architecture Library at the Nordic Countries Pavilion (18th International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia). Photo: Laurian Ghinițoiu (2023). CC BY-SA 4.0.
Joar Nango
Girjegumpi: The Sámi Architecture Library
Nordic Countries Pavilion, 18th International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia
Girjegumpi collaborators include Håvard Arnhoff, Ken Are Bongo, Petter Bratland, Stefano Crosera + Margherita Pasqualato (Cantiere Daniele Manin), Mathias Danbolt, Ole-Henrik Einejord, Astrid Fadnes, Jenni Hakovirta, Eirin Hammari, Elin Haugdal, Petri Henriksson, Tone Huse, Robert Julian Hvistendahl, Iver Jåks + Jon Ole Andersen, Anne Kare Kemi, Annik Kristiansen Hagen, maka design, Grete Johanna Minde, Karen Inger Anne Nango, Nils John Nango, Anne Henriette Nilut, Ole Thomas Nilut, Raisa Porsanger, Tobias Aputsiaq Prytz, Anders Rimpi, Katrine Rugeldal, Wimme Saari, Sámi Architecture Dictionary Group, Arne-Terje Sæther, Katarina Spik Skum, Mary Ailonieida Sombán Mari, Četil Somby, Anders Sunna, Anna-Stina Svakko, Eystein Talleraas, Petter Tjikkom, Magnus Antaris Tuolja
Collaborating institutions include Ájtte, Arctic Arts Festival – Festspillene i Nord-Norge, Sámi Dáiddaguovddáš (SDG), RDM – Sámiid Vuorká-Dávvirat, UiT – The Arctic University of Norway
Girjegumpi is a project first initiated in 2018 by Joar Nango and Festspillene i Nord-Norge. When not travelling, Girjegumpi is hosted by Sámi Dáiddaguovddáš (SDG) in Kárášjohka. The Nordic Countries Pavilion officially represents Finland, Norway and Sweden through ArkDes, the National Museum of Norway, and the Museum of Finnish Architecture.
Commissioners Kieran Long, ArkDes; Carina Jaatinen, The Museum of Finnish Architecture; Stina Høgkvist, The National Museum of Norway Curators Carlos Mínguez Carrasco and James Taylor-Foster (ArkDes)  Project Manager Luba Kuzovnikova (ArkDes) Production Support in Venice M+B Studio; eiletz ortigas | architects Team at ArkDes Johanna Fogel, Stefan Mossfeldt, Elisabet Norin, Emma Weinerhall, Maria Östman Hosts/Librarians Pia Karttunen, Laura Lucchini
May 20 — November 26, 2023
Nordic Countries Pavilion, Giardini della Biennale, Venice
See the exhibition at arkdes.se
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