Reykjavík Grapevine - feb. 2021, Síða 9

9 The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 02— 2021
As a flicker of light appears at the end of the pandemic tunnel, we
sat down with the next generation of Icelandic artists to discuss
the future. The conversations were freeform—some focused on
the upcoming years, others reflected on realisations from the past
months, others still looked with wide-eyes at the
future of the scene, which has only grown within the
restrictions of the coronavirus.
Presenting, an artistic vision of the future, as told
by the future.
THE PRESENT IS OVER:
The next generation of
Icelandic artists is creating a
new world
“I remember last January—before
this whole thing started—looking at
my calendar like ‘Oh shit, how am I
going to do this year?’” "órdís Erla
Zoëga says, somewhat incredulously.
“My boyfriend and I were planning
on getting married, I had a few exhi-
bitions [planned], and we had also
started a design studio. So I actually
kind of liked having everything post-
poned.”
Tech-savvy art
"órdís’s works are known for using
vivid and exuberant mediums to
investigate balance and symme-
try. Her most recent exhibition was
‘Hyper Cyber’ at "ula, which explored
the digital age using dichroic films
and UV lights. Outside of that, she
works as a web developer and graphic
designer.
Thanks to her background, "órdís
found herself uniquely qualified to
confront the challenges of being an
artist in the pandemic. “Yes, I think
people that were already working in
digital media,” she explains, “We were
like—oh, this is my turf.”
She, therefore, knew how to turn
her eyes towards this new consump-
tion model and did so—to great
success. “It’s been really good for me.
It’s gotten a lot of interest in my work
and I’ve enjoyed it. It’s good if you are
quite tech-savvy and can make your-
self a good website.
Cyber aesthetic
Regardless of how well "órdís adapted
to digital platforms, the platforms
themselves have limits, which she
found in the midst of the aforemen-
tioned ‘Hyper Cyber’.
“I work a lot on my computer
and I liked the aspect of taking all
the aesthetic elements out of the
computer screens we have in front
of us all day and removing the tech-
nological aspect except for the light-
ing,” she explains, when asked about
the origins of the exhibition. “These
works—even though they are really
new—they are really retro in how
they are set up.”
‘Hyper Cyber’ was rife with digi-
tal symbolism, references to the “old
days” of the internet, and bright
Miami-style shining lights. That said,
it was primarily made with plexiglass,
which created some unforeseen chal-
lenges when "órdís attempted to
show it to the digital world.
“Pictures didn’t really do it justice.
It was a bit of an art form to docu-
ment,” she laughs.
In the grand scheme though, as
cheesy as it sounds, the pandemic has
just made "órdís realise how lucky
she was in the pre-pandemic world.
It’s not something she’ll take for
granted again, she emphasises. “It’s
just like, wow, I didn’t really value my
freedom as much—like going abroad,”
she concludes. “Or even just to touch
every surface possible and then lick
my hand!” She pauses, laughing. “It’ll
be hard to not be constantly aware of
everything I’m touching.”
"ÓRDÍS ERLA ZOËGA
The name Print & Friends is an apt
one, Sigur!ur Atli Sigur!sson and
Leifur #mir Eyjólfsson explain,
because if the pair is about anything,
it’s printmaking and collaboration.
In fact, both are so passionate about
printmaking that talking to them
feels like attending a lively discus-
sion at university—to them, print-
making is much more than a means
of production or even a medium in
itself, it’s a topic of study whose ethos
can provoke endless discourse.
“Print & Friends is a collective
revolving around printmaking, but
it’s kind of an open playground,”
Leifur explains when asked to distil it
down to its essence. “From the begin-
ning, it’s been focused on the collab-
orative aspect of printmaking, more
than necessarily production. It’s the
dialogue and the community.”
The pair have sought to push the
established boundaries of the practice,
approaching printmaking in a more
“nonchalant way.” Within the print-
making community, both explain,
there are divisions between those that
hold fast to conserve old methods
and those pushing it forward. “But
you need both,” Sigur!ur Atli admits.
“Some people conserve the knowledge
that is there and some people find
new ways of making it. Between is the
collaboration of these two that creates
something interesting.”
Take your time
While the pandemic made in-person
collaboration difficult, it gave artists
time to breathe, Leifur explains. In
both of their views, the build-up
to 2020 saw the schedules of many
visual artists becoming increasingly
rigorous, potentially putting them
into pressure-cooker scenarios where
they weren’t in the position to make
their best work. COVID-19 provided a
forced break.
“It’s very good to take your time,”
Leifur explains. “It’s benefiting artists
to have more time to develop their
ideas and deepen their work method.
People are taking more time and
producing more quality work. There’s
not this rush because everything has
slowed down, so I see that as a plus.”
Virtual world
That said, Sigur!ur Atli sees the
downsides of this pandemic in expe-
riences like, well, this interview with
the Grapevine, which is conducted
via Zoom. “On a larger scale, you take
these types of meetings,” Sigur!ur
Atli says. “We can get our words
across, but there’s something miss-
ing. And when you’re teaching, there’s
something missing with the students
and the students feel it too. You can’t
do an online lecture like you would in
a classroom. The physical link is miss-
ing.”
But Sigur!ur Atli thinks that this
loss of connection will grow into
a greater appreciation of it—and
human contact in general—once
restrictions abate.
“In situations like this, it’s the
feeling of a community [that’s lost].
People getting together just to see
a performance,” he continues. “For
example, I went to a dance perfor-
mance yesterday and it was amazing
to be there.”
For art, the lack of in-person inter-
action will hopefully cause a mass
re-sensitisation to art in general. For
Sigur!ur Atli, it already has.
“This summer, I went to an exhibi-
tion and I was just completely over-
whelmed. I saw the work and I was
besides myself, completely amazed,”
he smiles. “And my friend, who was
working there, said ‘Siggi, this is
just art.’ But I wasn’t used to seeing
an exhibition in space, in real life,
anymore,” he concludes. “Hopefully
this will lead to people going to an art
museum and actually really looking at
the work.”
PRINT & FRIENDS
Sigur#ur Atli Sigur#sson Leifur &mir Eyjólfsson