Moderna Museet’s exhibition is the most extensive presentation to date of Aage Gaup’s art, featuring large-scale sculptures, installations and set design models, as well as sketch models for public artworks. The exhibition is curated by Lena Essling and Joa Ljungberg.

A return through art

Due to the Nazi forced evacuations during the Second World War, Aage Gaup (1943–2021) grew up separated from his Sámi origins. As a young adult, he returned to his roots in Sápmi through art. He became a key figure in the revitalisation of the Sámi cultural scene from the 1970s onwards.

In his artworks, he allows the deeply personal to meet the historical, the mythical and the political. His large-scale sculptures of wood, metal and stone navigate between opposites – powerful and poetic, harsh and tender.

The sensitivity to materials and references to a Sámi visual world were also central to his work as a set designer. However, his theatre commissions differed fundamentally from his independent artistic work in the studio, as they involved a dynamic collaborative process with the ensemble and director.

When Beaivváš Sámi Našunálateáhter – the Sámi National Theatre – was founded in 1981, he became its first and perhaps most important set designer. Here, he created open, visually striking stage settings featuring flexible, sculptural elements that allowed for various staging solutions.