The Icelandic Folk and Outsider Museum: Summer exhibition & rethinking art outside of the cultural mainstream

In this episode of Icelandic Art Center’s Out there podcast we speak with artists Gunnhildur Hauksdóttir and Unnar Örn, who are board members at Safnasafnið, The Icelandic Folk and Outsider Art Museum. The Icelandic Folk and Outsider Art Museum was founded in 1995 by Níels Hafstein and Magnhildur Sigurðardóttir in Svalbardseyri, in north Iceland. For 30 years the founders and board of the museum have focused their attention on collecting work, and often extensive bodies of works, by artists whose contributions to art have existed outside the cultural mainstream and collections, and have been considered folk, naïve or outsider artworks. We discuss the role of the museum, some of the language around categorizing art and artists, and the summer exhibitions, including; Dark Deeds and the Light of Hope and Aesthetics of Senses and Delights curated by Níels Hafstein, Source by Nína Óskarsdóttir and Who Came Through by Jasa Baka curated by Gunnhildur Hauksdóttir, Sale by Arnar Herbertsson curated by Unnar Örn, Domestic Spirit by Svava Skúladóttir curated by Gunnhildur Hauksdóttir, Deities by Bimala Dutta curated by Gunnhildur Hauksdóttir and Assortments by Örn Karlsson curated by Níels Hafstein. There are over 13 exhibitions and hangs on display now so to read more about the variety visit the museum’s website.  The Icelandic Folk and Outsider Art Museum was founded in 1995 by Níels Hafstein and Magnhildur Sigurðardóttir. For over 30 years the museum’s founders have been passionately committed to collecting artworks by artists who have hitherto been seen as outside the cultural mainstream, often also called naïve or outsider artists who have a real and direct connection to an original creative spirit; true, unspoiled and free. The museum is unique in Iceland, initially collecting artworks by all major con­temporary folk artists and autodidacts in Iceland, forming the core of the collection, while also gradually acquiring an excellent collection of art by professional artists, whose works cohere with exhibition and collection policies. It is of importance that all the artworks presented are on an equal footing, in exhibitions as well as the collec­tions. The core collection consists today of thousands of artworks and sketches by over 300 artists, dating from the mid­19th century to the present. https://safnasafnid.is/exhibitions-2024/ @gunnitune @unnar.orn at @safnasafnid @ninaoskarsdottir @jasa.baka  // Created and produced by the Icelandic Art Center, Out There brings co-hosts Becky Forsythe @beforsythe and Þórhildur Tinna Sigurðardóttir @tindilfaetta in conversation with artists, curators and art professionals at Borgarbókasafn. This episode is our last one, but surely more things to come from the Icelandic Art Centre in support of circulating critical engagement with contemporary art in Iceland, ongoing dialogues with artists and their works!   #OutTherePodcast #IcelandicArtCenter #IcelandicArt #IcelandicArtist #Iceland #VisualArt #ContemporaryArt #InspiredByIceland #IcelandicArt 

In this episode of Icelandic Art Center’s Out there podcast we spoke to the curator Heiðar Kári Rannversson who has been keeping busy with a few exhibitions recently opened locally in Iceland. We discuss the exhibition spring that has sprung in Iceland with a couple of exciting solo exhibitions having opened in Kling & Bang; Andri Björgvinsson and Tara & Silla and the National Gallery; Anna Rún Tryggvadóttir, Þóra Sigurðardóttir and the new iteration of Steina Vasulka’s Borealis Installation from 1993 now on display. Heiðar Kári @hkrannversson is an independent curator, art historian and most recently he held a position at the Nordatlantens Brygge in Kobenhavn 2018 - 2022.  He has curated multiple shows across Iceland; The Living Art Museum, the National Gallery and for the Icelandic Art Center. In the episode his most recent exhibitions and projects were discussed including:  Sóley Ragnarsdóttir @soleygendary is a Danish/Icelandic artist that lives and works in Thy, Denmark. Ragnarsdóttir has a sculptural approach to painting, and her works, painted and ornamented with both synthetic and organic materials, hover between figuration and abstraction. She mixes acrylic and epoxy with shells, amber and sea-sanded shards of glass on surfaces of wood, canvas and napkins. Her solo exhibition “Queen of Hearts” curated by HK  is now on display at Gerðarsafn. Þór Vigfússon @arslonga_djupivogur is an artist that lives and works in Iceland. He creates powerful objects with colour, texture, and reflection using prefabricated industrial materials. His deceptively simple works, primarily made of glass, plexiglass, mirrors, and Formica with monotone colour fields, push the boundaries between two- and three-dimensional works. Architecture and space play a vital role in their presentation.His solo exhibition “Numbers, Places” curated by HK is now on display at Gerðarsafn. Outside Looking In, Inside Looking Out is an exhibition that has been traveling around the world and will continue in the coming year with the stopa in Tokyo, Oslo and Paris this Autumn. The exhibition showcases works by established and emerging artists from Iceland. This exhibition project is a collaborative platform between the Icelandic Art Center, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs & Business Iceland, promoting visual art from Iceland abroad. This episode ends with the exhibition of the month segment which is dedicated to the one and only Venice Biennale and its 60th international art exhibition curated by Adriano Pedrosa. Special mentions from the main exhibition include Ahmed Umar’s work “Talitin, The Third” (2023) and the Mataaho Collective’s installation “Takapau” (2024). For the national pavilions Becky and Tinna briefly discussed the following; Pakui Hardware at the Lithuanian Pavilion, Eimear Walshe’s installation at Ireland at Venice, the Nigerian Pavilion with a star-studded artist roaster, Canadian Pavilion’s exhibition with Kapwani Kiwanga’s installation, Archie Moore’s installation at the Australian Pavilion curated by Ellie Buttrose and more! Listen in for a quick review of the cacophony at the Biennale. // Created and produced by the Icelandic Art Center, Out There brings co-hosts Becky Forsythe @beforsythe and Þórhildur Tinna Sigurðardóttir @tindilfaetta in conversation with artists, curators and art professionals at the bokasamlagid.

