Biedjovรกggi Reorientations
Reorienting Biedjovรกggi
With the plan of re-opening and expanding mining operation in Biedjovรกggi there are various processes that are facing limitations and eventually an end. Planning a such operation must take consideration of all the processes and elements that exist in the landscape today . Within these processes are subjects that sometimes have no voice in the discussion of the planning a space. The mining operation is set to begin in two years and before that, all adjustments to the plan will be finalised in the beginning of 2013. The discussions of the plans of the have only taken place at public meetings and in the local media. At the public meeting in Kautokeino 9. November 2011 when the plan program was introduced, there was emphasized that in the further research and planning there would have to be a greater focus on the indigenous perspective. The traditional impact assessment methods and planning documents have little focus on traditional knowledge about natural resources, cultural heritages and etc. It is clear that there will be loss of grazing land for reindeers and local people are going to have to adjust to that. Species of plants and animals will disappear and archeological remains of settlement will lose trace. In order to respond to these changes there is a need to look at an alternative for traditional impact assessment. There is need to change the mentality of the space where the existing plans of mining is oriented. An alternative process where events take place in space and time can shed light on the process for the people involved in the debate and the ones who are affected by it. With temporality as a policy it will reveal attention to the facts that the entities and identities are collectively portrayed through practices that shape relations that must be focused on.
ORE DEPOSITS
FALL GRAZING
DEVELOPMENT AREA
IMPACT AREA
ENDANGERED SPECIES
CULTURAL HERITAGE SITES
SPRING AND FALL GRAZING
MIGRATION PATH
COLLECTION AREAS
EVENTS
,,When we look at a map that is laid on a table, a flat surface. Space is represented as a completed product. As a coherent closed system, the space is completely interconnected and instantly interconnected. It tells the order of things”* What happens when the different processes of the landscape of Biedjovággi are pulled up from the flat map, is that it opens up the order. The informations become disoriented and provoke a unaccustomed view. It exposes incoherence and fragmentations of the spatial itself. The spatial can be seen as an arena of
possibilities where unconnected narratives can be brought to contact. In this spatiality different temporalities and different voices must work out means of accommodation. By that making nodes through the routes of the inconsistent processes that can create interventions. But with the interventions in Biedjovággi you are not just travelling through the space or across it, you are participating to altering it a little *Doreen Massey For space
REINDEER HERDING PROCESSES IN BIEDJOVAGGI
ARCTIC GOLD PLAN PROGRAM IN BIEDJOVAGGI
CULTURAL HERITAGE SITES AND ENDANGERED SPECIES
NODES OF PROCESSES CONNECTED Livvosadji:
148778
148775 Description:
Árran
Original function:
Tent settlement
Type:
Settlement Area
Condition:
Intact
Description:
Árran
Original function:
Tent settlement
Type:
Settlement Area
Condition:
Intact
Municipality:
Kautokeino
Category:
Archaeological
148767
Lota lota
site
Description:
Livvosadji
Original function:
Agriculture
Type:
Settlement Area
Condition:
Intact Kautokeino Archaeological
Municipality:
Kautokeino
Municipality:
Category:
Archaeological
Category:
Coregonus lavaretus
site
site
148772
148762-1
Description:
Árran
Original function:
Tent settlement
Type:
Settlement Area
Condition:
Intact
Municipality:
Kautokeino
Category:
Archaeological site
Description:
Árran
Original function:
Tent settlement
Type:
Settlement Area
Condition:
Intact
Municipality:
Kautokeino
Category:
Archaeological single remain
Geadgeborra 148776
148770 Description:
Geadgeborra
Original function:
Hunting
Type:
Storage site
Condition:
Intact
Municipality:
Kautokeino
Category:
Archaeological
Description:
Árran
Original function:
Tent settlement
Type:
Settlement Area
Condition:
Intact
Municipality:
Kautokeino
Category:
Archaeological site
site
Eristalis gomojunovae
148779
148760 Description:
Geadgeborra
Original function:
Hunting
Type:
Storage site
Condition:
Intact
Description:
Cairn
Original function:
Defence
Type:
Uncultiv. Land
Condition:
Intact
Municipality:
Kautokeino
Category:
Archaeological
148781
site
Description:
Geadgeborra
Original function:
Hunting
Type:
Storage site
Condition:
Intact Kautokeino Archaeological
Municipality:
Kautokeino
Municipality:
Category:
Archaeological
Category:
site
148764 Description:
Geadgeborra
Original function:
Hunting
Type:
Storage site
Condition:
Intact
