Sticky Signs i møter på museum

In this article, our research object is a button used by activists during the historical event known as the Alta Affair. This label was used in the dissemination of the Alta Affair at a Norwegian museum in Sápmi. The affect the button triggered is analyzed by using the concepts of sticky signs and affective economies. It higlights the intensity of the object at the meeting point between the past, and the conscious and unconscious structures that stick to and follow the object in the present. Research on ethnic groups provides knowledge about the social organization of cultural differences in Sápmi, differences that affect emotionally are less elucidatet. This article explores affective encounters in museums through the museum`s archives, interviews and personal memories. We argue for affective curatorship as amethod for uncovering blind spots and breaking with colonial structures in curatorial practice, as a contribuition to discourses on cultural sustainbility in museum practice.