Artist Amanda Riffo joins us to discuss newly receiving the 2024 Icelandic Art Prize Artist of the Year award, exhibitions, projects, residencies and creative coincidences. Amanda received the award based on her exhibition House of Purkinje, her first major solo show, which was exhibited in The Living Art Museum in 2023 and curated by Sunna Ástþórsdóttir. Amanda’s natural storytelling takes us through various works and exhibitions, art encounters, soundtracks, some of her personal history and the ways she approaches thinking about and creating art. Amanda Riffo (b.1977) is a French-Chilean artist based in Reykjavik. After completing a Master of Arts at the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts, Paris, she later participated in exchange programs in Tokyo and Beirut. Her work has been shown in Europe, Japan, Iceland, Chile, Finland, Belgium and more. Exhibition projects in Iceland include her solo exhibition in Open (2018) and Skaftfell (Seyðisfjörður, 2019), as well as participation in the international art biennial Sequences Xl (2019). She is the current recipient of the Artist of the Year, Icelandic Art Prize and the Friend of Nýlo Artist for 2024. Amanda Riffo - House of Purkinje at the Living Art Museum  @amanda_riffo @nylistasafnid @icelandic_art_prize @gallery_port The episode's playlist by Amanda Riffo herself: * James Ferraro -individualism-album Human History 3 /2016** Robert Wyatt -at last I am free-album Nothing Can Stop Us /1982*** Ol dirty Bastard -Brooklyn Zoo -/1995

Artist and project manager of the Icelandic Art Prize Tinna Guðmundsdóttir joins us to discuss the nominations for the 2024 Icelandic Art Prize. In this overview episode, we detour from our usual format, and take some time to review the artists, and the exhibitions, that are nominated for the Prize's two main award categories; Artist of the Year & Motivational Award.    The Icelandic Art Prize awards, including the Artist of the Year award, the Motivational Award, Publication of the Year, Group exhibition of the Year and Honorary Artist of the Year, annually award outstanding visual artists, as well as encouraging new artistic creations, and recognizing significant contributions made to the field of contemporary art over the year. The award ceremony will be held on March 14 at Iðnó, where the Icelandic Love Corporation and artist Pola Sutryck will contribute to the evening’s festivities. The nominees for the two award categories are:  Artist of the Year Nominations Amanda Riffo - House of Purkinje at the Living Art Museum Arnar Ásgeirsson - Cleaning Methods at the Neskirkja Church Geirþrúður Finnbogadóttir Hjörvar - Index at Ásmundarsalur Ólöf Nordal - Blird at Ásmundarsalur @olof_nordal Motivational Award Nominations Almar Steinn Almarsson - Almar in the Tent at Svavar Guðnason Art Museum  Brák Jónsdóttir - Possible Oddkin at the Nordic House Sara Björg Bjarnadóttir - Two infinities betwen 1 and 3 at Akureyri Art Museum // Created and produced by the Icelandic Art Center, Out There brings co-hosts Becky Forsythe @beforsythe and Þórhildur Tinna Sigurðardóttir @tindilfaetta in conversation with artists, curators and art professionals.

