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Guests to the renowned gallery are used to unexpected displays in its expansive Turbine Hall. They've relaxed under an man-made sun, descended down spiral slides, and observed AI-powered sea creatures floating through the air. However this marks the inaugural time they will be immersing themselves in the complex nasal cavities of a reindeer. The latest artistic project for this huge space—created by Indigenous Sámi creator Máret Ánne Sara—invites visitors into a winding construction inspired by the enlarged inside of a reindeer's nose cavities. Upon entering, they can meander around or relax on skins, listening on headphones to tribal seniors telling stories and insights.

Why the Nose?

What's the focus on the nose? It may sound whimsical, but the artwork celebrates a little-known biological feat: researchers have found that in under a second, the reindeer's nose can raise the temperature of the ambient air it inhales by 80 degrees celsius, allowing the creature to survive in extreme Arctic climates. Enlarging the nose to bigger than a person, Sara notes, "creates a perception of inferiority that you as a human being are not in control over nature." The artist is a ex- journalist, writer for kids, and rights advocate, who comes from a reindeer-herding family in the far north of Norway. "Maybe that creates the potential to alter your outlook or evoke some humbleness," she continues.

A Celebration to Sámi Culture

The labyrinthine structure is part of a features in Sara's engaging exhibition celebrating the heritage, understanding, and worldview of the Sámi, the continent's original inhabitants. Partially migratory, the Sámi number about 100,000 people spread across northern Norway, the Finnish Arctic, Sweden, and Russia's Kola Peninsula (an area they call Sápmi). They've faced discrimination, integration policies, and suppression of their language by all four states. By focusing on the reindeer, an animal at the heart of the Sámi cosmology and founding narrative, the art also draws attention to the community's challenges connected to the climate crisis, property rights, and colonialism.

Metaphor in Components

Along the extended access slope, there's a towering, 26-metre formation of pelts entangled by electrical wires. It can be read as a analogy for the societal frameworks constraining the Sámi. Part pylon, part celestial ladder, this component of the installation, called Goavve-, points to the Sámi word for an harsh environmental condition, wherein thick sheets of ice appear as varying conditions melt and ice over the snow, locking in the reindeers' key cold-season food, lichen. This phenomenon is a consequence of global heating, which is occurring up to much more rapidly in the Far North than elsewhere.

A few years back, I met with Sara in Guovdageaidnu during a icy season and joined Sámi herders on their motorized sleds in freezing temperatures as they transported containers of food pellets on to the barren tundra to dispense through labor. The herd gathered round us, pawing the icy ground in vain for mossy morsels. This expensive and demanding method is having a significant effect on herding practices—and on the animals' independence. But the alternative is starvation. As these icy periods become routine, reindeer are perishing—some from hunger, others drowning after plunging into streams through unstable frozen surfaces. On one level, the installation is a monument to them. "Through the stacking of elements, in a way I'm introducing the goavvi to London," says Sara.

Contrasting Worldviews

This artwork also emphasizes the clear difference between the modern understanding of power as a commodity to be exploited for gain and existence and the Sámi outlook of energy as an innate essence in creatures, people, and the environment. This venue's legacy as a industrial facility is linked with this, as is what the Sámi consider environmental exploitation by Scandinavian states. While attempting to be standard bearers for clean sources, Nordic nations have clashed with the Sámi over the development of windfarms, hydroelectric dams, and digging operations on their native soil; the Sámi assert their human rights, incomes, and traditions are at risk. "It's very difficult being such a small minority to protect your rights when the arguments are based on saving the world," Sara observes. "Extractivism has co-opted the language of ecology, but nonetheless it's just aiming to find better ways to maintain patterns of consumption."

Personal Challenges

Sara and her kin have themselves conflicted with the Norwegian government over its tightening rules on animal husbandry. Previously, Sara's brother undertook a sequence of ultimately unsuccessful lawsuits over the required reduction of his herd, supposedly to stop excessive feeding. In support, Sara developed a extended collection of pieces titled Pile O'Sápmi comprising a massive screen of numerous animal bones, which was displayed at the 2017's event Documenta 14 and later obtained by the national institution, where it is displayed in the lobby.

Art as Awareness

For many Sámi, art seems the sole realm in which they can be understood by people of other nations. Two years ago, Sara was {one of three|among a group of|