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Guests to the renowned gallery are familiar to unexpected encounters in its expansive Turbine Hall. They've relaxed under an simulated sun, slid down helter skelters, and witnessed robotic jellyfish hovering through the air. Yet this marks the first time they will be venturing themselves in the detailed nasal passages of a reindeer. The newest creative installation for this immense space—developed by Indigenous Sámi creator Máret Ánne Sara—welcomes patrons into a maze-like structure inspired by the expanded interior of a reindeer's nose airways. Once inside, they can wander around or unwind on pelts, listening on earphones to tribal seniors imparting tales and insights.

Focus on the Nasal Passages

Why choose the nasal structure? It may appear quirky, but the artwork celebrates a little-known natural marvel: scientists have discovered that in less than one second, the reindeer's nose can heat the ambient air it takes in by 80°C, enabling the creature to survive in harsh Arctic temperatures. Enlarging the nose to larger than human size, Sara explains, "generates a sense of insignificance that you as a person are not dominant over nature." The artist is a former writer, writer for kids, and land defender, who hails from a reindeer-herding family in northern Norway. "Maybe that generates the possibility to shift your viewpoint or evoke some humbleness," she continues.

An Homage to Traditional Ways

The labyrinthine design is part of a elements in Sara's engaging commission showcasing the traditions, science, and philosophy of the Sámi, the continent's original inhabitants. Partially migratory, the Sámi total about 100,000 people ranged across the Norwegian north, the Finnish Arctic, the Swedish Lapland, and Russia's Kola Peninsula (an area they call Sápmi). They have faced oppression, integration policies, and eradication of their tongue by all four nations. Through highlighting the reindeer, an animal at the center of the Sámi belief system and origin tale, the work also draws attention to the people's issues relating to the global warming, loss of territory, and external control.

Metaphor in Elements

Along the extended entrance ramp, there's a looming, 26-metre sculpture of pelts trapped by electrical wires. It represents a metaphor for the governance and financial structures constraining the Sámi. Partly a utility pole, part heavenly staircase, this component of the installation, called Goavve-, refers to the Sámi name for an severe climatic event, in which thick coatings of ice develop as fluctuating conditions liquefy and refreeze the snow, trapping the reindeers' primary winter food, fungus. Goavvi is a result of global heating, which is occurring up to at an accelerated rate in the Far North than in other regions.

Three years ago, I traveled to see Sara in a remote town during a goavvi winter and accompanied Sámi reindeer keepers on their snowmobiles in chilly conditions as they hauled carts of food pellets on to the exposed tundra to dispense manually. These animals surrounded round us, digging the frozen ground in vain attempts for lichen-covered morsels. This expensive and demanding procedure is having a significant influence on herding practices—and on the animals' independence. But the alternative is starvation. As goavvi winters become routine, reindeer are perishing—some from starvation, others suffocating after plunging into streams through prematurely melting ice. On one level, the art is a monument to them. "With the layering of elements, in a way I'm transporting the condition to London," says Sara.

Opposing Worldviews

The installation also emphasizes the clear contrast between the industrial understanding of power as a resource to be exploited for profit and existence and the Sámi worldview of energy as an inherent power in animals, humans, and land. This venue's history as a fossil fuel plant is tied up in this, as is what the Sámi consider eco-imperialism by Nordic countries. As they strive to be exemplars for renewable energy, Scandinavian countries have clashed with the Sámi over the development of wind energy projects, river barriers, and digging operations on their traditional territory; the Sámi contend their human rights, incomes, and culture are at risk. "It's challenging being such a limited population to defend yourself when the justifications are based on global sustainability," Sara notes. "Extractivism has co-opted the discourse of sustainability, but still it's just aiming to find better ways to maintain patterns of expenditure."

Family Challenges

The artist and her family have personally clashed with the Norwegian government over its increasingly stringent policies on animal husbandry. In 2016, Sara's sibling undertook a sequence of ultimately unsuccessful lawsuits over the forced culling of his animals, apparently to stop excessive feeding. In support, Sara produced a extended set of creations titled Pile O'Sápmi featuring a massive curtain of numerous cranial remains, which was displayed at the 2017's art exhibition Documenta 14 and later purchased by the public gallery, where it resides in the entrance.

Art as Awareness

For many Sámi, art seems the only realm in which they can be understood by people of other nations. Recently, Sara was {one of three|among a group of|