Reykjavík Grapevine - 15.07.2011, Page 35

LANA VOGESTAD
JULIA STAPLES
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EXPERIENCE
THE FORCE
OF NATURE
Art | And adventure!
The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 10 — 2011
Art Project On The Road To Mongolia
The art collaborative Mud Lab, con-
sisting of the three Icelandic art-
ists, Egill Karlsson, Gunnar Péturs-
son and Thor Sigurthorsson, will be
embarking on a fantastical journey
to Mongolia in the end of July… and
yes it is a journey via car, not plane!
Mud Lab is participating in the Mon-
golia Rally for charity as an art project;
they will be creating work on the way,
exhibiting and using their car as the
exhibition venue, compiling footage
for a documentary and the trip within
itself is a performance. They are driving
from Iceland to Mongolia through many
unfamiliar parts of the world, including
the no-man’s land on the borders of
Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgizstan,
to name a few. The Mongolia Rally is an
opportunity the artists have been eager
to be a part of for four years now, when
Gunnar initially found out about it.
“THE GATE TO HELL”
Gunnar says that he was drawn to it for
the chance to experience areas of the
world that we do not know that much
about. The unforeseen obstacles and
adventures are the compelling compo-
nents of this project and how it will be
infiltrated into their art and shared with
vastly different cultures. The uncertain-
ty of the vehicle’s survival and using
the vehicle as an art platform is a very
significant part of this project, which
holds a common thread to the work by
the artist Swoon. She handcrafted rafts
from recycled material or garbage, that
was sailed down rivers and used to
stage performances, such as her proj-
ects on the Hudson River, Mississippi
River and down the waterway from Slo-
venia to Venice, Italy.
The Mud Lab artists are looking
forward to seeing many bizarre and
phenomenal landmarks along the way
to Mongolia, including Darvaza in Ta-
jikistan, which is an empty crater with
a blazing fire from an oil drill that col-
lapsed around 40 years ago, also called
“the gate to hell”, an abandoned planet
observatory on the border of Kyrgiz-
stan and Kazakhstan and the infamous
Pamir Highway. Their blog will be up-
dated throughout their journey and Rás
2 will be calling the artists regularly
throughout the trip on the morning ra-
dio, so people can follow up with how
they are doing and hear about their ex-
citing adventures.
After their, journey, they will have
an exhibition in Reykjavík and a docu-
mentary will be made. The rally is a tool
for art and education for these artists,
as well as donating to two charities,
UNICEF and Christina Noble Chil-
dren’s Foundation. Mud Lab recently
had an exhibition at the SÍM house on
Hafnarstræti to fund the charities and
will be having an open studio starting
Wednesday, July 13, until they leave
on July 24, where they will be selling
their work for charity. The Open Stu-
dio is at Skólavördurstígur 1b. You can
also make donations to the charities
through their website - www.mudlab.
com.
We are wishing these guys the best
of luck and safe travels in their car,
which they have been slaving on to pre-
pare, a Peugeot 306 / 2002 / 1.6L. We
will hopefully talk to them when they
return, so stay posted!
“The Mud Lab artists
are looking forward to
seeing many bizarre
and phenomenal
landmarks along the
way to Mongolia,
including Darvaza in
Tajikistan, which is
an empty crater with
a blazing fire from an
oil drill that collapsed
around 40 years ago”
MORE INFO!
www.mudlab.com