We would like to extend a huge thank you for all the collaborations, dialogues, and support throughout the year of 2022. We at the Icelandic Art Center are proud of our projects, new as well as on-going ones, such as the Icelandic Pavilion at La Biennale di Venezia, the Icelandic Art Prize, the World Weather Network, Borderland Poetics – exchange program and many more.
We will be back in the IAC offices from the 3rd of January ready for a new year full of adventure and growth. Here is a roundup of our year with some highlights and memorable projects from 2022.
Mark Wilson & Bryndís Snæbjörnsdóttir at the 2022 Icelandic Art Prize. Photo: Owen Fiene
The Icelandic
Art Prize 2022 was awarded for the sixth time to artists duo Bryndís
Snæbjörnsdóttir & Mark Wilson for their exhibition “Visitations”
at Akureyri Art Museum.
The recipients of the Motivational
Award were Lucky 3
for their performance “PUTI” at Sequences X Art Festival and the Honorary Award
was given to an artist whose long and successful career has made a significant mark
on the history of Icelandic art, Kristján Guðmundsson.
The inaugural ceremony of the Icelandic Pavilion. Photo: Galadriel Gonzalez
The Icelandic Pavilion at La Biennale
di Venezia opened to the public on the 23rd of April this year. We are extremely
happy with the response from both visitors and international media. It was a great
honour that Perpetual Motion, Iceland’s national contribution, was mentioned in
the Financial Times top list of national participations, in the article ‘Venice Biennale
meets the moment with outstanding pavilions’. In general the Venice Biennale was successful
as the report from the biennial stated that this year they had the highest visitor
attendance in the 127-year history of the Biennale Arte. Great news as this biennale
season marks the first time The Icelandic Pavilion was located at La Biennale Di
Venezia, Arsenale.
Anna Júlía Friðbjörnsdóttir.
The recipient for the Künstlerhaus Bethanien residency grant in 2022/2023
is Reykjavík based artist Anna Júlía Friðbjörnsdóttir.
Her work seeks to merge local histories and the politics of places with broader
historical perspectives and layered references from multiple sources. Finishing
her one-year residency Friðbjörnsdóttir will open an exhibition early spring 2023
in the exhibition space of Künstlerhaus Bethanien.
In response to the global climate
emergency, Icelandic Art Center joined 27 arts organisations across the world to
form the World Weather
Network, a
ground-breaking constellation of ‘weather stations’ located across the world in
oceans, deserts, mountains, farmland, rainforests, observatories, lighthouses, and
cities. For a year period starting on the 21 June 2022, artists and writers have
been sharing ‘weather reports’ in the form of observations, stories, images and
imaginings about their local weather and our shared climate, creating an archipelago
of voices and viewpoints on a new global platform. We nominated Einar Falur with
his daily weather reports as Iceland’s contribution
to the network.
Borderland Poetics research trip to CCA. Photo: Þórhildur Tinna Sigurðardóttir
We carried on our collaborative project
Borderland Poetics Research Programme – which is a knowledge-exchange network between
the Estonian Centre for Contemporary Art (CCA), Icelandic
Art Center, Rupert. CCA Estonia hosted a group of
Icelandic and Lithuanian curators, art critics, producers and artists who visited
Tallinn for a research and networking trip. The trip included visits to Kai center,
Hoib Gallery, Tallinn Art Hall, Kumukunsti Muuseum, EKKM Tallinn, Artishok Biennial,
Copper Leg Art Residency and more. Icelandic Art Center had Lukas Strolia from Vilnius,
Lithuania, for one month as an assistant as a part of Borderland Poetics
– assistant exchange programme.
Our podcast ‘Out There’ came back this year for
a 2nd season! For this edition Þórhildur Tinna Sigurðardóttir joined Becky Forsythe
in conversations with artists, curators and art professionals; opening a window
into the contemporary Icelandic art scene.
1. Bryndís Snæbjörnsdóttir & Mark Wilson
2. Artist in Iceland Visa Action Group – Wiola Ujazdowska & Dísa
3. The Icelandic Pavilion – Sigurður Guðjónsson
4. Autarkia – Lukas Strolia take over
5. Iceland University of the Arts – Bjarki Bragason & Hanna Styrmisdóttir
You can listen to all five episodes on our website, link on photo, and find us on
Spotify as well.
Angela Dufresne, Combineism 2016, Verksmiðjan á Hjalteyri 2021
Selected projects supported by the
Visual Art fund include: an exhibition series in
Verksmiðjan á Hjalteyri, the ongoing
exhibition Velvet Terrorism – Pussy Riot´s Russia in Kling & Bang gallery, artist Rúrí
for preparing for a solo show in Museu Internacional de Escultura Contemporánea
in Portugal, Ólafur Ólafsson & Libia Castro for
the project “Deconstruction of heavy industry in Helguvík”, South Icelandic Biennale for an event
and symposium series and a group exhibition curated by Kristín Helga Ríkharðsdóttir in in Kling & Bang.
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