LB°27 — News
Siri Baggerman is a Sámi artist based in the Netherlands who will present new artwork along the Luleå ice track during winter 2025-2026.
The first artwork of Luleåbiennalen 2027 will be presented already during winter 2025–2026. Artist Siri Baggerman is invited to create new temporary public artworks along the 10 kilometre long ice track between the Northern and Southern harbours of Luleå.
During the last few weeks of 2023, a string of wind shelters were installed along the ice track in Luleå—just like every year. Only this time, they looked a bit different. Three of the shelters were painted in geometric patterns and bright colours, and adorned with calligraphy in Arabic. Together, they constituted the artwork Sadaqah Jariyah – On Behalf of Nils Amund Raknerud by Luleå based artist Fadlabi. This artwork became the very first public installation presented as part of Luleåbiennalen 2024, and throughout their time on the ice they attracted a lot of attention from locals as well as visitors.
This year, Luleåbiennalen has entered into a renewed agreement of collaboration with Luleå municipality which entails a continued effort to present contemporary art along the ice track. Artist Siri Baggerman has been invited to create the next installation, which will be presented in Luleå already this winter.
Baggerman (b. 1978) is an artist with roots in Bađatluokta Sæterjord, a Sea Sámi area on the Norwegian side of Sábme, based in Utrecht, the Netherlands. With colourful expressions and motifs of everyday—sometimes humouristic—events, she often returns to depicting themes such as double identities and collective memory.
“Dálkkádatrievdan—climate change—is a new word in the North Sámi language, but its effects are already visible. Presenting work on frozen sea feels symbolic: the ice is no longer something we can take for granted. For Sámi communities, climate change threatens not just the land, but their knowledge, language, and way of life.”
Baggerman will be working on site in Luleå during autumn 2025 and going forward also be a part of the public programme of Luleåbiennalen 2027. Together with artists Carola Grahn, New Red Order and Wolf Babe Collective, as well as poet and writer Lea Simma, she will be one of the practitioners shaping the upcoming biennial edition.
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The art on the ice track is part of the project Horisonter (Horizons), which explores and activates the ice track in Luleå through artistic processes and productions. Situated in a natural environment where every-day activities take place, the project highlights conversations regarding place, identity, indigeneity, nature and future through expressions of contemporary art and with an indigenous perspective on land and water. Horisonter is a Leader project, co-funded by the European Union and Leader Spira Mare. www.leaderspiramare.se
