RoundTalk

London opens its first Sámi art and culture exhibition

English · C2 worksheet Based on the RoundTalk episode of

Free for classroom use. Students listen to the first 75 seconds and read the beginning of the debate, then work on the tasks. The answer key is on the last page. The panelists are fictional characters with AI voices.

Episode page
1 · Listen (first 75 seconds)

2 · Read

Host

Welcome to RoundTalk. Somerset House opened the UK's first Sámi art exhibition yesterday—nineteen artists, five rooms, free until February. But does one landmark show finally break Europe's silence on its only recognised Indigenous people, or are we still just clearing our throat? Eleanor, museum director; Kai, Nordic arts critic; Dr Marcus, historian of Indigenous representation.

Host

Eleanor, you've spent fifteen years inside these institutions. What does Somerset House actually owe Sámi artists now that the doors are open?

Eleanor Vasquez

They owe Sámi artists an acquisitions budget, not bunting. A flag comes down in February; a collection doesn't. Colbengtson can overwrite a road sign—who overwrites the permanent displays?

Kai Bergström

No, no, wait—acquisitions is the wrong altar. Marakatt-Labba's embroideries don't need a storeroom in London, they need European art history rewritten around them. Buy ten pieces, bury them in a vault, and you've just collected Sápmi. That's the real tension here.

Host

Dr Marcus, you've studied what London's been missing for decades. Is Kai right that rewriting art history matters more than buying pieces, or is that a false choice?

Dr Marcus Adekunle

False choice, and a flattering one. Art history doesn't get rewritten by admiration, Kai—it gets rewritten by what institutions hold, insure and reinstall. Mathisen's maps shown together for the first time, in 2026. That delay was a choice.

Kai Bergström

Insurance values follow attention, Marcus—not the other way round.

Eleanor Vasquez

Sorry, but hold, insure, reinstall—that's still the museum deciding. Aikio co-curated this. Give Sámi curators the keys to the permanent galleries, not a season ticket to the Terrace Rooms.

Host

Kai?

Kai Bergström

Keys to the permanent galleries? That's a promotion, not a liberation. Aikio isn't auditioning to run Somerset House's basement. Pieski's hundreds of tassels belong in the room where Europe argues about sculpture—not in a Sámi wing with better lighting.

Key vocabulary

  • Sámi — Indigenous people of northern Scandinavia
  • overwrite — to replace or change something that existed before
  • Sápmi — the homeland region of the Sámi people

Comprehension questions

  1. What does Eleanor believe Somerset House owes to Sámi artists?
  2. Why does Kai argue that rewriting art history is more important than acquiring pieces?
  3. According to Dr Marcus, what actually drives institutional change in art history?
  4. What does Eleanor criticise about the current exhibition's curatorial model?

True or false?

  1. The Sámi art exhibition at Somerset House will remain open beyond February. T / F
  2. Kai believes that acquiring Sámi pieces for a museum vault represents a meaningful institutional commitment. T / F
  3. Dr Marcus argues that art history is rewritten primarily through admiration rather than institutional acquisition and display. T / F
  4. Aikio was involved in curating the Somerset House exhibition. T / F

Fill the gaps

overwriteSámiSápmi
  1. Somerset House opened the UK's first   art exhibition yesterday—nineteen artists, five rooms, free until February.
  2. Colbengtson can   a road sign—who overwrites the permanent displays?
  3. Buy ten pieces, bury them in a vault, and you've just collected  .

Discuss in pairs

  1. Should European museums prioritise acquiring works by Indigenous artists for their permanent collections, or is it more important to change how they display and contextualise existing European art? Why?
  2. Is giving Indigenous curators control of a dedicated gallery space within a major museum a step towards genuine representation, or does it risk isolating their work from mainstream art discourse?
  3. What responsibility do institutions like Somerset House have to decolonise European art history itself, and is a single exhibition enough to begin that process?

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Answer key

Comprehension
  1. A permanent acquisitions budget and collection, not a temporary exhibition that closes after February.
  2. Because storing Sámi works in a vault without integrating them into the broader European art historical narrative just amounts to collecting Sápmi without genuine change.
  3. Institutions holding, insuring and reinstalling works permanently, not merely admiring them.
  4. That the museum is still making decisions about Sámi representation rather than giving Sámi curators genuine control of permanent gallery spaces.
True or false
  1. False
  2. False
  3. False
  4. True
Gaps
  1. Sámi
  2. overwrite
  3. Sápmi

roundtalk · https://www.getroundtalk.com/listen/english/c2/london-opens-its-first-sami-art-and-culture-exhibition/worksheet/