Iceland review - 2015, Page 14

12 ICELAND REVIEW
The scene at the unfinished museum in
Seltjarnarnes—a victim of the 2008 eco-
nomic collapse—would be perfect for an Enid
Blyton adventure crime story. Here, five famous
Icelandic artists: Ívar Valgarðsson, Finnbogi
Pétursson, Kristinn E. Hrafnsson, Ragnar
Axelsson (RAX) and Svava Björnsdóttir, show-
case their work. The dog is in one of RAX’s
photographs.
The building, designed by Yrki architects,
blends in perfectly with the landscape. Next
to The Medical and Health Care Museum in
Nesstofa, built in 1760, it’s the second-west-
ernmost building in the capital region. Only
the Grótta lighthouse is further to the west, a
handful of meters away on an island out at sea,
accessed by an isthmus.
It’s a unique space for exhibiting new and
interesting work by leading Icelandic artists,
such as hypnotizing audio-video work ‘INFRA/
SUPRA’ in the dark and damp basement by
Finnbogi, which gave me goose bumps; or the
creative yellow sculpture ‘Sólarplexus’ by Svava
Björnsdóttir, which fitted the raw environment
perfectly.
These works contrast with the monochrome
images from the far north by RAX, clever
installations by Ívar which make you wonder
about space and art, and Kristinn’s works; an
interesting dialogue between time and the exhi-
bition space.
Listería, as the exhibition is called, the first
put up in the unfinished museum building, was
produced and curated by Klara Stephensen and
Margrét Áskelsdóttir, who asked the five artists
to think about water, movement and time when
designing their works.
Talking about time… the exhibition will be
open Tuesdays through Sundays, 1-5 pm, until
the end of August. That’s one mystery you won’t
have to solve, Enid Blyton. *
A huge building outside Reykjavík, designed to facilitate a grand
new museum which was never completed, now serves as
a unique space for the exhibition Listería.
ART
BY PÁLL STEFÁNSSON.
FAMOUS FIVE AND A DOG
Photos by RAX; the boat is decorative.
‘INFRA/SUPRA’ by Finnbogi Pétursson.