Styrmir Örn Guðmundsson has been selected as the first artist, in a five year agreement between the Icelandic Art Center and Kunstlerhaus Bethanien, for a year long residency from May 2020 onwards.
Styrmir Örn Guðmundsson (b.1984) is a storyteller, a performer, a dancer, an object maker, an illustrator. He has a love for the absurd, by which is meant less an obsessive passion for the ridiculous, nonsensical or the odd, than a tender and caring attitude: he takes care of the absurd, he helps it to develop, he gives it a place alongside everything else where it can be your most disturbing neighbour and your best friend. More often than not Styrmir uses the written language as a genesis of his work. Written pieces are then adapted into live performances that activate objects, things and gestures. The performances and their narrative, that often are delivered as monologues, serve as an exhibition device for autonomous art objects. Styrmir lives Berlin.
The Ministry of Culture and Business Affairs and Viljandi fund the project.
