3. September 2010
The art hot spot at the polar circle
Art in betÂween of traÂdiÂtion and today’s world: UntitÂled, © Ólafur ÓlafsÂson and Libia Castro
Actually, I was going to IceÂland this sumÂmer for a hiking trip, but of course everÂyÂthing went difÂferÂently than oriÂgiÂnally planÂned, so I stayed in the capiÂtal ReykÂjaÂvÃk for eight days due to a knee injury. As it quickly turÂned out, this was no reaÂson to be upset because the nortÂhernÂmost capiÂtal in the world offeÂred – conÂsideÂring its quite small size of only 120.000 inhaÂbiÂtants – a huge range of galÂleÂries, museÂums and art in general.
It soon occurÂred to me, that I didn’t know anything about conÂtemÂporary art from this counÂtry and, apart from Ólafur ElÃasÂson, this is cerÂtainly the case for the rest of conÂtiÂnenÂtal Europe. HoweÂver, it got soon appaÂrent that this lack of attenÂtion for the art from the polar cirÂcle was not justiÂfied so I made the deciÂsion to get to know this counÂtry from its artsy site instead and to docuÂment it here in this blog.
With the help of Doro, direcÂtor of CenÂter for IceÂlanÂdic Art and curaÂtor Birta of Living Art Museum IÂ gaiÂned an insight in IceÂlanÂdic ConÂtemÂporary Art and had the chance to get an idea of the topiÂcal chaÂracÂter and tenÂdenÂcies. IÂ visiÂted every galÂlery and art museum in ReykÂjaÂvÃk, got to know many curaÂtors and artists and returÂned home with the feeÂling, that there is an atmoÂsÂphere of deparÂture in IceÂlanÂdic art scene which is driÂven by the open-minded attiÂtude towards new ideas and expeÂriÂments, just how IÂ alreÂady knew it from Berlin.
@ i8 GalÂlery (ElÃn HansÂdotÂtÃr exhibition)
The result of these eight days in ReykÂjaÂvÃk were my obserÂvaÂtions that I will docuÂment here in the weeks to come. Though IceÂlanÂdic ConÂtemÂporary Art is too mulÂtiÂfaÂceÂted to comÂpreÂhend it in such a short time, I want to introÂduce artists and their work, that are in my opiÂnion someÂwhat repÂreÂsenÂtaÂtive for this place and this time or that seems otherÂwise inteÂresÂting to me.
Those that are attenÂtive obserÂvers of the GerÂman bloÂgosÂphere have surely notiÂced, that there are alreÂady ambiÂtious proÂjects about IceÂlanÂdic music and IceÂlanÂdic street style (both in English) -: this is the porÂtrait about the art hot spot at the polar circle.
HoweÂver, I don’t want to try to make a valid point on IceÂlanÂdic ConÂtemÂporary Art in geneÂral. Even reseÂarch has not found any descripÂtiÂons or anaÂlyÂses yet, so for my reseÂarch I can only rely on the InterÂnet, the curaÂtors and artists and the only three issues of the only IceÂlanÂdic art magaÂzine, that was publisÂhed in the last years (and doesn’t exist anymore).
As matÂters stand, there will be publisÂhed at least ten artiÂcles on this topic in English and GerÂman as well. Among these, there will be one or maybe two raffÂles of IceÂlanÂdic Art. Tomorrow’s the start: I will write about poliÂtiÂcal art in times of crisis.
