Introduction

Between 2022 and 2024, Sea Sámi and Norwegian artist and musician Elina Waage Mikalsen undertook a long-form research, engagement, and performance journey that listened closely to the resonances between Sámi history, identity, and erasure, and the possibilities of experimental sound. Moving through music, noise, silence, and attention itself, the project traced how listening can become a site of shared memory, resistance, and imagination.

Initiated through an invitation from Peter Meanwell, Artistic Director of Borealis – a festival for experimental music in Birgon/Bergen – the work began with a simple yet far-reaching question: What is Sámi sonic exper- imentalism? Together with Indigenous collaborators from across Sápmi1 and beyond, Mikalsen began by asking who is permitted to define exper- imentalism, who is listening and in what ways, and which frames shape our participation in sound. The project unfolded as a collective inquiry into power, perception, and the politics of listening.

Over time, three interwoven strands emerged: research and institutional development; Sámi community-centred work; and public presentations. These areas were not fixed from the outset but revealed themselves through an artist-led process attentive to necessity.

The work evolved in dialogue with Mikalsen’s own artistic practice, the cultural ecosystem of Norway during this period, the local political landscape of Birgon/Bergen, and most crucially the needs, values, and methodologies of Sámi experimental sound and music communities. The project culminated in a co-curated edition of Borealis in March 2024, featuring 17 Sámi artists across five days of concerts, installations, dis- cussions, new commissions, and family events.

This wide-ranging project unfolded during a moment of heightened attention to Sámi artists, knowledge systems, and ways of work- ing within Norwegian cultural life, as well as across Sámi communi- ties throughout the Nordic region. It coincided with the publication of the state’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission report on the ‘Norwegianisation’ process, and its lasting impacts on Sámi, Kven, and Finnskog communities, as well as with powerful protests against the Fosen wind farms in Oslove/Oslo in 2023. Against this backdrop, the project listened not only to sound, but to history in motion – unfinished, contested, and alive.

Context

This text is one of the pilot studies of Re-Imagine Europe: New Perspectives for Action. In these contributions we explore and reflect on artistic practices and experimental approaches in the cultural field that can engage and activate audiences and communities to address ecological, social, and political challenges. The pilot studies provide an overview of practices of cultural organisations that can serve as models, recipes, or tools for transformation for current and future generations of cultural workers and artists.

Read the pilot study directly on our website or download the PDF to save for later.