Indigenous Histories

The exhibition presents different accounts of indigenous experience from South America, North America, Oceania, and the Nordic region, through art and visual culture, curated by artists and researchers who are indigenous or of indigenous descent.

– This is a rare event on a global scale and perhaps the largest group exhibition of indigenous art at a museum in Europe. Indigenous art represents an important counter-narrative, says Irene Snarby, curator for the section with art from Sápmi.

In Bergen, the exhibition will be displayed throughout Stenersen, where the audience will encounter around 285 works created by over 170 artists. The works cover a wide range of media, typologies, origins, and time periods from before European colonization to the present day.

The exhibition is organized in collaboration with one of Latin America's leading art museums, Museu de Arte de São Paulo Assis Chateaubriand (MASP) in Brazil, where it first opened in October 2023.

Challenging the concept of "history"

Despite its international scope and its temporal breadth, the project does not take an all-encompassing nor an encyclopedic approach – quite the contrary.

In this respect, it is important to consider the meaning of the word “histórias” in Portuguese, which is rather different than “histories” in English.

The term “histórias” encompasses both fiction and nonfiction, historical accounts as well as personal ones, of a public and private nature, on both micro and macro levels.

In Norwegian, the term “historier” shares a similar dual significance, signifying both an interpretation of the past and a personal narrative.

As such, these terms possess a more polyphonic, speculative, open, incomplete, processual, and fragmented quality than the traditional notion of history.

Eight sections

"Indigenous Histories" will comprise eight sections: Seven devoted to the different regions in South America, North America, Oceania and the Nordic region, and one thematic section devoted to indigenous activism around the world.

Once again, the aim is not to fully represent the vast, complex, and layered indigenous histories of each particular region, but more to provide a cross-section, a fragment, or a sample of such histories in concise yet relevant selections, so that they may be juxtaposed with others from different parts of the world.

The exhibition will be accompanied by a catalog published in Portuguese and English, reproducing the works in the show as well as essays about each of the sections written by their curators.

Indigenous Stories is curated by an outstanding group of artists and researchers. Adriano Pedrosa, artistic director at MASP, and Guilherme Giufrida are the curatorial coordinators for the project. Kode has organized the section from Sápmi/Nordic countries.

The exhibition was on display at MASP in São Paulo from October 20, 2023–February 25, 2024; it will tbe on view at Kode from April 26–August 25, 2024.

Curators

Abraham Cruzvillegas, artist (Mexico City)

Alexandra Kahsenni:io Nahwegahbow, Jocelyn Piirainen, Michelle LaVallee and Wahsontiio Cross, National Gallery of Canada (Ottawa)

Bruce Johnson-McLean, National Gallery of Australia (Canberra)

Edson Kayapó, Kássia Borges Karajá and Renata Tupinambá, MASP (São Paulo)

Irene Snarby, Kode (Bergen/Tromsø)

Nigel Borell, Auckland War Memorial Museum (Auckland)

Sandra Gamarra (Lima).

The exhibition features master sponsorship from Nubank, support from Sotheby’s and the Norwegian Consulate, and cultural support from the National Gallery of Australia and National Gallery of Canada.