Reykjavík Grapevine - jan. 2022, Blaðsíða 20

A Very Cultured January
Some of the more intri!uin! exhibitions
this month
Words: Andie Sophia Fontaine Photo: Art Bicnick
Although the winter solstice was
last month, bringing more mo-
ments of daylight with each pass-
ing day, January can still be an
awfully dreary month. The lin-
gering darkness is only abating
incrementally, and the weather is
arguably worse than in December.
To save your brain from sensory
deprivation, it is highly advisable
to seek out stimulation indoors,
and there are few better places to
do that than art galleries.
However, Reykjavík is positively
brimming with galleries and mu-
seums, making it very daunting to
parse it all and figure out what’s
worth seeing. To that end, we have
compiled some of the very best
stuff currently being shown in our
fair capital.
A Bra Ka Da Bra – The Magic
of Contemporary Art
Hafnarhús, until March
If you only have time for one ex-
hibition, you could do a lot worse
than making it this one. It boasts
a couple of dozen artists of diverse
backgrounds, with works span-
ning multiple media. You can eas-
ily spend an afternoon checking
out everything on offer, and come
away feeling very cultured indeed.
AD INFINITUM
Ger"arsafn, January 14th until
March 27th
Rent a car–or better still, hop on a
public bus–and get down to Kópa-
vogur for this very special joint
exhibition of acclaimed visual art-
ist Elín Hansdóttir and renowned
musician Úlfur Hansson, (prob-
ably best known as the inventor of
the magnetic harp). By their pow-
ers combined, they have created an
enigmatic exhibition guaranteed
to delight both eyes and ears alike.
Dieter Roth
I8 Gallery, until January 29th
You can’t go wrong with the clas-
sics. This Swiss-German artist
has been exciting and intriguing
people for decades, and he appar-
ently had a special place in his
heart for Iceland, too, as this ex-
hibition attests. Mostly it focuses
on his works on paper, but it spans
multiple genres and decades—
specifically the 60s and 70s. A
fine reminder that art has always
been, and always should be, deeply
weird.
Fylgjur
Kling&Bang, until January 23rd
In Icelandic mythology, a fylgja
was a kind of guardian, a spirit
guide and protector who followed
generational lines, often appear-
ing as an animal or a woman. In
this group exhibition from Hal-
la Einarsdóttir, Hanna Kristín
Birgisdóttir and Smári Rúnar
Róbertsson, these artists will un-
doubtedly explore the concepts of
myth, generational baggage, and
the cultural markers that follow us
all. As Kling & Bang never disap-
points, this is another exhibition
well worth checking out.
Redeconstruction
Hverfisgallerí, until February 12th
This is a solo exhibition by Hrafn-
kell Sigur!sson, with a very com-
pelling backstory. The artist says
he was living in Siglufjör!ur last
year, working at a remotely located
hotel and feeling entirely detached
from Iceland not to mention the
rest of the world. But then an av-
alanche struck—not for the first
time in the area, and certainly
not the last. Visiting the site of
destruction, he observed how na-
ture had effectively deconstructed
the things built by human beings,
which in these works, he re-assem-
bles and deconstructs again. Ergo,
redeconstruction. It’s absolutely
worth your time in these bleak
winter days.
Art
DIETER ROTH
9 December 2021 - 29 January 2022
@i8gallery
3 0 .1 0 . 2 0 2 1 – 2 0 . 0 3 . 2 0 2 2
Töfrar samtímalistar
T h e M a g i c o f
C o n t e m p o r a r y
A r t
Hafnarhús
Tryggvagata 17
+354 411 6410
artmuseum.is
Open daily
10h00–17h00
Thursdays
10h00–22h00