Máhcaheapmi (Responses)
Máhcaheapmi (Responses) is a new, two-year public programme by Office for Contemporary Art Norway (OCA) in partnership with Sámiráđđi / The Saami Council, reflecting on the role of art and culture in processes of truth and reconciliation for indigenous communities. It takes the form of four indigenous-led gatherings with participants from Sápmi and other geographies worldwide to be unfolded 2024-25, followed by a symposium and publication in autumn 2025. The first gathering will take place in Mexico in April 2024, on the lands of the P'urehpecha nation.
In 2023 Norway’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) published its long-awaited report into the country’s historical treatment of Sámi, Kven and Forest Finn communities, which highlighted amongst other things the systematic suppression and erasure of their cultural traditions by the Norwegian state, a policy known officially as “Norwegianisation”.
Through a series of Indigenous-led public gatherings, Máhcaheapmi (Responses) aims to disseminate knowledge and critical awareness within the art field in relation to the TRC’s report. Each Máhcaheapmi (Responses) gathering will bring together a variety of practitioners from Sápmi to explore possibilities for self-determination and resistance through art, as well as bridging an ongoing knowledge gap between citizens of the Nordic countries and Sápmi.
Máhcaheapmi (Responses) as a whole aims to contribute to current discussions on the decentering of national and Europatriarchal identity models within contemporary art and the kinds of institutional transformation this might require.
Máhcaheapmi (Responses) is part of a larger collaboration, Art, Colonialism, lndigeneity: A Time for Truth and Reconciliation?, developed and organized by the Office for Contemporary Art Norway (OCA), Sámiráđđi / Saami Council and KORO – Public Art Norway. It runs parallel to KORO's initiative Proposals which will develop new propositions for art projects in public space by five Sámi artists or artist groups.
Máhcaheapmi (Responses) #1: ‘Practices of Sovereignty. Art and Resistance in the Sámi and P'urehpecha Nations’
The first iteration of Máhcaheapmi (Responses) took place in April – May 2024 in Mexico.
'Practices of Sovereignty. Art and Resistance in the Sámi and P'urehpecha Nations' is a two-part project – consisting of a residency in P'urehpecha territories and a conference in Mexico City – bringing together discussions and artistic practices from the Sámi and P'urehpecha nations. The project is a collaboration between Museo Universitario Arte Contemporáneo (MUAC) and the Office for Contemporary Art Norway (OCA).
The residency staged a series of exchanges between the Sámi and P'urehpecha communities, focused around Cherán in the state of Michoacán. These encounters will be followed by a public conference at MUAC on 30 April entitled 'Stories of the Blue Night', where the Sámi participants will discuss together with P'urehpecha actors some of the challenges of building indigenous-led cultural institutions., as well as the parallels of resistances with Nation-States.
Residency participants:
Tomas Colbengtson, Eva Marie Fjellheim, Geir Tore Holm, Elina Waage Mikalsen and Máret Ánne Sara.
Representatives from Sámi-led art institutions:
Petra Laiti/Sámi Council, Sajje Solbakk/Riddu Riđđu Festival, Anne May Olli/RiddoDuottarMusea and Dine Arnannguaq Fenger Lynge/Dáiddadallu [Sámi Artist Network].
Representatives from P'urehpecha community:
Colectivo Cherani (Bethel Cucué, Giovanni Fabián, Francisco Huaroco, Ariel Pañeda Macías, Alain Silva Guardián)
Máhcaheapmi (Responses) #2: Duodji Dialogue
Duodji Dialogue is a two-day gathering and think tank discussing duodji, crafts and indigenous art from the north.
Commissioned by OCA through the Máhcaheapmi (Responses) project, Sámi curators and producers Alice Marie Jektevik and Petra Laiti invite duojárat and artists from Sápmi and Kalaallit Nunaat to Bådåddjo/Buvvda Musea in Bodø. Together they form a two-day think tank where they discuss the present and future of duodji, indigenous art and handcraft in light of truth and reconciliation processes in colonising states.
Duodji Dialogue is a collaboration between OCA, Bådåddjo/Buvvda Musea and Bodø Biennale.
Duodji Dialogue will present two public events connected to the gathering:
Friday 6. September
17.30-18.30
Bådåddjo/Buvvda Musea
Inuit perspectives
Moderated by Dine Arnannguaq Fenger Lynge, CEO Dáiddadállu Sámi Artist Network
With artists Louise Fontain, Ivinguak Stork Høegh and Sofie Amondsen.
The public is welcome to an open presentation where guests from Kalaallit Nunaat introduce themselves and their artistic practice.
Saturday 7. September
14.30-15.30,
Bådåddjo/Buvvda Musea
Duodji Dialogue: Responses from the forge
Moderated by Petra Laiti
Live podcast conversation with some of the duojárat/artists, who share their perspectives and thoughts from the discussions in the forge.
Participants at Duodji Dialogue
Márjá Karlsen, Sofie Amondsen, Ivinguak Stork Høegh, Johanna Naita, Nils-Johan Labba, Tilde Risten Kuoljok, Dine Arnannguaq Fenger Lynge, Louise Fontain, Petra Laiti and Alice Márjá Jektevik.
Máhcaheapmi (Responses) #3
Curated by Elina Waake Mikalsen
Romsa, Sápmi (Tromsø, Norway)
February 2025
Máhcaheapmi (Responses) #4
Curated by Carola Grahn
The project will culminate with both a publication and a symposium organized by OCA, Sámiráđđi and KORO. These outcomes will bring together knowledge from across the gatherings together with a presentation of the five new proposals for art projects in public space.
