The Sami Center for Contemporary Art will be represented at ArtVilnius Art Fair with a 49-
square-meter booth featuring an interactive installation showcasing documentation from the
performance festival “Performance Studies in Sapmi.” The 15th edition of ArtVilnius'24 will
take place from October 4-6, 2024, at the Lithuanian Exhibition and Congress Centre
Litexpo, with a focus on Northern Europe (https://artvilnius.com/). Participation of Sami
Center for Contemporary Art is funded by Sametinget (https://sametinget.no/).
In addition to the team from the Sami Center for Contemporary Art, artist Ann-Sofie Kallok
and performance internship artists Ina Trentes and Marit Bringedal Anti will be present in
Vilnius during the art fair. Other participating artists will be presented digitally.
“Performance Studies in Sapmi” is a festival dedicated to politically charged live art. The
inaugural edition took place from June 15-18, 2024, in Karasjok, Norway, at the Sami Center
for Contemporary Art. Initiated by Dr. Marija Griniuk, the festival brought together
established and emerging artists from Sapmi, Canada, Lithuania, and Estonia, showcasing
23 performances over four days. Part of these performances was video-documented by
Albinas Liutkus, and four of these performances will be shown as an interactive installation
at ArtVilnius, along with a fifth video—a presentation of the festival by Dr. Marija Griniuk. In
addition to the video documentation, some artworks from the performances will also be
displayed.
The festival aimed to create an intensive learning environment for young performance
artists. Students from the Vilnius Academy of Arts collaborated with young Sami artists to
create and present their performance works alongside established productions like “Guoddi”
and “Suoidnekaboom.”
The booth will take the shape of a textile cave-like environment, where visitors will be invited
to enter, lie on reindeer skins covering the floor, and experience the video-documented
performances.
The following performances will be presented through video documentation:
● Guoddi DÁIDDADÁLLU 10 YEARS: At the intersection of Sámi tradition and
modern art, this performance is a dialogue between avant-garde duodji and
performing arts. Dancer Ánna-Katri Helander, composer Anthoni Hætta, designer
and duojár Ann-Sofie Kallok, and dancer Sebastian Björkman intertwine dance and
music to create an interdisciplinary tapestry of movement and sound.
● Suoidnekaboom DÁIDDADÁLLU 10 YEARS: Suoidnekaboom brings together
reindeer stomachs, senna grass, and performing arts. The work explores these
physical materials in relation to their inherent potential, cultural use, and context. The
piece is by visual artist and artistic director Maret Anne Sara, actor Anja Saiva Bongo
Bjørnstad, actor Anitta Katriina Suikkari, visual artist Li Taiga, and choreographer
Alexandra Wingate.
● Collaboration between Sami and Baltic artists: Marit Bringedal Anti (SA) and
Greta Balčiūnaitė (LT): This performance, set in a forest environment, was divided
into sequences of dance, traditional narrative, and interaction. It culminated in a
powerful meeting of the two artists, who united in song—Anti performing a traditional
Sami joik and Balčiūnaitė singing a Lithuanian folk song. The fusion of their music
created a rich auditory experience that blended their distinct cultural expressions into
a unified conclusion.
● Collaboration between Sami and Baltic artists: Ina Tretnes (SA) and Milda
Paukštė (LT): This evocative performance blended natural elements, dialogue, and
body art. The piece began with the artist washing textiles in a river, symbolizing
purification and a connection to the natural world, and followed by applying color to
their bodies. The painting symbolized transformation and the blending of personal
and cultural identities, with colors representing the interplay between their distinct but
interconnected backgrounds.
“Performance Studies in Sapmi” created a platform for artists to explore politically charged
themes, fostering cultural exchange and dialogue between Sámi and Baltic
communities.Sami Center for Contemporary Art is looking forward to presentation in
Vilnius!
Credits: Performance “Guoddi”: Dancer Ánna-Katri Helander, composer Anthoni Hætta, designer and duojár Ann-Sofie Kallok, and dancer Sebastian Björkman.
