Elin Haugdal
University of Tromsø, Department of Culture and Literature, Faculty Member
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
This article examines building-related art in a number of public buildings in Sápmi erected in the period from the 1960 until today, as a contribution to Sámi identity and belonging. The primary interest is on the permanent works of art... more
This article examines building-related art in a number of public buildings in Sápmi erected in the period from the 1960 until today, as a contribution to Sámi identity and belonging. The primary interest is on the permanent works of art that have become inseparable parts of the buildings, but the article also touches upon temporary building-related projects. Driven by Sami self-representation and ownership, these art works are active agents to create community, consensus but also criticism of power. Key words: Public art. Sámi architecture. Identity. Belonging. Reappropriation
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
To achieve monumentality in contemporary public Sámi architecture seems to be a difficult task, as is the case in other indigenous cultures and regions all over the world. This challenge related to monumental issues is however not... more
To achieve monumentality in contemporary public Sámi architecture seems to be a difficult task, as is the case in other indigenous cultures and regions all over the world. This challenge related to monumental issues is however not peripheral. It goes straight into the core of the architectural culture itself and turns the question back: What is monumentality at the end of the twentieth century? The aim of this article is double. On the one hand to investigate public buildings and concepts of crucial importance in the construction of Sámi identity in architecture, and on the other to point out general issues concerning the conception of monumentality in the late modern and contemporary architecture, which are actualized by public buildings in Sápmi.
Research Interests:
Large scale residential buildings from the modernist era have been severly criticized for being hostile both towards people and the environment. In small towns and in less urbanized areas in northern Scandinavia such residential blocks... more
Large scale residential buildings from the modernist era have been severly criticized for being hostile both towards people and the environment. In small towns and in less urbanized areas in northern Scandinavia such residential blocks are highly visible elements in the landscape. When Hesteskoblokka (architect Astrup and Hellern) was erected in the recreational area outside Hammerfest in 1965 it was the largest residential block in Norway. A similar block, Ormen Långe (architect Ralph Erskine), was completed in Svappavaara in 1965. Both buildings contained apartments for workers in, respectively, the frozen food company Findus and in LKAB mining company. Brand new, they were strong symbols of growing industrial activity and modernization of the north. The blocks were similarly heavily affected by the economic downturn in the following decades, turned into slum or vacated. However, these blocks are not only sociologically interesting, but also the first in the Nordic countries where...
Research Interests:
This article examines building-related art in a number of public buildings in Sápmi erected in the period from the 1960 until today, as a contribution to Sámi identity and belonging. The primary interest is on the permanent works of art... more
This article examines building-related art in a number of public buildings in Sápmi erected in the period from the 1960 until today, as a contribution to Sámi identity and belonging. The primary interest is on the permanent works of art that have become inseparable parts of the buildings, but the article also touches upon temporary building-related projects. Driven by Sami self-representation and ownership, these art works are active agents to create community, consensus but also criticism of power.
Key words: Public art. Sámi architecture. Identity. Belonging. Reappropriation
Key words: Public art. Sámi architecture. Identity. Belonging. Reappropriation
Research Interests:
Challenges in contemporary Sami architecture are often met by using highly visual figures and symbols that represent a conception of Sami culture. This chapter focuses on a subtler symbolic aspect, namely the materials used to construct... more
Challenges in contemporary Sami architecture are often met by using highly visual figures and symbols that represent a conception of Sami culture. This chapter focuses on a subtler symbolic aspect, namely the materials used to construct and clad the buildings. Although the materials chosen follow Nordic and international architectural trends, the wood, stone, concrete and glass are ascribed a set of meanings to fit the Sami context. The question is to what degree these materials mediate conventional and even stereotypical understandings of Saminess or produce awareness of new Sami architecture and identity.
