The exhibition New Acquisitions: received, remade, replaced puts on view a cross section of items that have been received by the collection since 2020. Giving a snapshot at the breadth of donations, from sculptures and installations to a remake of a previously damaged work and a replacement of a recently stolen one, alongside supplementary material to a long-standing work in the collection and a proposal that was never actualised. The goal of the exhibition is to reflect on Nýló’s unique approach to collecting and running a Living Archive.

Nýló is both an accredited museum and an artist-run space, positioned snuggly where preservation and artistic experimentation meet. The collection is solely based on donations, received and accepted by an elected board of practicing artists. This way of collecting has given a home to a broad scope of works that represent art history through the eyes of an artist-run initiative. The works range from artist’s early career experiments to documents of ephemeral performances to well-established pieces in the art historical canon. Through the years the collection has become a great reflection of a living art scene as it represents the range and stages of artistic expression. With the broad selection of new acquisitions on show, answers are sought to urgent questions about the conserving and collecting of contemporary art.

Artists: Bryndís Snæbjörnsdóttir & Mark Wilson, Douwe Jan Bakker, Fiona Banner, Graham Wiebe, Geirþrúður Finnbogadóttir Hjörvar, Helgi Þorgils Friðjónsson, Hulda Rós Guðnadóttir, Ívar Glói, Ívar Valgarðs, Kristín Karólína Helgadóttir & Ófeigur Sigurðsson, Joseph Marzolla, Rúna Þorkelsdóttir, Sidsel Winther, Unnar Örn, Sóley Frostadóttir & Joe Keys

Photograph: Sadie Cook