Artist Egill Sæbjörnsson joins Becky & Tinna to discuss his solo exhibit at the National Gallery of Iceland titled Egill Sæbjörnsson and Infinite Friends of the Universe. In the exhibition, Egill invites an infinite number of friends to join in an instance of togetherness in the endless playroom of art. On view until February 25th 2024, so make sure you make the visit whilst you can! This is the first episode of the year and Becky & Tinna think about a few exhibitions as they look back on 2023. Like most years, the art scene and exhibition-making circuit was productive in various ways and shapes. We acknowledge all of the action and activity that took place last year and rather than attempt to talk about everything, we share a few selected notes on three exhibitions. Alongside talking with Egill, these include Hildur Hákonardóttir: Red Thread which opened early 2023 at the Reykjavik Art Museum - Kjarvalsstaðir and Nermine El Ansari’s ‘Er ekki lengur | No Longer | لَمْ تَعُدْ installation that opened late last year at Skaftfell Art Center.

In this episode we meet artist Hekla Dögg Jónsdóttir @hekladoggjonsdottir to discuss her current mid-career retrospective at Reykjavík Art Museum – Kjarvalsstaðir @reykjavikartmuseum, an ongoing series of exhibitions that aims to draw attention to and celebrate the various contributions made by artists in Iceland. Hekla Dögg Jónsdóttir is an artist who supports other artists, whether through inviting them into her work, actively participating in the artist-led scene or as an educator who aims to contribute to a living, shifting and expanding communal arts scene. Heklas is an active member of Kling & Bang. We discuss specific works, past and present, various contemplations on recurring themes and references, and what it is like to look over one’s entire artistic career, up until now. This episode concludes with focus in the Artwork of the Month segment on Egill Sæbjörnsson solo exhibit at the National Gallery of Iceland entitled Egill Sæbjörnsson and Infinite Friends of the Universe. The exhibition will be on display until February 25 2024, so make sure you make a visit whilst you can!   Null Island opened on November 18th at the Reykjavik Art Museum – Kjarvalsstaðir and closes on February 29th, 2024, leap year day. The exhibition is curated by Markús Þór Andrésson and a comprehensive publication has been released on the occasion. // Created and produced by the Icelandic Art Center, Out There brings co-hosts Becky Forsythe @beforsythe and Þórhildur Tinna Sigurðardóttir @tindilfaetta in conversation with artists, curators and art professionals. #OutTherePodcast #IcelandicArtCenter #IcelandicArt #IcelandicArtist #Iceland #VisualArt #ContemporaryArt #InspiredByIceland #IcelandicArt 

In this episode of Icelandic Art Center’s podcast “Out There” Tereza Eyrún Hofová does a take over of the podcast and talks to Teo Ala-Ruona, Johhan Rosenberg and Netti Nüganen. Tera was assisting Sequences Art Festival production being a part of an internship programme run by the festival and the Icelandic Art Center. Young Boy Dancing Group's performance is the art work of the month, with their latest performance being made at the final day of the Sequences XI - Can't See festivities at the Reykjavík Art Museum - Hafnarhús. In the episode Tera interviews some of the performance artists that contributed to the 10 day long biennial programme of Sequences. Thus dedicating this Out there episode to the live programme of the latest iteration of the Reykjavík-based biennial. ---- Performances covered in the episode Traps by Johhan Rosenberg Traps can be seen as a confluence of different actions, dragged by linguistic elements. A hypnotic zoo invites the viewer into its trap. The performance finds itself between the wet walls, inhabited by an unknown identity that seeks to make eye contact with the public. LACUNA by Teo Ala- Ruona Lacuna is a body horror performance and work of auto-fiction that brings together ghostly memories and lived experience, while composing a verbal and musical incantation. “Lacuna” means an opening or a gap. The Myth: Last Day by Netti Nüganenis centred around a prefabricated archaeological mine, where a pseudo-archaeologist digs objects from the ground. It intertwines reality and fiction, and creates myths, thereby constructing speculative pasts and futures. Young Boy Dancing Group's performance at Reykjavík Art Museum is the art work of the month. So make sure you listen till the end to hear what the work spurred in Tereza. ---- Created and produced by the Icelandic Art Center, with co-hosts Becky Forsythe and Þórhildur Tinna Sigurðardóttir Sequences XI - Can't See is curated by Marika Agu, Maria Arusoo, Kaarin Kivirähk and Sten Ojavee.

