Reykjavík Grapevine - okt 2020, Qupperneq 23

Art In The Shadow
Of Climate Chan!e
‘Nor!ri!’ shines li"ht on a bleak future
Exhibition
Check out 'Nor!ri!' at the LÁ Art Museum
in Hverager!i until December 20th, 2020.
An accompanying podcast, ‘North’, is on
Spotify now.
Climate change is a world-wide trag-
edy, the fallout of which will be expe-
rienced by everybody in the near fu-
ture. But, despite the enormity of the
situation, many people still choose
to believe that climate change won’t
tangibly affect them or their everyday
lives. That said, for people living in the
Nordic countries, the natural changes
brought about by mankind’s negli-
gence are appearing rapidly. Some-
times, right on their doorsteps.
Piecing together a larger
picture
‘Nor!ri!’ (‘North’) is a group exhibition
featuring artists from Iceland, Finland
and Sweden. Running until December
20th at Hverager!i’s LÁ Art Museum.
The exhibition shines a light on how
the environments of the Nordic coun-
tries are adapting to climate change
and also explores how artists them-
selves are reacting to the changes in
nature. It’s an illumination on nature’s
fragility and how it’s represented in
artwork.
“The works in this show, the texts,
the [accompanying] podcast and all
of the information we’ve brought to-
gether, helps point out some specific
detailed little changes in our environ-
ments here in the Nordic countries,”
exhibition curator Daría Sól Andrews
explains. “Maybe you don’t realise that
these changes are happening until
you’re brought face to face with them
then it can be kind of a shock.”
Disappearing before
our eyes
Through paint, video, sculpture and
photography, Arngunnur "r, Erna
Skúladóttir, Ingibjörg Fri!riksdóttir,
Nestori Syrjälä, Pétur Thomsen and
Ulrika Sparre magnify tiny, often over-
looked aspects of climate change that
they witness in their homelands on a
daily basis, piecing them together to
create one large, foreboding picture of
the future of our landscape.
Pétur Thomsen’s work ‘Ingólfsfjall’
exemplifies this concept beautifully
through a series of photos document-
ing the mining of Ingólfsfjall moun-
tain in Iceland. Pétur took one photo
a day, from the same spot overlooking
the mine, showcasing the changing
seasons and the mountain which, due
to the industry, slowly disappears be-
fore the viewers’ eyes. The piece will
be added to daily until the wall is full
of photos of the vanishing landscape.
“This is a practice that happens all
across the world and mountains are
disappearing because of [it],” Daría ex-
plains. But I don’t think I’ve ever seen it
happening face-to-face like you can see
here. So when you see this mountain
literally disappearing every time you
drive by, it’s quite jarring.”
Inevitable evolution
Another theme that runs throughout
the exhibition is that of the inevitabil-
ity of changes in nature. Regardless of
human intervention, nature will al-
ways be changing around us and we
should embrace and welcome this evo-
lution—without speeding up the pro-
cess.
A large scale installation by Erna
Skúladóttir illustrates this, with a
number of castings of the ground in
Solheimajökull and Langjökull. “She
pours this casting over the earth and
in many cases it’s earth that—because
the glacier is receding and melting
away—is kind of new earth that is just
being uncovered,” Daría explains. “But
it’s actually quite ancient earth that’s
been under this glacier for thousands
of years, so this is a direct print of
the earth. She also makes paint from
the clay and dirt and that’s where this
rich, earthy colour comes from. It’s
sad, because the reason you’re see-
ing [this earth] is climate change and
the glaciers melting, but uncovering
untouched land and the way the land-
scape has changed is still really inter-
esting.”
A true sense of sadness and help-
lessness for a situation that is rapidly
spiralling out of control runs through-
out the works; visitors to the gallery
would be hard pressed to come away
from it unmoved. From paintings of
barren glaciers against bright land-
scapes to sculptures depicting a world
without resources, the exhibition
serves as a stark reminder of what our
near future is likely to look like if we
don’t act now.
23The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 08— 2020
Words:
Jess Distill
Photos:
Art Bicnick
'Nor"ri"' also proves that the Earth is, in fact, flat
“For people living in
the Nordic countries,
the natural changes
brought about by
mankind’s negligence
are appearing rapidly.
Sometimes, right on
their doorsteps.”
Curator Daría Sól Andrews
A stark reminder of what our near future is likely to look like if we don’t act now