Municipality:
Kautokeino
Category:
Archaeological
Eahppádus: Plans of building new process plant
site
Melanitta fusca
148777 Cairn
Description:
site
Original function: Type:
Uncultiv. Land
Condition:
Intact
Municipality:
Kautokeino
Category:
Archaeological
Balloons - water damage Dás ii goassege šat šaddá ealát” There will be no more livelihood here
site
Oeneis norna Nemoura arctica
148780
148791
Biedjovággi Opera - Critical area reindeer migration will get lost Erlend text
Description:
Árran
Description:
Cairn
Original function:
Tent settlement
Original function:
Defence
Type:
Settlement Area
Type:
Uncultiv. Land
Condition:
Intact
Condition:
Intact
Municipality:
Nordeisa
Municipality:
Kautokeino
Category:
Archaeological
Category:
Archaeological site
site
148787 Carex glacialis
Description:
Árran
Original function:
Tent settlement
Type:
Settlement Area
Condition:
Intact
Municipality:
Nordreisa
Category:
Archaeological
Petrified forest: Defence cultural heritage Gulo gulo
site 148788
Description:
148792 Hunting Geadgeborra
Original function: Type:
Storage site
Condition:
Intact
Municipality:
Nordreisa
Category:
Archaeological
Description:
Árran
Original function:
Tent settlement
Type:
Settlement Area
Condition:
Intact
Municipality:
Nordeisa
Category:
Archaeological site
148790
149031 Description: 149030 Description:
Árran
Original function:
Tent settlement
Type:
Settlement Area
Condition:
Intact
Municipality:
Nordeisa
Category:
Archaeological
Original function:
Hunting
Type:
Catch pit
Condition:
Intact
Municipality:
Nordreisa
Category:
Archaeological
Description:
Árran
Original function:
Tent settlement
Type:
Settlement Area
Condition:
Intact
Municipality:
Nordreisa
Category:
Archaeological site
site
site Gavia arctica Salvelinus alpinus
Sterna paradisaea Larus canus
Siida: 149032
149033
EXISTING REINDEER HUTS
Description:
Árran
Original function:
Tent settlement
Type:
Settlement Area
Condition:
Intact
Municipality:
Nordreisa
Category:
Archaeological site
Description:
Geadgeborra
Original function:
Hunting
Type:
Storage site
Description:
Árran
Description:
Árran
Condition:
Intact
Original function:
Tent settlement
Original function:
Tent settlement
Municipality:
Nordreisa
Type:
Settlement Area
Type:
Settlement Area
Category:
Archaeological
Condition:
Intact
Condition:
ntact
site
Municipality:
Nordreisa
Municipality:
Nordeisa
Category:
Archaeological
Category:
Archaeological
148789
site
Balloons - cultural heritage
148793
site
Anas acuta
The Directorate for Cultural Heritage http://www.askeladden.ra.no http://artskart.artsdatabanken.no/ https://kart.reindrift.no/reinkart/ http://www.kautokeino.kommune.no http://www.nordreisa.kommune.no
1 : 20 000 0
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1 km
Culture
January February
Season Time March April May June
FESTIVAL
Migration
REHERSALS
Spring Grazing
WRITING & COMPOSING
Migration
AUDITION
Winter Grazing up
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ALTERNATIVE TIMELINE
INTERVIEWS & GATHERING OF INFORMATION
Reindeer Herding
FUNDING
Culling & Autum Grazing
September
24
MINERAL EXTRACTION
20
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Arctic Gold Timeline ?
Events
Politics
Migration
October
Winter Grazing
November December
REORIENTATIONAL EVENTS RHIZOME
Biedjovággi Opera people, animals, plants of present, past and future and the people from the outside. The dramatic plot of Biedjovággi is the prospect of mining for gold to a much greater degree than what has been done before, and the landscape that this activity will cause to be lost for all foreseeable future. The collecting of the information that will be the foundation for the writing of the opera, the writing of the opera, the playing of the opera in the mines and the audience experiencing it will all be part of a process that will either be a farewell to the landscape at stake or a tipping-point. The aim of doing this should not be understood as activism where the sole purpose is to prevent change and to support the argument for keeping the status-quo. But the exercise might give more weight to arguments and
considerations that “weighed” less prior to the process.
Lastning med fjärrstyrning
In the first part of the period of the planned operation Arctic Gold expects to extract 4500 kg of gold from Biedjovággi. The mass of this amount of gold equates to a cube that is 65 cm * 65 cm * 65 cm. This is easy to calculate. Gold can be found in the periodic table where all the properties of gold can be seen. Gold also has a stable market value that is in fact increasing due to loss of faith in the economy that is no longer based on gold- or silver standards. The difficulty lies in comparing this fact with more elusive values such as historical facts hidden in the landscape, animal habitats, flora and special practices that leave little or no trace in the landscape. How much does this weigh?
