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Attendees to the renowned gallery are accustomed to unexpected experiences in its expansive Turbine Hall. They have sunbathed under an artificial sun, slid down amusement rides, and observed robotic jellyfish floating through the air. Yet this marks the inaugural time they will be engaging themselves in the detailed nasal cavities of a reindeer. The newest creative installation for this immense space—designed by Indigenous Sámi creator Máret Ánne Sara—invites visitors into a winding construction modeled after the expanded inside of a reindeer's nasal cavities. Once inside, they can stroll around or relax on pelts, tuning in on earphones to tribal seniors sharing stories and wisdom.

The Significance of the Nose

Why choose the nasal structure? It may sound quirky, but the installation honors a obscure biological feat: scientists have discovered that in a fraction of a second, the reindeer's nose can heat the incoming air it inhales by 80 degrees celsius, enabling the creature to thrive in harsh Arctic conditions. Enlarging the nose to human-scale dimensions, Sara notes, "creates a feeling of smallness that you as a individual are not in control over nature." She is a ex- journalist, writer for kids, and rights advocate, who comes from a herding family in the Norwegian Arctic. "Perhaps that generates the possibility to change your outlook or evoke some humility," she continues.

An Homage to Sámi Culture

The winding installation is among various features in Sara's engaging exhibition honoring the traditions, understanding, and philosophy of the Sámi, Europe's only Indigenous people. Traditionally mobile, the Sámi count about 100,000 people ranged across the Norwegian north, the Finnish Arctic, Sweden, and the Kola region (an area they call Sápmi). They have endured oppression, integration policies, and eradication of their tongue by all four states. By focusing on the reindeer, an creature at the core of the Sámi mythology and creation story, the installation also draws attention to the people's struggles associated with the environmental emergency, land dispossession, and external control.

Metaphor in Materials

At the extended entrance incline, there's a soaring, 26-metre structure of reindeer hides entangled by utility lines. It can be read as a metaphor for the political and economic systems restricting the Sámi. Like an electrical tower, part spiritual ascent, this part of the exhibit, named Goavve-, refers to the Sámi term for an severe climatic event, whereby dense layers of ice develop as fluctuating weather liquefy and refreeze the snow, trapping the reindeers' main cold-season nourishment, moss. The condition is a consequence of global heating, which is taking place up to at an accelerated rate in the Arctic than in other regions.

Previously, I traveled to see Sara in Guovdageaidnu during a severe cold period and joined Sámi pastoralists on their motorized sleds in chilly conditions as they hauled carts of animal nutrition on to the wind-scoured Arctic plains to provide through labor. The reindeer crowded round us, digging the frozen ground in vain attempts for mossy bits. This expensive and demanding procedure is having a drastic impact on animal rearing—and on the animals' natural survival. But the other option is starvation. When such conditions become frequent, reindeer are dying—a number from lack of food, others suffocating after falling into streams through unstable frozen surfaces. To some extent, the installation is a memorial to them. "Through the stacking of materials, in a way I'm transporting the phenomenon to London," says Sara.

Opposing Worldviews

The installation also highlights the clear difference between the modern view of electricity as a commodity to be utilized for economic benefit and livelihood and the Sámi worldview of life force as an natural life force in animals, people, and the environment. This venue's history as a industrial facility is linked with this, as is what the Sámi see as eco-imperialism by Nordic countries. While attempting to be exemplars for clean sources, Scandinavian countries have clashed with the Sámi over the building of windfarms, river barriers, and digging operations on their traditional territory; the Sámi assert their human rights, livelihoods, and culture are endangered. "It's very difficult being such a small minority to stand your ground when the reasons are grounded in environmental protection," Sara notes. "Resource exploitation has appropriated the rhetoric of environmentalism, but still it's just attempting to find better ways to continue patterns of expenditure."

Personal Struggles

The artist and her family have themselves conflicted with the Norwegian government over its ever-stricter rules on reindeer management. In 2016, Sara's sibling undertook a series of finally failed court actions over the mandatory slaughter of his animals, supposedly to stop overgrazing. As a show of solidarity, Sara created a extended collection of creations titled Pile O'Sápmi comprising a huge screen of four hundred reindeer skulls, which was exhibited at the 2017 show Documenta 14 and later acquired by the public gallery, where it resides in the entrance.

Art as Awareness

For many Sámi, creative work appears the sole realm in which they can be heard by the global community. Two years ago, Sara was {one of three|among a group of|