Workshop “Works that speak of power”
The first session in the education room created for the exhibition “no beginning no end. Decolonial Gestures in Sámi Worldbuilding” is intended for creating a collective glossary. As part of the public programme, we want to ask questions about power itself. But what words or terms are needed to do so? How should we understand these words, and is it even possible for them to have a single, unambiguous meaning?
During the session, participants will create a shared vocabulary containing words, concepts and possible meanings useful for future discussions. This self-initiated glossary created in the workshop will remain in the exhibition’s education room for individual visitors to explore.
This international exhibition examines the complex journey being taken by the Sámi people as they strive for Indigenous justice and self-determination through decolonial worldbuilding. The politicization of Sámi art that began in the 1960s and 1970s, developing in parallel with the Sámi self-determination movement, has received widespread attention over the last decade. Today, Sámi art has become one of the most visible and dynamic parts of the Nordic contemporary art scene, and is increasingly prominent in the global artistic arena. This exhibition presents works by artists from different generations, including figures who prepared the ground for the vigorous developments currently being seen in Sámi art, as well as younger artists.
no beginning, no end stands in dialogue with the exhibition Expedition: Finno-Ugrians and the Power of Images (2 October 2026–21 February 2027), curated by Linda Kaljundi. Both are contributions to Expedition, a joint multi-year research project undertaken by the Art Museum of Estonia, the Estonian Academy of Arts, and the Estonian National Museum that has been investigating our relationships with Indigenous peoples and the impact these relationships have had on Estonians’ own self-image.
