AVS. Arkitektúr verktækni skipulag - 01.03.2004, Blaðsíða 58

Water in danger of
extinction

Through the years, many accomplished lcelandic
artists have shown their work at the biennale in
Venice, Italy. The 2003 contribution from lcelandic
artist Rúri has probably aroused the greatest inter-
est. The presentation of his work was well-received,
and considered both professional and successful.
Rúrí is one of our most respected artists. His exhibi-
tion was organized by Laufey Helgadóttir, art histori-
an. Ásrún Kristjánsdóttir studied the origins of Rúrí’s
the work and ínterviewed the lcelandic artist.
„The name of this work is, ‘Archive-Endangered
Waters,’“ explains Rúrí. „During the last few years I
have been creating and showing work based on
photographs of waterfalls. When I was invited to
exhibit at the Venice biennale, it was natural to con-
tinue along this path. The work is made of 52 trans-
parent (100x100 cm) photographs of waterfalls.
They are framed and placed within a large steel
frame, and each frame can be pulled out individual-
|y. When a frame is pulled out, a sound system
plays the sound of that particular waterfall. The
viewer can watch and listen to up to 5 waterfalls at
the same time. In this way, the viewer is directly in
charge of the appearance of this work, which plays
much like a musical instrument.
„I am very pleased that this work is featured in this
magazine, which deals with planning,“ Rúrí contin-
ues. „Is planning not about organising things, and
preventing haphazard action, blunders and acci-
dents? In this connection, many questions come to
mind: Should we not pause and think about how we
treat our country? And how we want the next gen-
erations to inherit it? Many of the waterfalls in this
work of art will have disappeared within the next few
years, sacrificed on the altar of progress. Do we
want our descendants to inherit a country where all
the main rivers have been destroyed, the pearls of
Nature have been excavated, blown up or sunk
under reservoirs, tens or hundreds of meters deep?
Does the present generation have the authority to
destroy the country in such a way? These are
pressing questions."
In addition to being a work of art based on ideology,
Rúrí’s work is a somewhat complicated machine. It
combines many aspects such as mechanical engi-
neering, computer science, acoustics, and the
movement of the viewer, in addition to the imagina-
tion.
„When several hundred thousand people touch a
work like this, pull out frames and push them in
again, it is important that everything works as it
should and that it can stand up to the wear. To
build this work, I enlisted the cooperation of a group
of people with specialised knowledge of technology,
machine engineering, computer- and sound science
and art. They played an important part in the suc-
cess of this work. In addition, twenty individuals and
companies worked on special aspects of the proj-
ect.“
Laufey Helgadóttir, exhibition director, worked with a
graphic artist on an exhibition catalogue and saw to
it that professionals got a timely preview. This clearly
had an influence on the publicity of the lcelandic
exhibition.
Before the final work starts, it is important to get to
know the exhibition building because it is a frame
one has to work within and has been difficult due to
its architecture. The building is some 70 m2, floor to
ceiling. Below the heavy trusses are limited and
external doors on both ends. Special walls were
constructed to cover these doors on the inside,
improving the interior space. Many people com-
mented on the good interplay of the building and
the work of art. ■
56 avs