Ragnar Kjartansson is one of the most respected Icelandic artists – known for his video-work, paintings, performances and installations. Kjartansson exhibits a new art-piece especially created for the balcony of Akureyri Art Museum with a direct reference to the Akureyrian community, in his own words: “In Akureyri everything is a little bit more OK than …
Treasures of a Nation in the Culture House - Masterpieces of Icelandic Art. In this building the National Gallery of Iceland displays masterpieces of Icelandic art. Here are works of art dating from the latter half of the 19th century to the present day, that reflect the artists’ wide-ranging themes, offering visitors the welcome opportunity …
The exhibition Séstey / Hverfey presents new work by artist Þorgerður Ólafsdóttir, along with other artifacts she has placed in context with the permanent exhibition at Surtseyjarstofa in Vestmannaeyjar. Þorgerður´s exhibition addresses the notion of how a new place becomes actual in a cultural sense. Works in the exhibition are mappings of a place based …
ASÍ Art Museum’s Founding Collection from Ragnar Jónsson of Smári It was big news when the entrepreneur Ragnar Jónsson, known for his margarine factory Smári, decided to donate his collection of paintings to the Icelandic Confederation of Labour (ASÍ) in the summer of 1961. Jónsson’s wish was to establish an art museum that would present …
The artwork “By-form”, that Sigurður Árni shows on Gallery Sign is a lit-up plexiglass. It's as if the sign has been enclosed inside a perforated plexiglass vitrine, casting coloured shadows onto the sign itself. As usual the show opens at the winter solstice, the shortest day of the year 21. December and stays open until …
The exhibition A Window in Reykjavík comprises a selection of works by Ásgrímur Jónsson, whose common factor is that they relate to the artist's surroundings in Reykjavík. The works form part of the collection of the National Gallery of Iceland; Ásgrímur Jónsson bequeathed to the Icelandic nation all his works of art, along with his …
We are pleased to announce the opening of i8 Grandi, a new gallery in Reykjavík that focuses on year-long, single-artist presentations. The inaugural year of i8 Grandi features In Relation to the Sun, an exhibition by Alicja Kwade (b. 1979, Katowice, Poland, lives and works in Berlin, Germany). The artist’s show, which includes installation, sculpture, and work on paper, is now open and will be on view until …
The outdoor, geothermal pool is the most interesting public sphere in Iceland. A place where strangers cross paths and acquaintances meet; it serves a purpose similar to the plaza in warmer climes, the pub in England or the café in France. It is a source of wellbeing and part of everyday life. The exhibition traces …
Rósa Gísladóttir exhibits her work in a conversation with the work of Ásmundur Sveinsson. Sculptors from different periods meet in dialogue that offers a new insight into Ásmundur’s heritage and introduces new works by a contemporary artist to the viewers. In her career, Rósa has worked with various materials but she is best known for …
Careless Whispers comprises paintings by Birgir Snæbjörn Birgisson, made between 2015 and 2022. Birgir’s work addresses political, social and historical issues in the present day. He expertly combines sensitivity, tenderness and the sober content of his work, and the colours in the paintings almost seem to be fading and vanishing, which beckons the viewer to …
The exhibition Status Check provides an insight into the minds and hopes of ten visual artists and writers of the same generation which are prominent in their own field. The exhibition does not claim to be a comprehensive survey of the status of contemporary art and literature. It rather focuses on the artists’ personal experience …
Press photographs of the year is an annual exhibition held by The Icelandic Press Photography Association. The photographs are divided into 7 categories. They are: News Daily life Sports Portraits Environment Editorial and series In each category the jury choose the best photo / best series and one image from these categories was selected as …
Erró is one of the few Icelandic artists who has gained a foothold in the international art scene. The Power of Images is a comprehensive overview of the artist's colourful career that has made use of various media in the visual arts. Within it you will find everything from performances, video works, graphics, multiples and …
Using everyday materials as a basis, Friðfinnsson continually explores elements of time, environment, narration, memory, and perception. Friðfinnsson's practice is characterized by a poignant and recursive nature that creates a framework throughout his oeuvre. Referred to by curator and art historian Hans Ulrich Obrist as “emotional conceptualism,” Friðfinnsson's approach to artmaking is often reductive, and …
Jeanine Cohen is a Belgian artist who researches colour and form. With her three-dimensional wall works, reliefs, she explores the effects of colours and shapes on our spatial experiences. The space she is occupied with in her art is more specifically the inner space of the work itself, an interplay of layers of wood and …
Hanna Dís Whitehead takes another spin on previous works where interesting materials, colours, shapes and history are mixed together in a new way. The energy of a chain reaction leads the process, one idea pushes the next. Sometimes it would be ideal to take another spin on old ideas with new knowledge in your pocket. …
The exhibition is a retrospective, presenting works of Montréal based artist Michaela Grill. She recreates images of what she sees when walking through forests, deserts etc. which is not a representation of the real but rather an exploration of surface macrostructures, colour progression and movement studies. She wants to depict nature in a way where …
An artistic research project on a symbiotic relationship between eider and farmer by a group of designers and artists from Denmark, Iceland and Norway. Learning from this sustainable but gradually declining nordic heritage, the project gives rise to innovation and production of new artworks. The eider duck and the farmer have a mutually beneficial relationship. …
Gunnar Örn Gunnarsson held his first solo exhibition in Unuhús in 1970 and he came to make waves in the Icelandic art scene at the start of the 1970s, as his powerful work quickly drew attention to this young and self-taught artist. Straight away with his first exhibition, Gunnar Örn raised existential questions about the …
Gunnar Örn Gunnarsson: In the Depths of Your Own Awareness Read More »
Cartoons and live pictures of plant-remnants, dust and garbage. Also, hybrid things which become grounded in an idea about measuring devices and vehicles as well as shelters or holes that are formed in damaged landscape. The sand is everywhere, visible or invisible: in the concrete walls, the optical equipment, telephone and in the landfill. The …
Gústav Geir Bollason: Sandtime Psalm of Fading Flowers Read More »
Ingunn Fjóla Ingþórsdóttir’s installation The Only Constant is Changebears an element of familiarity as the artist revisits and combines components from former works in a new manner. The multifaceted piece conforms to its own inner operating system on one hand and the presence of guests on the other, disguising the starting point of motion. The …
Ingunn Fjóla Ingþórsdóttir: The Only Constant is Change Read More »
The exhibition Liðamót / Ode to Join comprises on the one hand drawings made with oil and powdered pigments, and on the other three-dimensional pieces to be made directly into the the exhibition venue as a response to to the space. The Icelandic title Liðamót is a reference to the fact that where three or more joints …
Imagine Peace Tower a memorial to John Lennon from his widow, Yoko Ono, located on Viðey Island in Kollafjörður Bay near Reykjavík, Iceland. It consists of a tall tower of light, projected from a white stone monument that has the words "Imagine Peace" carved into it in 24 languages. These words, and the name of …
