Reykjavík Grapevine - 05.07.2019, Blaðsíða 24

“Guð er tíl?” Translated, the question
becomes, “Does God exist?”
It’s a thought many face at one point
or another, but not one you’d expect to
find hanging on the walls of a church.
But stop by Hellnakirkja church in the
tiny Snæfellsnes hamlet of Hellnar, and
you’ll find that sentence carved in silver
on a circular emblem
presented starkly on
the southern wall of
the church. Created
by Ragnar Kjartans-
son—arguably Ice-
land’s most famous
visual artist, who is
currently on exhibi-
tion at the Metropoli-
tan Museum Of Art in
New York City—the
provocative work is
one of the hundreds
of piece you’ll find scattered around the
Snæfellsnes peninsula this summer as
part of the ‘Nr. 3 Umhverfing’ exhibi-
tion.
Starting small, ending big
“We started with a small exhibition
in 2017,” co-curator Ragnhildur Ste-
fánsdóttir explains, sitting back in the
Breiðablik Community Centre, which is
more or less the beginning of the ‘Nr. 3
Umhverfing’ exhibition trail. The Cen-
tre is filled with posters—71 in all—
representing each of
the artists involved.
“See, we thought
we’d travel around
Iceland with small
exhibitions, one ev-
ery year, and make
a small book about
it. Everything was
small,” she contin-
ues, smiling. “We had
14 artists the first
year, then we moved
to Egilsstaðir the sec-
ond year and had 37 artists.”
They’ve almost doubled that number
this year, and transformed what was a
small exhibition into a road trip that
spans an entire peninsula. Almost ev-
ery area of Snæfellsnes—from barns to
restaurants to swimming pools—con-
tains an exhibition. There are 17 tech-
nical centres, usually towns, but each
centre contains up to seven individual
locations—many of them alternative
spaces—for exhibitions that contain
more than one artists’ work. It’s a doozy
of an undertaking.
Connecting the
countryside
Along with presenting a wide range of
works in unusual spaces, ‘Nr. 3 Umhver-
fing’ seeks wholeheartedly to feature
artists that have a connection to the
area. Currently, every artist featured
in this series of exhibitions is tied to
Snæfellsnes in some way, whether it’s
through residence, ancestry, or even
just past work.
“They have roots here,” Ragnhildur
explains. “They have been raised here
or maybe their ancestors were. In fact,
two of the artists’ fathers were priests
in Snæfellsnes.”
The only artists featured that are
not directly tied to the region are the
curators themselves: Ragnhildur, Anna
Eyjólfsdóttir, and Þórdís Alda Sig-
urðardóttir. “But, you know,” she jokes.
“I am from the Westfjords, so maybe
some of my ancestors are from here.”
All forms present
Another tenet of ‘Nr. 3 Umhverfing’ is
variety. “We have people from very dif-
ferent backgrounds, some are unknown
and some are world famous,” she says.
“And Umhverfing spans all the art
forms: paintings, drawings, sculptures,
videos, and even sound.”
By sound, she’s referring to Megas’
contribution to the series, which in-
volves radio station FM 105.1 perpetu-
ally broadcasting a sound mixture com-
bined with spoken word. “What is so
important here is that Megas has his
piece in the air,” Ragnhildur enthuses.
Culture
A Flood Of Feeling
‘Nr. 3 Umhverfing’ fills the Snæfellsnes countryside with art

Exhibition
Nr. 3 Umhverfing
will be open until
the end of the
summer, though
the exact end
date is TBA. It
is located at 17
centres around
Snæfellsnes with
the first opening
location being
the Breiðablik
Community
Centre.
Co-curator Ragnhildur Stefánsdóttir, pictured in front of her own work
24The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 11— 2019
Words:
Hannah Jane
Cohen
Photos:
Art Bicnick
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“Some [of the art-
ists] are complete-
ly unknown, and
then you have
Ragnar Kjartans-
son, who is show-
ing at the MET.”