AVS. Arkitektúr verktækni skipulag - 01.06.2003, Qupperneq 57

Geir Svansson, Managing Director ofthe Nýlistasafn.
The Living
Art Museum:
The Living Art Museum, founded in 1978, is a non-
profit gallery, a private institution run by an associa-
tion of artists called the Living Art Museum
Association. Since its inception, the principal objec-
tives of the Living Art Museum Association have
been the following:
- To provide a forum for new styles and experíments
in the visual arts
- To encourage reassessment and critical approach-
es to the visual arts
- To build up its collection of contemporary art
- To perform the general functions of an art muse-
um.
In recent years, The Living Art Museum has primarily
been a venue for exhibitions and artistic events of
various kinds. However, the museum is also gaining
importance as a place for artists to meet and
exchange opinions. The Living Art Museum has a
membership of nearly two hundred, including both
lcelandic and foreign artists. Many of lceland’s most
active and respected contemporary artists belong to
the Association. Over the years, communication with
artists and art institutions abroad has increased. The
Board of Directors is elected at the annual general
meeting by the members of the Association. The
Board formulates and implements Museum policy
and organizes exhibitions. The Museum’s main
activities consists of exhibitions, 8 to10 per year.
The Living Art Museum owns a very large collection
of art and source material, donated by the members
of the LAM Association, exhibitors and others. It has
succeded in preserving a unique part of lceland’s art
history. For example, the museum owns the largest
artists’books collection in the country, one of the
world’s largest collections of the work of German-
Swiss artist Dieter Roth, as well as works by most
members of the SÚM group, Jón Gunnar Árnason,
Magnús Pálsson, Hreinn Friðfinnsson, Sigurður
Guðmundsson, Kristján Guðmundsson, Róska,
Arnar Herbertsson, Magnús Tómasson, Gylfi
Gíslason, Hildur Hákonardóttir and Guðbergur
Bergsson.
The Museum owns works by
many of the best known younger
artists in lceland as well as works
by over 50 artists, such as
Joseph Beuys, Pieter Holstein,
Richard Hamilton, Jan Voss,
Robert Filliou, Nini Tang, Peter
Angermann, John Armieder,
Geoffrey Hendricks, Jan Knap,
Franz Graf, Angus Fairhurst, and
others. All works in the Museum’s
possession are selected by the
artists themseives. In recent
years, the LV\M has put an
increasing emphasis on both
national and international cooper-
ation with artists, art institutions,
galleries and curators.
Increasingly, the LAM has, almost
automatically, become a contact
point and a mediator for foreign
artists, agents, galleries, institu-
tions, curators and collectors,
interested lcelandic artists in the
field of contemporary art. This
development is no doubt caused,
at least in part, by the lack of a
formal instituion with the role of
relaying said contacts and pre-
serving them. It is the intention of
the present board of directors of
the LWM to form a consistent
structure within its scheme to
increase and ensure international
collaboration and cooperation for
the benefit of lcelandic artists and
the art community as a whole. ■
WHALE WATCHING
REYKJAVÍK
Adventure at Sea
The whales are only 20 minutes away
when you are in downtown Reykjavík.
Elding Whale Watching offers a variety
of exciting boat tours from Reykjavík,
daily whale watching tours and exciting
deep sea fishing tours.
Elding Whale Watching is conveniently
located in the old harbour district, close
to Reykjavík city centre.
Whale watching tours are scheduled
from April through October.