Berglind Jóna Hlynsdóttir & Gunnhildur Hauksdóttir | Nida Art Colony, Lithuania
Berglind Jóna Hlynsdóttir & Gunnhildur Hauksdóttir
Nida Art Colony, Lithuania
| “Climbing Invisible Structures: Ritualised Disciplinary Practices in Social Life. Part 4: Lillestrøm” is the fourth and the last exhibition of a two-year-long residency and exhibition project involving six institutions in three different countries: Iceland, Lithuania and Norway. Ten artists have been invited to do residencies and to create works for four exhibitions in Vilnius, Nida, Žeimiai (Lithuania) and Lillestrøm (Norway). This exhibition presents works by all participating artists. The show will open on 10th February, 7pm, at the Akershus Art Centre (Storgata 4, Lillestrøm, Norway), located in the town of Lillestrøm 15 minutes away from Oslo (Norway) city center by train. |
| The expression “Climbing Invisible Structures” invokes something steep and hidden, something vertiginous and inaccessible. The idea of coping with such constructions, invites us, artists and participants, to reflect on the complex, multilayered and often imperceptible relationships that govern our lives and relationships. For what sort of social structures dictate things like career choice, way of life, or art productions? And can we be sure that our human relations, in fact, are not already organized according to pre-established power relationships, unstated rules and rituals? How can we know that what we take for granted, that which appears so natural, are actually social constructions and false consciousness?
The various works in this exhibition, each in a very distinct way, investigate different modes of existence, aspects of art production, and social life. They explore deep-rooted practices, conceptual systems, and rituals. They manipulate, disorganize, and disrupt fixed ways of thinking and patterns of behavior. Of course, the aim is not to establish new ones, but to puzzle, to make us wonder, and by the same token to raise questions about the legitimacy of existing conventions and established institutions. The works in this exhibition point to a wide range of ritualised practices, connecting actions by people who lived a long time ago with contemporary rituals. Ranging from social and spiritual practices, which are familiar to everyone, to contemporary strategies framing the conditions of art production and management, they investigate, explore, question, disrupt, modify and fictionalise established beliefs, disciplines and daily habits, and outline directions for new ones. |
The exhibition is open for visitors on Wednesdays to Sundays from noon to 5pm.
12th February, Sunday, 1-2pm: performative presentation by Robertas Narkus & guided tour with the curator Eglė Mikalajūnė
3rd March, Sunday, 1-2pm: artist-talk by Victoria Durnak and guided tour with the curator Samir M’kadmi
Artists: Mo Abd-Ulla, Eglė Budvytytė, Tanya Busse, Victoria Durnak, Gunnhildur Hauksdóttir, Berglind Jona Hlynsdóttir, Saulius Leonavičius & Vida Strasevičiūtė, Robertas Narkus, Augustas Serapinas, Kristin Tårnesvik
Curators: Eglė Mikalajūnė and Samir M’kadmi
Architect: Rokas Kilčiauskas
Designer: Indrė Klimaitė
Berglind Jóna Hlynsdóttir (b. 1979) started her carrier as a photographer. She finished her BA degree from the Icelandic Academy of the Arts in 2006 and an MA degree from Valand School of Fine Arts in Sweden in 2010. Berglind Jóna has worked as a visual artist in Iceland, Sweden and Brazil. She has worked on extensive projects in the public space and participated in many international group exhibitions and collaborations.Berglind deals with various themes, which often involve questions regarding public spaces. In an urban society, where the surroundings are man-made and each thing is designed for a specific purpose, Berglind explores the environment, based on the history and expectations that society holds towards those things.
Among recent shows that Berglind Jóna has participated in is the exhibition series Double Bind which was curated by the Rupert Center for Art and Education in Lithuania (2015) shown in three cities in Lithuania and then both in Norway and Iceland (2016), The public space work Inner Workings (The Walk Work): Memoirs of the clock at Lækjartorg Plaza, shown in the Reykjavík City Center, Iceland (2014). Among international exhibitions Berglind has participated in are The 4th International Sinope Biennale – Wisdom of Shadow: Art in the Era of Corrupt Information Turkey (2012). LET ME THINK! curated by Laura Mott, 3rd Moscow Biennale at Red October, Moscow (2009). Berglind was chosen to compete for the Hasselblad award: Victor Stipendium and took part in two shows organized by Hasselblad: New Nordic Photography at the Hasselblad Center in Gothenburg and the Center For Photography in Stockholm (2010).
Gunnhildur Hauksdóttir is an Icelandic visual artist living in Reykjavik, Iceland and partly in Berlin, Germany. Hauksdóttir combines elements of audio, video, performance, sculpture, drawing and text to create transient post conceptual assemblies, exploring themes like cultural identity, nature, valor and fear. Some of her recent works include Five Drawings, in Nida Art Cologne and YO YO, Žeimiai Manor in Lithuania, Der Abstand [The Distance] a performance in a Collateral event at the 2015 Venice Bienale, Erklärung [Declaration] an installation and performance in Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein in Vaduz, Tvíeyrna [Binaural], a solo show in the Outsider and Folk Art Museum, Iceland in 2015, The Census, outdoor audio sculpture and performance in Skaftfell – Center for Visual Art, Iceland, and a collaboration with artist Bryndís Hrönn Ragnarsdóttir, The Assembly of the Holy, instalationation and performative work in the National Gallery of Iceland, Edenborg Culture House and Einar Jónsson Museum, Iceland in 2013-´14.
Hauksdóttir graduated from Sandberg Institute (MFA) in Amsterdam, Holland in 2006 and has been a member of the Dieter Roth Academy since 2000. She was the director of the Living Art Museum in Reykjavík from 2011 to 2014. She is involved in publications, lectures and research on artist initiatives and performance art and holds a visiting artist position at the Iceland Academy of the Arts.