| The Nobel Prize winner and most well-known writer of Iceland, Halldór Laxness once wrote that the Icelandic psyche resembles the Icelandic landscape and weather—chaotic, rough and soft at the same time. As visitors tune in to the energy of Iceland on their arrival into the moon-like landing area close to its capital, Reykjavik, they will encounter a certain youthfulness in the landscape and society. Iceland is a teenager among older, European countries. There is no mystery as to why certain elements in Icelandic society are experienced as “fresh” by many visitors. It is because it is a young community, living in an ever-changing landscape on an island that rose from the sea not that long ago. |  |
Iceland: A Teenage Island With a Capital Coming of Age – Birta Gudjonsdottir
The Nobel Prize winner and most well-known writer of Iceland, Halldór Laxness once wrote that the Icelandic psyche resembles the Icelandic landscape and weather—chaotic, rough and soft at the same time. As visitors tune in to the energy of Iceland on their arrival into the moon-like landing area close to its capital, Reykjavik, they will encounter a certain youthfulness in the landscape and society.
Iceland is a teenager among older, European countries.
There is no mystery as to why certain elements in Icelandic society are experienced as “fresh” by many visitors. It is because it is a young community, living in an ever-changing landscape on an island that rose from the sea not that long ago. It is only logical for such a teenage society to be more chaotic than organized, more anarchistic than orderly, more inventive than conservative and constantly testing boundaries.
These are characteristics often ascribed to the Icelandic art scene and to the nation itself.
The greater majority of Icelandic artists live in Reykjavik, a capital of only 120,000 inhabitants, out of which around 600 are visual artists. The city is in constant development as the population has grown from a rural community of 5,000 inhabitants in the course of just one century. It was also only a century ago that the notion of the professional artist as such appeared in Iceland. In fact, one could say that the peasantry of the Middle Ages ended in Iceland less than a century ago and that Reykjavik has since been experiencing a very speedy renaissance.
As with most teenagers, Reykjavik tries to behave like a grownup, like a metropolis, with far more art initiatives, concerts and theater events than its population would suggest. The art landscape of the capital changes rapidly and, in the past few years, it has blossomed and started to resemble a system, although still far behind the arts-related infrastructure of sister Europe or big brother USA.
Reykjavik has a National Gallery of Art, Reykjavik Municipal Museum of Contemporary Art, ASÍ Museum, The Living Art Museum and SAFN private collection of contemporary art. At the moment, there are around five independent, artist-run exhibition spaces in Reykjavik and four commercial art galleries. One of these, i8 Gallery, has created extensive contacts with the international art scene and presents its artists at international art fairs, such as Art Basel and Art Basel Miami Beach, Art Forum Berlin and Art Brussels. It also happens to be the longest running commercial gallery in Iceland, founded in 1995. The gallery has done much to present Icelandic art abroad and to produce a market for both local and international artists.
This market is, however, small and there are very few collectors of contemporary art. In fact, until recently one could name only one; Petur Arason, whose private collection, SAFN, was opened to the public three years ago. Before that, Arason, together with artist Ingolfur Arnarson, operated an exhibition space, for which they invited many of the heavyweights of American Minimalism, Land art and Conceptual art. Today, the SAFN collection curates temporary exhibitions of local and international artists of all genres.
In its almost 30-year history, The Living Art Museum has also hosted numerous well-known international artists, among them many German and Dutch artists who frequently visit Iceland. The majority of works in its collection, which is built up on artist donations, are by artist Dieter Roth, who resided in Iceland for many years. The importing of international artists exhibiting in these two museums has had enormous influence on the local scene, putting their works into perspective and enabling further contact with the international art scene. Most of the active local artists have lived or studied abroad, bringing their own influence back home.
Exposure to international art has, however, occurred at random in its young lifespan. It has also been selective in which forms receive the attention, focusing on some mediums or genres more than others. There have been exhibitions of different disciplines such as painting, performance, sound and print while others have been disregarded, such as photography, artist books and video art. Many of the younger generation of Icelandic artists are working with video, while still having little knowledge of the background or history of video art. This non-exposure has both its strengths and weaknesses. The upside of such video art, which has incubated on an island apart, is the purity of vision. Although similarities are evident between the works themselves, as a whole they create a genre of video with an aesthetic all its own. This can sometimes make it difficult to engage in the international dialogue where video often refers in some way to its own history.
Much of the video art in Reykjavik also has a strong connection with the music scene, as does visual art in general. Artists tend to collaborate with musicians or are musicians themselves, creating little distinction between the two. One artist who combines these elements is Ragnar Kjartansson, whose work goes from theater-based performances to him being a genuine rock star as well as having a troubadour alter-ego. Similar to the music scene, where performers often guest star in other bands, a majority of younger artists have, at some point, collaborated on each other’s projects. They often exhibit together in group exhibitions, showing abroad as “the Icelanders,” often with Iceland as its only theme, even though few of them actually deal with Iceland as such in their art. This Reykjavik artist tribe has wandered into many cities as a unified front—for instance, at last year´s Berliner Liste Art Fair where over 35 artists from Klink & Bank studios in Reykjavik invaded the Berlin art scene. Who knows, perhaps this growing tribe will set up their next camp in New York City.
First we take Berlin, then we take Manhattan.
Birta Gudjonsdottir is an artist and curator based in Reykjavik. She is also the founder of Dwarf Gallery.