Brytningsskärningar
Kilstigort
When the network of interconnected stories of the past and present is revealed for us in Biedjovággi it becomes clear that there is a drama that is played out that very few are invited to observe. The cast in this drama is not typical, but nevertheless there are actors in this area that for the uninformed observer is unseen or seen but not seen in a context that has taken the complete complexity into account. When collecting information from as many sources as possible and visualizing them together one gets an idea of who these actors are and how they might me interrelated, but this is just scratching the surface of what is there. In order to get a better idea of this more work would be necessary to get a sufficient understanding of who the affected are and the relation they have to each other. “They” being both local
Lastning med fjärrstyrning
Långhålsborrning
Laddning Panostus
Brytningsskärningar
Kilstigort
REORIENTATIONAL EVENTS
Section of the mine from rapport made by Rambøll for Arctic Gold
Långhålsborrning
Laddning Panostus
Section of the mine from rapport made by Rambøll for Arctic Gold
Eichbaum Opera by Raumlabor 2008 The Opera was written by four composers who based their plays on interviews and research done by Raumlabor in an urban study they were commissioned to do along the U18 between Müllheim and Essen in Germany The situation in Biedjovággi would be suitable for a similar approach as this project even though the setting is very different.
REORIENTATIONAL EVENTS
Doubt = Eahppádus
In 2006 Lars Ø Ramberg completed a monument on the roof of Palast der Republik, Berlin Germany that was being de constructed at the time. The monument reflects the feelings many people felt about this and the ongoing debate in post DDR Germany about the role of their recent history as a part of the country’s identity.
On Rambers home page this is written about the project: “Most monuments conclude and close History. With Palast des Zweifels Ramberg intended to stimulate reflections over the ongoing discussions, objecting any ideological conclusions. Palast des Zweifels could therefore be seen as a critic of the tradition of historical monuments.” Abandoned Mining Area In Biedjovággi in 1991
Even though the national identity of Germans and deciding on allowing gold mining in Biedjovággi is quite different, there are similarities. In the same way that Palast der Republik is irretrievable now that it has been disassembled into little pieces the same can be said for the landscape where the gold mines are planned. Reports from Naturvernforbundet show us that attempts to repair the landscape from the last period of mineral extraction in Biedjovággi have been unsuccessful and the reindeer herders are still unable tu use this land. To build a monument expressing this doubt that many feel about this development would visualize the conflicted feelings people have about this development.
REORIENTATIONAL EVENTS
Dás ii goassege šat šaddá ealát” (There will be no more livelihood here) Quote from unnamed reindeer herder, interview made by Friends of the Earth Norway Biedjovággi gruver - Hva vet vi og hva vet vi ikke? Svein Lund 09.11.2011
Irreversibility Cultural Heritage - Species. Don’t have voices
REORIENTATIONAL EVENTS
Petrified Forest Dás ii goassege šat šaddá ealát” There will be no more livelihood here The direct translation of the name Biedjovaggi is “storage-valley”. The number of cairns landmarks contains information about siida community of reindeer herders. It is information of past and present tent settlements, used to orientate the routes to rivers, grazing land and woods through the valley. Some of the cairns are located within the development area of the mining operation which means that some will be removed and some will be relocated.
Top: Mineral extracts taken from Biedjovággi for sale on E Bay 2010 Bottom:ineral extracts taken from Biedjovággi for sale on E Bay 2011
REORIENTATIONAL EVENTS
Where Decisions Are Made
ร rran: the fire on the hearth at the centre of the lavvu. Like the sun at the centre of cosmic life, the รกrran gives warmth, security and a sense of order to the family and the siida (local community on pasture areas) gives focus to friendship and sharing. The tent settlement heritage is made visible by round fireplace with 0,5 m and consists of 6 fist-sized rocks.
Biedjovรกggi overlaps the two municipalities of Nordreisa and Kautokeino and lies far from both administrative centers and even further from Oslo where the necessary dispensations for mining to proceeed, must be granted. The geographic distance from the landscape that is at stake and where decisions are made, contributes to an abstract understanding of the matter and the misconception of the untouched wilderness that is up for grabs.
If the geographic location of the decision making process could be moved to the exact location that is being discussed the abstraction of colored tracings on the geological surveys would become clearer. This might influence the mentality of the people involved and the outcome of these meetings. Arran is the Sami word for the heart of the lavvu and is also the name for our proposal for an alternative architecture for making informed decisions and seeing the area that will be impacted by these decisions.
To the left: Trond Giske (Minister of Trade and Industry) showing the survey of mineral resources in Finnmark at a press conference in Oslo To the right: The same presentation in the landscape in question.
REORIENTATIONAL EVENTS
The Gold Cube: Arctic Gold Expects to extract at least 4500 kg of gold from BiedjovĂĄggi each year . The mass of this amount of gold equates to a cube that is 65 cm * 65 cm * 65 cm. A replica of this square could be mounted in the landscape to show the contrast between the lanscape and the size
Livvosadji: Is a plateau that serves as a resting place for reindeers during their travel through the grazing land. It is a dry and relatively flat surface with a ca 300 m diameter. It´s spatiality is always open and not completed. Performance platform