Research Interests:
This article investigates public architecture in Sápmi from the 1970s until today, with particular emphasis on building materials and their discourse. Although the materials chosen for clothing or for revealed construction follow Nordic... more
This article investigates public architecture in Sápmi from the 1970s until today, with particular emphasis on building materials and their discourse. Although the materials chosen for clothing or for revealed construction follow Nordic and inter¬national architectonic trends, the wood, stone, concrete and glass are ascribed a set of meanings to fit the Sami context. The question is to what degree these materials mediate conventional and even stereotypical understandings of Saminess, or produce awareness of new Sami architecture and identity
Research Interests:
This essay discusses the Oslo Opera House building designed by Snøhetta (inaugurated 2008) as one of three monumental buildings in EU's Eco Culture Program and a so called demonstration building for ecological solutions in... more
This essay discusses the Oslo Opera House building designed by Snøhetta (inaugurated 2008) as one of three monumental buildings in EU's Eco Culture Program and a so called demonstration building for ecological solutions in architecture. The most visible result in the Opera building is a large-scale glass wall with integrated solar cell panels, producing electricity as well as providing sun shading. The real ecological values, however, are hardly to be measured in money or watt, nor in reduced emissions or climatic change. This solar wall is first and foremost putting a strong ecological intention on display.With its giant ecological footprint Snøhetta's building can never be defended within a rational, environmental discourse. It is a contradictory example of sustainable architecture measured up against crucial factors like situatedness, construction and materials, energy consumption and costs. But this spectacular monumental construction which presents a new urban space in...
Research Interests:
Photographic recordings from the 1950s–1970s give us glimpses into the Soviet settlements on Svalbard during the Cold War period. The majority of these pictures have been taken by Norwegians during friendly exchanges with the inhabitants... more
Photographic recordings from the 1950s–1970s give us glimpses into the Soviet settlements on Svalbard during the Cold War period. The majority of these pictures have been taken by Norwegians during friendly exchanges with the inhabitants in Barentsburg and Pyramiden, and demonstrate how important culture and sport were as a contact zone. These pictures also testify that the Soviets invested more seriously in their welfare, culture, education and family life on Svalbard than the Norwegians did. Photography seems to be a way of seeing, meeting and understanding others, and a way of confirming the existence of a common world on Svalbard. However, the Soviet Consul’s strict control of photographing practices may be seen as part of a propagandizing regime, in line with the Soviet imagery which spread even to this remote Arctic place. Owing to the cultural museums’ digitizing projects and to private sharing on social media, photographs from this period have become increasingly available, ...
Research Interests:
This article investigates public architecture in Sápmi from the 1970s until today, with particular emphasis on building materials and their discourse. Although the materials chosen for clothing or for revealed construction follow Nordic... more
This article investigates public architecture in Sápmi from the 1970s until today, with particular emphasis on building materials and their discourse. Although the materials chosen for clothing or for revealed construction follow Nordic and inter¬national architectonic trends, the wood, stone, concrete and glass are ascribed a set of meanings to fit the Sami context. The question is to what degree these materials mediate conventional and even stereotypical understandings of Saminess, or produce awareness of new Sami architecture and identity.
Research Interests:
Photographic recordings from the 1950s–1970s give us glimpses into the Soviet settlements on Svalbard during the Cold War period. The majority of these pictures have been taken by Norwegians during friendly exchanges with the... more
Photographic recordings from the 1950s–1970s give us glimpses into the Soviet settlements on Svalbard during the Cold War period. The majority of these pictures have been taken by Norwegians during friendly exchanges with the inhabitants in Barentsburg andPyramiden, and demonstrate how important culture and sport were as a contact zone. These pictures also testify that the Soviets invested more seriously in their welfare, culture, education and family life on Svalbard than the Norwegians did.Photography seems to be a way of seeing, meeting and understanding others, and a way of confirming the existence of a common world on Svalbard.However, the Soviet Consul’s strict control of photographing practices may be seen as part of a propagandizing regime, in line with the Soviet imagery which spread even to this remote Arctic place. Owing to the cultural museums’ digitizing projects and to private sharing on social media, photographs from this period have become increasingly available, but without rules or guiding principles as to how to put them together and interpret them. Thus, to the contemporary viewer these images offer the possibility to make visual montages, and to reveal the singular image’s meanings well beyond both the Soviet authorities’ and the photographer's control. This article, while making such a montage, discusses how photography might shape and change our historical understanding of people and places.
