“They have no pictures on the walls” is an exhibition by Lukas Bury with a contribution by Weronika Balcerak, opening on the 11th of December kl 2 – 6 at RÝMD. It is the outcome of the Gerðuberg Calling Residency hosted by Borgarbokasafnið, Gerðuberg. 

They have no pictures on the walls is a series of paintings depicting homes of Polish immigrants living in Iceland. The artworks reflect directly on the exhibition’s title and raise multiple questions: Where is one’s home when suspended between two places? What does an empty wall mean? What motivates the decision of migration?

“They have no pictures on the walls” is an uncommon but still insightful observation about the Polish community that the artist heard throughout casual conversations with Icelanders.

Curated by Claire Paugam

A publication conducted by Weronika Balcerak will be published in 2022. 

The project thankfully received financial and logistical support from Rannís, Myndlistarsjóður, Myndstef and Borgarbókasafnið.

Lukas Bury is a visual artist based in Reykjavik, with a Polish and German background, interested in the narrative power of images.

Lukas studied in the MA program at the Listaháskóli Íslands, the Hochschule für Bildende Künste in Braunschweig and the Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera in Milan.

Bury exhibited in numerous group shows i. a., Tilvera – Being (2018), at Verksmiðjan in Hjalteyri, Common Ground at the SIM Exhibition Hall in Korpulfsstaðir (2020), Reykjavik, Forðabúr – Supply (2020) at Nýlistasafnið in Reykjavik (curated by Hanna Styrmisdóttir), Extraterritorial (2021) at the Mini Market, Reykjavik (with Weronika Balcerak, Flaviu Cacoveanu, and Vitalii Shupliak. Curated by Ana Victoria Bruno, and Raw Power (2021) at the Reykjavik Art Museum, Reykjavik, Iceland (among artists like Baldur Helgason, Erró, Sigurður Ámundason, and Þórdís Aðalsteinsdóttir. Curated by Birgir S. Birgisson)

He also participated in the Reykjavik Arts Festival (2020) and the Plan-B Art Festival in Borgarnes (2020).

Lukas was the first participant of Gerðuberg Calling, an artist residency organized by the Reykjavik City Library in Oktober 2021. 

Lukas has been a board member of The Living Art Museum in Reykjavík since 2021.

Weronika Balcerak

(b. 1996) based in Reykjavik is a visual artist from Poland working with textile, video and prints. Her work reflects on the controversies embedded within the culture of her place of origin. Weronika studies in the BA program at the Iceland University of the Arts.

Claire Paugam, curator of the exhibition They have no pictures on the wall, is a French artist and curator (born 1991) based in Reykjavík, Iceland. 

She is the recipient of the Icelandic Art Prize Motivational Award of the Year 2020 for her ambitious and powerful contribution to the Icelandic art scene. 

After graduating in 2016 from the Iceland University of the Arts’ MFA program, Claire has exhibited in various art institutions in Iceland and abroad. The artist has developed a curatorial practice over the years, in 2020 she curated together with Julius Pollux Rothlaender Vestur í bláinn, a collective exhibition about immigration in Iceland, spread in different locations in Reykjavík. 

Claire is a board member of The Living Art Museum, Reykjavík, since 2019.