Vàimmus Guovlu (The heart’s place)
Film screening and discussion between Gunvor Guttorm, Professor of Duodji, and documentary filmmaker Karl-Oskar Gustafsson on the relationship between place, materials and language within duodji (Sámi expression).
Accelerator invites you to a film screening and a discussion between Gunvor Guttorm, Professor of Duodji, and documentary filmmaker Karl-Oskar Gustafsson. The conversation will be rooted in the terms Vàimmus (core, heart) and Guovlu (place, home) and will be about the role of relation to place within duodji and the impact of this on Sami language and expressive processes (duodjot).
In the context of the ongoing film-project Giella njáhká suoli avdnasii /Då smyger språket sig in i materialet, the main character of the film, Gunvor Guttorm, meets the film’s director Karl-Oskar Gustafsson to discuss the relation between place, material, and language in Guttorm’s artistic practice. Material from the film will be shown alongside a discussion of Guttorm’s artistic and academic practice in relation to her role as a carrier of tradition and knowledge as well as a contemporary interpreter of duodji.
The film-project started at the beginning of 2026 and has resulted in several trips to the northern Sami areas around Jåhkåmåhkke/Jokkmokk, Kárášjohka/Karasjok och Guovdageaidnu/Kautokeino. These areas in Sápmi are at the root of Guttorm’s work as a duodjar and central to northern Sami identity, culture, and history. The film follows Guttorm in her collection of materials and her cyclical practice through the seasons, and reflects on how language, materials and place affect her creative processes. The filmmaking process is likened to a series of linguistic and non-linguistic encounters, an ongoing conversation rooted in the location.
Programme
6–6.30 pm Guided tour of the exhibition Aerpiemaahtoe
6.45–8 pm Film screening and Q&A
Date: 2 December
Language: Swedish
Place: The exhibition space and Accelerator Café
Free admission – no registration needed.
Gunvor Guttorm
Gunvor Guttorm is Professor in Duodji at Sámi allaskuvla/Sámi University of Applied Sciences, in Guovdageaidnu/Kautokeino, Norway. She also runs GG Duodjikonsult. The focus of her research is duodji in a contemporary context and in the context of indigenous people. In her approaches she has tried to understand contemporary duodji and duddjon, by discussing what position and meaning they have and have had for Sámi societies. Being a practising duojár is a vital part of her artistic research. Among her recent research projects are Architecture of Aroha (2024), and Textile Heritage (2025-2030) at Konstfack in Stockholm. Between 2020 and 2022, she served as project leader on the Norwegian side of the large Arctic Indigenous Arts and Design Archives project, which engaged multiple practitioners and institutions across large parts of Sápmi. She has been the main editor for the journal Dieđut, and edited the groundbreaking DuodjiReader (2022) with professor Harald Gaski. In 2022, she curated the exhibition Arctic Highwaystogether with Dan Jåma, Tomas Colbengtson, and Britta Marakatt Labba.
Karl-Oskar Gustafsson
Karl-Oskar Gustafsson is a director and cinematographer, and holds a Master’s degree in documentary film from the Stockholm University of the Arts. In his films, he uses choreography as a tool to convey stories that straddle the boundaries between documentary, art, and fiction. This autumn, he is appearing in the theatre group Administrationen’s production and film adaptation of Verkligheten at Teater Konträr in Stockholm.
About the programme
This autumn and winter, Accelerator and Gaaltije Saemien Museume are organising a series of events that highlight the work of the Truth Commission for the Sámi People and tie in with the ongoing exhibition ‘Aerpiemaahtoe’. The series includes talks, lectures, film screenings and readings that aim to create space for discussion and reflection on Sámi knowledge traditions and to question how different knowledge systems are valued, managed and discriminated against.
The Truth Commission for the Sámi People presented its work to the Swedish government on September 30, 2026. Eight art institutions and organisations are engaging with this through exhibitions, concerts, symposia and talks: Accelerator, Amnesty Sápmi, Bildmuseet, Gaaltije Saemien Museume, Moderna Museet in Stockholm, Moderna Museet Malmö, the Sámi Association in Stockholm and the Public Art Agency Sweden. Together, we highlight stories of colonialism, Sámi identity, relationships to land, language and belonging.