Artist Ragnar Kjartansson joins us in this episode and we travel along the spectrum of emotions including love and understanding, fear satire and fakery. Ragnar shares stories about art for theater, the role of fiction, feminism and pushing things to the end in his works, exhibitions, radical meetings and collaborations. As one of the most recognized and well-loved contemporary artists of our time, Ragnar’s works spark something human, are sometimes misunderstood, but most often adored. He has exhibited across the world and realized a number of meaningful collaborations with artists, musicians, performers, activists and other creatives from his local Iceland and beyond. Alongside many other things at the moment, Ragnar recently opened the first comprehensive solo exhibition of his works, titled Epic Waste of Love and Understanding, on September 6th, 2023 at Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in Denmark, which is on view until October 22nd, 2023.  Ragnar Kjartansson (b. 1976) studied at Iceland University of the Arts, The Royal Academy in Stockholm and the Homemaking School in Reykjavík. His solo exhibitions have been held in many of the most respected art museum in the world such as Barbican Center in London, 2016, Kunstmuseum in Stuttgart, Germany 2019 and Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York 2019. He represented Iceland at the Venice Biennale in 2009. // Created and produced by the Icelandic Art Center, Out There brings co-hosts Becky Forsythe @beforsythe and Þórhildur Tinna Sigurðardóttir @tindilfaetta in conversation with artists, curators and art professionals. #OutTherePodcast #IcelandicArtCenter #IcelandicArt #IcelandicArtist #Iceland #VisualArt #ContemporaryArt #InspiredByIceland #IcelandicArt  Episode mentions --> Ragnar Kjartansson Louisiana Museum of Modern Art Stella í orlofi: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0369000/ Eva Ísleifs Kling & Bang

In this episode we critically unpack For Those Who Couldn’t Cross the Sea with curator Elham Fakouri and Sabina Westerholm, Director of the Nordic House. We discuss exhibition themes, the unique position of the Nordic House within the Icelandic art world and some of the inner workings of curating in public institutions. This episode concludes with focus on the current exhibition at the Nordic House, MASKS by artists Kjetil Ingvar and Gøran Ohldieck. This is take two for the exhibition, which was censored and taken down when first exhibited forty years ago, in the 80s, due to homophobic and anti-queer sentiments in management at the time. MASKS is curated by Ynda Eldborg and is a part of the official programme of Reykjavík Pride, 2023. For Those Who Couldn’t Cross the Sea includes works by Adel Abidin, Ahmed Umar, Pinar Ogenci, Thana Faroq and Ibi Ibrahim. Through their works, these artists reflect on the experiences of refugees and migrants, as well as the challenges they face in their search for a new home. The aim of the exhibition is to build empathy and highlight patterns of trauma, erasure, identities, belonging, and home. For Those Who Couldn’t Cross the Sea opened on the 10th of May at the Nordic House and is on view until the 3rd of September, 2023. MASKS will be on display until the 24th of September.

In this episode we speak with Sigurður Guðmundsson, Artist and co-founder of the international contemporary art museum ARS LONGA, initiated with Þór Vigfússon & Ineke Guðmundsson in 2021 and based in Djúpivogur. We talk about the upcoming summer show that is to open at ARS LONGA on the 8th of July, summer 2023. Sigurður tells us stories spanning his career, plays some symphonies that resonate with different periods in his life, including legendary SÚM group initiatives back in the 70’s and unpacks some of his unique conceptual ideology, both in life and art-making. ARS LONGA strives to be a leading venue for international contemporary art in Iceland with progressive exhibitions and seeks to strengthen connections and collaboration with artists and professionals through dynamic activities. ARS LONGA’s mission is to collect artworks by Icelandic and international artists, but Sigurður Guðmundsson’s art donation of twenty-seven works is the basis for the collection. In the mid sixties, a group of young artists founded the SÚM group which broke with tradition and introduced a new approach to the Icelandic art world. Back then, the newly founded group of artists had varied and different practices in art, however, were unified in the making of public art and interventions. Sigurður Guðmundsson is one of the founding members of SÚM.  Cover image courtesy of the artist, and i8 Gallery, Reykjavík. Sigurður Guðmundsson, COLLAGE (1979) // Created by the Icelandic Art Center, Out There brings co-hosts Becky Forsythe @beforsythe and Þórhildur Tinna Sigurðardóttir @tindilfaetta in conversation with artists, curators and art professionals at the @101liveradio.​​​​​​​​ #OutTherePodcast #IcelandicArtCenter #IcelandicArt #IcelandicArtist #Iceland #VisualArt #ContemporaryArt #InspiredByIceland #IcelandicArt