Research Interests:
Herta Grøndal worked as a photographer on Svalbard during the period 1952 to 1974, and continued to visit the archipelago regularly until 2008. Her pictures show an Arctic town, Longyearbyen, at the dawn of its emergence as a modern... more
Herta Grøndal worked as a photographer on Svalbard during the period 1952 to 1974, and continued to visit the archipelago regularly until 2008. Her pictures show an Arctic town, Longyearbyen, at the dawn of its emergence as a modern family society, with an increasing presence of women and children. Grøndal depicts women and men in traditional gender roles, but her pictures also transform these roles, demonstrating that the photographic image is not a neutral medium documenting “facts”, but a contested and often paradoxical site of gender, identity and modernity. This article explores how Herta Grøndal’s motifs mediate, and also construct, the new identity of Svalbard as a place appropriate even for women and their children, thus challenging common ideas of the Arctic as male, heroic, uninhabited and inhospitable.
Research Interests:
Landskapsarkitekturen på Campus Breivika i Tromsø har blitt til over flere tiår, fra 1970-tallet til i dag. Campus-landskapet, slik det ble formet de første tiårene, særlig under Bjarne Aasen, spiller på regionale omgivelser i bruk av... more
Landskapsarkitekturen på Campus Breivika i Tromsø har blitt til over flere tiår, fra 1970-tallet til i dag. Campus-landskapet, slik det ble formet de første tiårene, særlig under Bjarne Aasen, spiller på regionale omgivelser i bruk av planter og stein og skånsom behandling av terrenget. Også kontrastene i klima og lys som vi finner i nordlige områder, er utnyttet. Denne lokale paletten er tilført figurer og motiver med ulikt geografisk og historisk opphav, som tilsammen gir et helt nytt landskapsbilde i nordnorsk sammenheng. Artikkelen fokuserer på de materielle, romlige og symbolske aspektene ved dette campuslandskapet. Artikkelen skjeler også til historiske campusidealer og til andre universitetsområder i Norge, utformet eller fornyet av Aasen.
Research Interests:
Modernismens store boligblokker har blitt hardt kritisert for å vaere fiendlige mot både mennesker og miljø. I småbyer og i mindre urbaniserte områder i det nordlige Skandinavia er slike boligblokker svaert synlige innslag i landskapet.... more
Modernismens store boligblokker har blitt hardt kritisert for å vaere fiendlige mot både mennesker og miljø. I småbyer og i mindre urbaniserte områder i det nordlige Skandinavia er slike boligblokker svaert synlige innslag i landskapet. De står som monumenter over en optimistisk tanke om nye sosiale bomåter, og baerer spor av et halvt århundre med tøffe svingninger i samfunnet. Da "Hesteskoblokka" i Hammerfest sto oppført i 1965, var den Norges største boligblokk, og den dominerer fremdeles det naturskjønne området et par kilometer sør for sentrum. En liknende blokk, "Ormen långe", stod ferdig i Svappavaara i Nord-Sverige 1965. Det var en bygning på nesten 200 meter med 88 leiligheter for arbeidere knyttet til
LKABs gruvedrift. Den var tenkt som en rygg i Ralph Erskines arktiske og økologiske by, som aldri ble realisert. Blokka ble stående alene, og i dag er mer enn halvparten revet. Både "Hesteskoblokka" og "Ormen långe" var bevisst formgitt etter nordlig klima og etter stedets topografi, og var slik en del av en gryende miljøbevisst arkitektur og en ny regionalisme innen den modernistiske arkitekturen. Artikkelen diskuterer dette som forsøk på ny regionalisme i den seinmoderne arkitekturen i nord, og stiller spørsmål ved både ideer og realisering.
