Atlantica - 01.06.2006, Qupperneq 83

82 AT L A N T I CA
ICELANDa
The State of Nordic Art
What is Nordic Art? It’s video, multimedia, canvas and sculpture,
and it’s all on display at the Carnegie Art Award’s 2006 exhibition
at the Reykjavík Art Museum – Harbour House, writes D. Heimpel.
After a long nomination process and three moves
across Europe, the Carnegie Art Award exhibi-
tion has come to the Reykjavík Art Museum. In one
of the world’s largest art awards, 21 artists, four of
whom are Icelandic, were selected out of an appli-
cant pool of 115.
The winner of the SEK 600,000 (ISK 6,195,000, USD
81,700) second prize, Eggert Pétursson, is Icelandic.
Finnbogi Pétursson, Jón Óskar and Steingrímur
Eyfjörd also rounded out Iceland’s representatives.
“You could say that Iceland is dominating the exhi-
bition,” says Anne Folke, manager of the Carnegie
Art Award.
The award was established in 1998 and pooled
the best artists from the Nordic nations: Sweden,
Denmark, Norway, Finland and Iceland. Sponsored
by Carnegie Investment Bank, the award’s competi-
tion goal was “that this long term commitment will
make Nordic contemporary painting accessible to
the general public interested in art, not only within
the Nordic countries but also in other nations.”
Over the years the award has changed and has
grown to encompass more countries as it tours.
Until 2003, the event was annual. But the logistics
of moving the anywhere from 50 to 70 works from
city to city was a huge undertaking. Prizes were
doubled and today the award is given out biennially.
The top prize is SEK 1,000,000 (ISK 10,325,000, USD
136,100).
Reykjavík is the fourth stop on the seven-city 2006
tour that started in Hovikodden, Norway, with an
inauguration and award ceremony presided over by
Queen Sonja of Norway. After Reykjavík, the tour
will move on to Stockholm, balmy Nice, London and
will end in Copenhagen.
The Reykjavík Art Museum, a converted shipping
warehouse, offers a wide space where this year’s
works have room to breathe. Five large rooms are
devoted to the exhibition’s 49 pieces.
This year’s exhibition ranges from Magnus Wallin’s
Sisyphus-esque multimedia installation, “Atomic
Flop,” where eight skinless racers charge a track just
to get beaten back to the start by the black wings of
time in a seemingly endless void, to the naturalist
canvas of Astrid Nondal’s “Chosen” wherein a small
rodent bathes in a wall of green forest.
The exhibition will be up at the Reykjavík Art
Museum – Harbour House until August 20th. And
the Carnegie Art Award will be holding a number
of speaker events with the Icelandic artists as well
as leading guided tours for school children from the
age of six to 19. For more information about the
competition visit www.carnegieartaward.com. The
Reykjavík Art Museum – Harbour House is located
near the harbor at Tryggvagata 17 and is open from
10 am to 5 pm. a
Untitled, 2003-2005, oil on canvas, 190x70 cm.
By Eggert Pétursson.
We work so closely
without even knowing it,
2005, oil on panel,
2 parts, 61 x 161 cm each.
By Karin Mamma Anderson
Until, 2004, video mini DV (still from video), 9:40 min.
By Petra Lindholm
From left: First prize winner Karin Mamma Anderson, Sweden. Second prize winner Eggert Pétursson, Iceland.
Third prize winner Petra Lindholm, Finland.
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