Reykjavík Grapevine - okt. 2021, Blaðsíða 20

The Time Has Indeed
Come: Sequences Is
Back
The celebrated art festival returns
Words: Andie Sophia Fontaine Photo: Sequences
Info:
Sequences will be held all over the
country from October 15th through
October 24th.
The full program can be found at
https://sequences.is/program-2021
Iceland has always had a vibrant
art scene that spread far beyond
the confines of the capital area.
The variety is so great, in fact, that
it can be difficult to sort through
it all; to know who to see and ex-
perience, when and where. This
underlines how incredibly impor-
tant the job of the curator is, and
it’s something Sequences curators
!óranna Björnsdóttir and !ráinn
Hjálmarsson are keenly aware of.
“It really is a creative job,”
!ráinn says. “And it's in so many
aspects of ideas, because you just
wander around with ideas, and
then at a certain point you have to
say ‘Okay, how can I make this hap-
pen,’ and then, ‘what does this idea
need to be interesting? Or does it
need to be in this sort of context?’”
!óranna agrees, saying, “I
mean, in terms of our connection
with this, it has been quite cre-
ative, because we just started with
a very intuitive conversation. We
started to put together our ideas,
and of course, names of artists that
we found in harmony with what
we were speaking about. And what
we've also maybe worked with in
the past as artists.
“This festival and collaboration
with the artists on these projects
have been so diverse,” !óranna
continues. “But then we've also
been really involved with the de-
velopment of ideas … So the whole
range of the conversation has been
really broad and it's a lot of fun.
And then in many, if not most in-
stances, it becomes like a part of
the creative process itself.”
Like sands through the
hourglass
The tenth iteration of Sequences is
titled ‘Time Has Come’, which re-
fers to the ephemeral nature of the
space the festival encompasses; for
a brief, shining moment, it’s there,
and in the next, it’s gone, leaving
nothing behind but memories and
the impact it’s had on its partici-
pants.
“All the artists that take part
in the festival, they kind of made
a new sort of whole social setting,
in a sense,” !óranna says. “So even
though the platform is the same,
it's never the same. That's what
we're kind of hinting at with the
title, it becomes this sort of social
space, and then it kind of evapo-
rates.”
The variety of life
This year boasts quite the diverse
cavalcade of artists and perform-
ers, with events happening in many
parts of the country. There’s the
legendary Elísabet Jökulsdóttir,
performing ‘Stories of Creation’ at
the home of former Icelandic pres-
ident Vigdís Finnbogadóttir; the
artists of colour collective Lucky
3 performing PUTI—which exam-
ines diaspora and racism; Ræktin,
a workshop for children, and so
much more.
“Yeah, like the gym,” !óranna
says, referring to the literal trans-
lation of Ræktin. “I love the name of
it, because it's about how you have
to rack up not just your muscles or
your brain, but this whole inner
world, to take care of it. That's what
I'm excited about, and see how it
sort of can then blossom into soci-
ety, in the minds of the people that
come and have that dialogue.”
Beyond Reykjavík
“I think it's really beautiful, per-
sonally, because I think it's really
important to showcase that there
is an enormous amount of creativ-
ity, with the music, or the visual
arts or installations that are hap-
pening all over the country, it's
very important to highlight them,”
!ráinn says.
He couldn’t be more correct.
While many of these events happen
in or around Reykjavík, there’s also
something to see in Hverager"i,
Ísafjör"ur and beyond. Wherever
they may be, there’s always a lot of
creativity in Iceland.
“It springs from a group of vi-
sual artists who wanted to empha-
sise visual art,” !óranna says. “We
want to honor this as well as the
interdisciplinary aspect of artists
who work within different fields
and media.They might use draw-
ing or painting, sculpture, instal-
lations, video, sound, words and
text. So we're also curating an
energy you know, that's the thing
we're also putting out there. People
who strike our nerves. What we've
been doing throughout has been
curating wonderful exhibitions.”

Arti8 Gallery
Tryggvagata 16
101 Reykjavík
info@i8.is
t: +354 551 3666
www.i8.is
@i8gallery
N. DASH
K.R.M. MOONEY
B. INGRID OLSON
CARRIE YAMAOKA
Elisions
9 September - 20 November 2021
Open daily
10h00–17h00
artmuseum.is
#reykjavikartmuseum
Kjarvalsstaðir
Flókagata 24
105 Reykjavík
+354 411 6400
Guðný Rósa Ingimarsdóttir opus-
oups
02.10.2021–16.01.2022
Catch it while you can