LKABs gruvedrift. Den var tenkt som en rygg i Ralph Erskines arktiske og økologiske by, som aldri ble realisert. Blokka ble stående alene, og i dag er mer enn halvparten revet. Både "Hesteskoblokka" og "Ormen långe" var bevisst formgitt etter nordlig klima og etter stedets topografi, og var slik en del av en gryende miljøbevisst arkitektur og en ny regionalisme innen den modernistiske arkitekturen. Artikkelen diskuterer dette som forsøk på ny regionalisme i den seinmoderne arkitekturen i nord, og stiller spørsmål ved både ideer og realisering.
Research Interests:
This article investigates public architecture in Sápmi from the 1970s until today, with particular emphasis on building materials and their discourse. Although the materials chosen for clothing or construction follow Nordic and... more
This article investigates public architecture in Sápmi from the 1970s until today, with particular emphasis on building materials and their discourse. Although the materials chosen for clothing or construction follow Nordic and international architectural trends, the wood, stone, concrete and glass are ascribed a set of meanings to fit the Sámi context. The question is to what degree these materials mediate conventional and even stereotypical understandings of Sáminess, or produce awareness of new Sámi architecture and identity.
Research Interests:
To achieve monumentality in contemporary public Sámi architecture seems to be a difficult task, as is the case in other indigenous cultures and regions all over the world. This challenge related to monumental issues is however not... more
To achieve monumentality in contemporary public Sámi architecture seems to be a difficult task, as is the case in other indigenous cultures and regions all over the world. This challenge related to monumental issues is however not peripheral. It goes straight into the core of the architectural culture itself and turns the question back: What is monumentality at the end of the twentieth century? The aim of this article is double. On the one hand to investigate public buildings and concepts of crucial importance in the construction of Sámi identity in architecture, and on the other to point out general issues concerning the conception of monumentality in the late modern and contemporary architecture, which are actualized by public buildings in Sápmi.
Research Interests:
This essay discusses the Oslo Opera House building designed by Snøhetta (inaugurated 2008) as one of three monumental buildings in EU’s Eco Culture Program and a so called demonstration building for ecological solutions in architecture.... more
This essay discusses the Oslo Opera House building designed by Snøhetta (inaugurated 2008) as one of three monumental buildings in EU’s Eco Culture Program and a so called demonstration building for ecological solutions in architecture. The most visible result in the Opera building is a large-scale glass wall with integrated solar cell panels, producing electricity as well as providing sun shading. The real ecological values, however, are hardly to be measured in money or watt, nor in reduced emissions or climatic change. This solar wall is first and foremost putting a strong ecological intention on display.
With its giant ecological footprint Snøhetta’s building can never be defended with- in a rational, environmental discourse. It is a contradictory example of sustainable architecture measured up against crucial factors like situatedness, construction and materials, energy consumption and costs. But this spectacular monumental construction which presents a new urban space in a former industrial part of the city, needs to be studied in accordance with deep ecology theories like Félix Guattari’s Les trois écologies (1989). Guattari’s extended definition of ecology, including sociocultural conditions and human mentality, gives an opportunity to discuss ecology not first and foremost as a rational and ethical challenge in architecture but as an aesthetical.
With its giant ecological footprint Snøhetta’s building can never be defended with- in a rational, environmental discourse. It is a contradictory example of sustainable architecture measured up against crucial factors like situatedness, construction and materials, energy consumption and costs. But this spectacular monumental construction which presents a new urban space in a former industrial part of the city, needs to be studied in accordance with deep ecology theories like Félix Guattari’s Les trois écologies (1989). Guattari’s extended definition of ecology, including sociocultural conditions and human mentality, gives an opportunity to discuss ecology not first and foremost as a rational and ethical challenge in architecture but as an aesthetical.