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Attendees to the renowned gallery are familiar to unexpected experiences in its vast Turbine Hall. They have sunbathed under an simulated sun, slid down amusement rides, and observed robotic jellyfish drifting through the air. But this marks the initial time they will be immersing themselves in the complex nose cavities of a reindeer. The current artistic project for this cavernous space—developed by Indigenous Sámi creator Máret Ánne Sara—invites gallerygoers into a labyrinthine design based on the enlarged inside of a reindeer's nasal passages. Upon entering, they can wander around or unwind on reindeer hides, listening on earphones to tribal seniors telling tales and knowledge.

Why the Nose?

Why the nose? It may sound whimsical, but the exhibit honors a rarely recognized scientific wonder: experts have discovered that in less than one second, the reindeer's nose can heat the ambient air it inhales by 80°C, helping the creature to thrive in inhospitable Arctic temperatures. Expanding the nose to human-scale dimensions, Sara explains, "creates a feeling of insignificance that you as a human being are not superior over nature." She is a ex- reporter, young adult author, and rights advocate, who comes from a herding family in the Norwegian Arctic. "Perhaps that creates the possibility to change your perspective or trigger some humility," she continues.

An Homage to Indigenous Heritage

The labyrinthine installation is part of a elements in Sara's immersive commission honoring the heritage, understanding, and beliefs of the Sámi, the continent's original inhabitants. Partially migratory, the Sámi number about 100,000 people spread across the Norwegian north, the Finnish Arctic, the Swedish Lapland, and the Russian Arctic (an region they call Sápmi). They've faced oppression, integration policies, and eradication of their dialect by all four countries. Through highlighting the reindeer, an animal at the center of the Sámi belief system and origin tale, the work also draws attention to the community's issues connected to the global warming, property rights, and colonialism.

Meaning in Components

At the extended access ramp, there's a towering, 26-metre formation of reindeer hides entangled by power and light cables. It can be read as a symbol for the political and economic systems constraining the Sámi. Part pylon, part celestial ladder, this part of the artwork, titled Goavve-, points to the Sámi name for an severe climatic event, wherein dense layers of ice appear as fluctuating weather thaw and solidify again the snow, trapping the reindeers' primary cold-season sustenance, moss. Goavvi is a outcome of global heating, which is taking place up to four times faster in the Arctic than in other regions.

Previously, I met with Sara in a remote town during a goavvi winter and went with Sámi reindeer keepers on their motorized sleds in freezing temperatures as they transported containers of food pellets on to the barren frozen landscape to dispense manually. The herd crowded round us, scratching the icy ground in vain attempts for lichen-covered morsels. This costly and demanding procedure is having a drastic effect on animal rearing—and on the animals' natural survival. However the choice is starvation. As these icy periods become commonplace, reindeer are succumbing—some from starvation, others drowning after falling into water bodies through prematurely melting ice. On one level, the art is a monument to them. "Through the stacking of components, in a way I'm transporting the condition to London," says Sara.

Diverging Worldviews

The sculpture also emphasizes the stark difference between the modern view of power as a commodity to be utilized for gain and livelihood and the Sámi philosophy of life force as an innate life force in animals, people, and nature. This venue's legacy as a industrial facility is linked with this, as is what the Sámi see as green colonialism by Scandinavian states. While attempting to be leaders for clean sources, Nordic nations have locked horns with the Sámi over the development of turbine fields, water power facilities, and digging operations on their traditional territory; the Sámi assert their legal protections, incomes, and traditions are at risk. "It's very difficult being such a small minority to defend yourself when the justifications are based on global sustainability," Sara comments. "Mining practices has co-opted the rhetoric of environmentalism, but still it's just attempting to find alternative ways to continue practices of consumption."

Individual Challenges

Sara and her family have themselves conflicted with the Norwegian government over its tightening regulations on reindeer management. Previously, Sara's brother initiated a sequence of finally failed legal cases over the forced culling of his livestock, apparently to stop vegetation depletion. As a show of solidarity, Sara developed a extended series of artworks called Pile O'Sápmi including a colossal screen of four hundred animal bones, which was exhibited at the 2017 art exhibition Documenta 14 and later purchased by the National Museum of Oslo, where it is displayed in the entryway.

The Role of Art in Activism

For many Sámi, visual expression seems the only domain in which they can be heard by the global community. Recently, Sara was {one of three|among a group of|