Reykjavík Grapevine - 19.05.2017, Qupperneq 29

Staying true
The resulting collection has a
powerful impact, showing the im-
portance of artist-run initiatives,
which are often underfunded, or
even unfunded, labours of love.
“The archive really shows the huge
impact of the artist-run spaces on
the visual arts in Iceland over the
years,” says Þorgerður. “We made a
chart of all the art spaces that have
come and gone since 1923. The vast
majority of them are artist-run,
and it’s ongoing to this day—now
we have Ekkisens and Harbinger
in Reykjavík, and artist initiatives
from the east to the Westfjords.”
Another outcome of this work is,
as it turns out, to fill in the blanks
of Iceland’s art history. While in-
stitutional memory can be power-
ful, it also suffers amnesia when
it comes to grassroots organisa-
tions and experimental work.
“It’s interesting how art his-
tory is written,” says Þorgerður.
“It’s usually just by a few people.
When the large five-volume art
history publication came out,
you looked at it and realised
how much was missing. There
was a tiny paragraph about Óla-
fur Lárusson’s performances,
for example, and nothing more.
But how can it happen in such a
small community that one artist
falls through the cracks? That’s
one role of NÝLÓ—to make sure
the history stays true, a bit.”
Culture Feature 29The Reykjavík GrapevineIssue 08 — 2017
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