Norway | Outsider

The first turning point of Outsider took place in November 2017, following our previous work several months earlier when we launched the idea of Outsider at the Agrikultura Triennale in Malmö, Sweden. This new phase was part of a nomadic residency proposal in collaboration with the Kunst Vardo institution.This residency took us to the remote region of Finnmark, in the far north of Norway, where we set up base in the town of Kirkenes, located on the border between Norway, Russia, and Finland. This territory, part of the region of Sápmi, is known as the "Land of the Midnight Sun" and is the homeland of the Sámi people, an indigenous group that has inhabited these lands for millennia.

Our goal, much like in the project's inception, was to explore territories in transition, but this time with a particular focus on the geographical and cultural boundaries of a territory marked by its history and its people. In this context, the markings made in Finnmark took on both poetic and symbolic relevance. The idea was, through the act of marking the territory with the Outsider flag, to create an intervention that went beyond mere geographical signaling. The proposal was to understand the act of marking as a gesture that revealed the tension between tradition and transformation, while also serving as a reflection on the current struggles for autonomy and sustainability in the region.

The landscape of Finnmark, with its vast snowy plains and imposing mountains, became a space where geopolitical borders blurred, and the true boundary seemed to be the daily struggle for survival in an environment increasingly threatened by climate change. The markings made in this territory did not only indicate a physical point but also drew a symbolic connection to the struggles of indigenous peoples, particularly the Sámi, who face existential challenges related to the protection of their natural resources, culture, and traditional way of life.

Conversations with people we met during the trip revealed deep stories about World War II, which still seemed alive in the collective memory of the region. This was a place where the scars of the past, the marks of the German occupation, continued to shape identities and the landscape. It was impossible not to reflect on how territories change under the forces of history and how people, though often the most affected by these changes, are forced to adapt, resist, and find ways to live beyond the borders imposed by the past.

In Finnmark, we discovered a territory of resistance, where local communities fight for access to basic resources: potable water, clean air, and the freedom to live autonomously, outside the global systems that many feel have come to strip them of their identity and lands. The Outsider markings in this territory became an act of visibility, a sign of support for communities that, despite being minorities within an interconnected world, continue to fight to maintain their way of life in a rapidly changing planet.

Thus, the Outsider project in northern Norway became a moment of deep reflection on what it means to belong to a territory, on the invisible struggles of people living on the margins, and on the relationship between landscape, history, and the present. The intervention in Finnmark became a search to understand how people, beyond physical and political boundaries, continue to fight for what they believe is their right: the right to live in harmony with the land, with the community, and with themselves.