Vandring i Rávdnjevággi 2025

The Rávdnjevággi area was once home to several Sámi families, until they were forcibly relocated to Sweden in 1923. The area holds a significant place in Sámi cultural history, and today it is the proposed site for a massive ski resort development. The performance searched for traces and memories of the Sámi life once lived there, and revealed the landscape’s painful colonial history and present through the audience’s own experiences.

Working group

The performance is produced in collaboration with Reality Research Centre (FI), Ferske Scener (NO) and Åarjelhsaemien Teatere South Sami Teatere. ZoneAtlas (FI) is developing the digital technology.

The work with Rávdnjevággi is inspired by the book The Rocks will Echo our Sorrow. About Forced Displacement of the Northern Sami. by Elin Anna Labba. Both Márjá Skum and Lars Heikka Blind has made invaluable contributions to the work process

Lars Henrik Blind is a reindeer herder, joiker, and storyteller from Karesuando. For over 40 years, he has been an active figure in Sámi cultural life, performing both in the Nordic countries and internationally, including tours with Nils-Aslak Valkeapää. He has worked with the Sámi Theatre in Kiruna and appeared in numerous film productions. Deeply knowledgeable and passionate about the joik tradition, he is currently creating a new joik album, Luohteárbi, supported by a grant from the Sámi Council.

Marja Skum is a researcher and a secretary of the Truth Commission for the Sami people

Walk in wet moss and hear the birds talk as you watch Sálašoaivi spread out onto the mainland. Be guided by a phone and chat over a cup of coffee. Experience a local joik.

That's part of what you'll experience in the performance Hiking in Rávdnjevággi. You'll be given a phone that's your personal guide to the landscape and the hidden Sami history that exists in the area around you.

The performance begins with a bus tour with a personal package for each audience member. The walk begins upon arrival at Rávdnjevággi (Finnheia), a 20-minute bus ride outside Tromsø. Later, you walk alone, with only the performance phone as your guide. It ends with a joint gathering around the campfire, before the audience and performers take the bus back together. The entire experience lasted four hours.

Walking within the Frame is a performance series artistically led by Maria Oiva (TTK) and Kristina Junttila (Ferske Scener, NO). The series explores the relationship between body, nature, and technology through immersive, experiential performances. Each work in the series is built on the same concept: the audience walks in nature with a personal “performance phone” that acts as a companion, guide, and performer. Every performance is created in dialogue with a new landscape, its history, and its community. The series is both local and international, offering a way to engage with nature from multiple perspectives — within different power relations, bodily and sensory conditions, and cultural contexts.