The Museum of Contemporary Circumpolar Art (MCCA) in Bern is kicking off the year in music and style with a new exhibition devoted to Arctic sounds. The opening takes place this Thursday, February 20, with a performance by the Inuit throat-singing duo PIQSIQ.
If you love circumpolar art, music and immersive experiences, don’t miss the new exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Circumpolar Art (MCCA) in Bern. Opening this Thursday, 20 February, the exhibition “Sound of Culture: Indigenous Vocal Heritage” will present a rich soundscape of traditional and contemporary Arctic music. Inuit katajjaq and Sami joik will take centre stage, along with the sounds of Arctic nature.
The MCCA, known for its rich contemporary Arctic art collection of sculptures and prints, will offer visitors an immersive acoustic experience that combines visual art, music and sound. It’s also a way of highlighting the evolution of traditional music and its integration with contemporary styles and technologies. Always in the context of respect for the heritage of traditional Arctic circumpolar music.
But what could the katajjaq of Canada’s Inuit have in common with the joik of Lapland’s Sami? For Martha Cerny, director and curator of the MCCA, the answer could well be nature and its deep connection to music. “Nature plays such an important role,” she says in an interview with Polar Journal AG. “You can joik to a stream or about a herd of reindeer. It is a connection that can also be found in katajjaq.” As the lithograph by Inuit artist Kenojuak Ashevak on the exhibition poster shows: “These are women surrounded by birds, possibly the object of their song. The first throat singing I ever heard was about breaking ice, when you walk on it. Arctic Indigenous songs are about their environment. It’s alive and part of the community. At least, that’s how I interpret it.”
The exhibition highlights the evolution of traditional musical forms and their integration with modern styles and technologies.
The idea for the exhibition came shortly after the Arctic Voices project with performances by Jo Morten Kåven, Berit Alette Mienna and Øistein Hanssen last year and the confirmation of the performance by the PIQSIQ duo at the MCCA this year. Originally from Nunavut, PIQSIQ has managed to fuse katajjaq, the traditional Inuit throat singing, with modern sounds and technologies using a looping machine. The result is as unique as it is mesmerising.
By inviting and showcasing Indigenous artists, the MCCA also reminds us of the importance of the heritage of traditional circumpolar music, which almost disappeared with colonisation. This heritage can take the form of a direct link between generations through parent-child transmission, as in the case of Jo Morten Kåven. This Sami artist, who recently performed at the MCCA, was given a joik by his own father. This is an important step in maintaining a strong bond in these Arctic communities. “There is this bond with loved ones, elders and the elderly. It’s so holistic. It’s not just the singing, it’s what you’re singing and your relationship to whom you’re singing,” says Martha Cerny.
Although the museum has permission to use certain musical material given by artists themselves, special attention has been paid to the artistic and cultural ownership of music such as katajjaq and joik. “That’s why I prefer to work directly with the artists, to ensure not only proper recognition but also appropriate contextualization.”
But let’s get back to sound. As well as music, there are the sounds of animals, from birds to walruses and seals, and the sounds of the Arctic environment, such as the cracking of ice or the wind. The North American Native Museum (NONAM) of Zurich will have contributed to the nature sound in the exhibition of the MCCA with recordings of wind or people walking on snow. “There is a special sound to that. It’s really incredible, the crunchy sound you hear,” says Martha Cerny.
And then there’s the silence. The powerful silence of the Arctic, which the MCCA also wanted to incorporate into the exhibition’s interactive sound collection. An indication of the different levels in which the guests will be able to immerse themselves through the various experiences and works from the museum’s collection. From the absence of sound to the power of the Indigenous voices, it’s a journey to a distant Arctic, brought incredibly close through sound and music.
The Sound of Culture: Indigenous Voices from 20 February to 21 June 2025. Opening on Thursday 20 February 2025 with a live concert by PIQSIQ.
For more information on the exhibition: https://mcca.ch/en/https/-/www-mcca-ch/upcoming/
To know more about the Museum of Contemporary Circumpolar Art: https://mcca.ch
Mirjana Binggeli, Polar Journal AG
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