Reykjavík Grapevine - 24.08.2012, Qupperneq 63

A R T
in August and September
Olivier Manoury, Watercolours
The Culture House
Runs until September 1, 11:00-17:00 every day
Entry to the Culture House is 1,000 ISK for adults, 500 ISK for concessions

This week it’s your last chance to visit a very special exhibition at Reykjavík’s
Culture House. Frenchman Olivier Manoury is indeed a man of many talents; for-
tunately one of them is his flair with a paintbrush, as you’ll see in his Watercolours
exhibition which is in town until September 1. Adoring the Culture House’s shop
and café are a compelling blend of landscapes painted during his travels across
Iceland alongside canvas-bound perspectives on this fine little city.
“I believe that approach and style derive from the never-ending conflict
between talent and limitation,” says Manoury with artistic grandeur. “My pictures
are simply an attempt to capture the ever-changing light and atmosphere in nature
and in man-made environments.” A graduate of Paris’s Ecole Nationale des Beaux
Arts, he is also an accomplished musician doing the rounds as a bandoneón player
in his spare time (that’s the French accordion thingy to you and me). His vision of
Iceland is a dreamlike one, set in vivid colours and light-tones that any traveller
who knows the country will immediately recognise. Enjoy this while you can. MOB
collaboration can operate in negotia-
tion with contesting ideas and desires,
and yet allow for unplanned action.
This large-scale collaboration takes
place at a cluster of museums, galler-
ies, artist-run spaces and institutions
in the capital area. Focusing on visual
art from the Nordic region, the exhibi-
tions are conceived as an opportunity
to establish and instigate a discussion
around the relationships between in-
ternational and Nordic networks from
the perspective of collaborative and
artist-initiated processes.
Runs until September 2
Reykjavík Art Museum-
Kjavalsstaðir
Kjarval - Key Works
Reykjavík Art Museum draws on
its extensive collection of works
by Jóhannes S. Kjarval for ongoing
exhibitions at Kjarvalsstaðir. The cur-
rent exhibition in the Kjarval Gallery
features key works of Kjarval’s oeuvre
and offers a unique and powerful ret-
rospective from Iceland’s most beloved
painter.
Permanent exhibition
Hangman's Rock - The Delirium of
a Vision
Work by painter Jóhannes Kjarval and
other artists like Finnur Jónsson look
to dissolve borders between external
and internal reality, with works that
depict lava fields and the paradoxes of
visual perception.
Runs until August 26
Reykjavík City Hall
Bringing Out the Past
A display of photos from the last
(and first) 12 years of Reykjavík Gay
Pride.
Reykjavík City Museum
Reykjavík 871 +/- 2
The Settlement Exhibition
Archaeological findings from ruins of
one of the first houses in Iceland and
other excavations in the city centre,
open daily 10:00-17:00, 600 ISK per
adult, 300 ISK for children (children
under 12, free) and 450 ISK per person
in groups (10+).
On permanent view
Reykjavík Maritime Museum
From Poverty to abundance
Photos documenting Icelandic fisher-
men at the turn of the 20th century.
On permanent view
The History of Sailing
Iceland's maritime history and the
growth of the Reykjavík Harbour.
On permanent view
The Call of Sagas
An exhibition from Finland about an
adventurous voyage in an open boat
from Finland to Iceland, honoring the
old viking shipping routes.
On permanent view
The Watercolours of Ólafur
Thorlacius
Ólafur Þór worked with the Icelandic
Coast Guard for many years as a map-
maker. He is now retired and paints
beautiful watercolors in his free time.
On permanent view
Reykjavík Museum of Photography
WOMan - Berglind Björnsdóttir
Photographer Berglind Björnsdóttir
began work on Icelandic woman back
in 2010, and the fruits of her labour are
in this exhibition. Who is the modern
Icelandic woman? Where did she
come from? What are her dreams and
desires?
Runs until September 2
Sigurjón Ólafsson Museum
Milestones: Sigurjón Ólafsson's
Key Sculptures
An exhibition with some of Sigurjón
Ólafsson's key works from differ-
ent periods of his prolific career as
a sculptor. The earliest work on the
exhibition is a newly acquired relief of
two sisters, which he made at his first
year at the Royal Academy of Art in
Copenhagen. This relief has not been
exhibited in Iceland before.
Runs until September 2
Spark Design Space
PRIK - Brynjar Sigurðarson
Brynjar Sigurðarson has revisited his
previous project making furniture
objects inspired by the tools of daily
working life in a small rural community
in north-east Iceland - now adding to
his work with this collection of sticks
as weapons, tools, and toys.
Runs until October 10
Víkingakráin
Let's Talk Iceland
A comedy show about Iceland's Viking
history in English, performed in a pub
mocked up as a Viking longhouse.
Every day at 20:00 at Víkingakráin
Hönnunarsafn Íslands
Museum of Design
and Applied Art
Garðatorg 1, Garðabær
Tel. +354 512 1525
Open 12–17
Closed on Mondays
www.honnunarsafn.is
Kópavogur
Art Museum-
Gerðarsafn
Hamraborg 4, Kópavogur
Tel. +354 570 0440
Open 11–17
Closed on Mondays
www.gerdarsafn.is
Hafnarborg
The Hafnarfjordur
Centre of Culture
and Fine Art
Strandgata 34, Hafnarfjörður
Tel. +354 585 5790
Open 12–17
Thursdays 12–21
Closed on Tuesdays
www.hafnarborg.is
To the Blue LagoonGuðni Tómasson
SKIA - shadow
Product designers
Something to write
home about
Step into
the Viking Age
Experience Viking-Age Reykja­vík a­t the
new Settlement Exhibition. The focus of the
exhibition is a­n exca­va­ted longhouse site which
da­tes from the 10th century ad. It includes
relics of huma­n ha­bita­tion from a­bout 871, the
oldest such site found in Icela­nd.

Multimedia­ techniques bring Reykja­vík’s
pa­st to life, providing visitors with insights
into how people lived in the Viking Age, a­nd
wha­t the Reykja­vík environment looked like
to the first settlers.
The exhibition a­nd
museum shop a­re open
da­ily 10–17
Aða­lstræti 16
101 Reykja­vík / Icela­nd
Phone +(354) 411 6370
www.reykja­vikmuseum.is