Iceland review - 2017, Síða 55

ICELAND REVIEW 53
A R T
the art of three organizations: Studio
Ólafur Elíasson, the Living Art
Museum (Nýlistasafnið, shortened to
Nýló), and Kling & Bang. On the first
floor, the restaurant and bar offers a
view over the harbor—industrial and
scenic at the same time.
Architect Ásmundur Sturluson first
saw the building when sailing in the
harbor with his architecture students
three years ago, in an exercise on
seeing the city from another angle.
The removal of the oil tanks that had
blocked it from view was a revelation:
both Ásmundur and Steinþór Kárason,
his partner in the architecture firm
Kurt og Pí, were mesmerized by it.
The idea of Marshall House came
to fruition through three years of
intense planning. “It’s very rare to see
a bubbling contemporary arts scene
like here,” says Ásmundur, but this
vibrancy is often shadowed by the
difficulty in finding stable and suita-
ble exhibition spaces. With both Nýló
and Kling & Bang facing demolition
deadlines at their old premises, and
Icelandic/Danish contemporary artist
Ólafur Elíasson seeking an Icelandic
base, the artists and architects came
together to present the idea as a whole
concept. “It feels like it’s meant to be,”
says Þorgerður Ólafsdóttir, director of
Nýló.
PLACE FOR LIVING ART
Kling & Bang, founded in 2003 to
provide space for experimental arts, is
an artist-run initiative, now 14, in a city
where, according to Ásmundur, such
initiatives tend to last just two or three
years. “It’s our fermingar [confirma-
tion] age,” jokes Elísabet Ólafsdóttir,
one of twelve artist-owners, referring
to the year that young Icelanders come
of age. The gallery exhibits “artists
who are at a pivotal moment in their
career,” whether they are new on the
scene or well-established. Their cur-
rent show, Bad Company, focuses on
emerging artists: most have graduated
within the past three years, and several
are currently pursuing further educa-
tion abroad.
Nýló, which, according to Þorgerður,
will be “middle-aged next year,” has set
things rolling with Rolling Line, cele-
brating the work of founding mem-
ber Ólafur Lárusson. “He was a true
legend in the 70s and 80s,” Þorgerður
explains. The pieces on display high-
light the most productive period of his
career, a time of “opening up the gates
for performance.”
Next up for Nýló will be an exhibi-
tion of local and international artists—
featuring a “big surprising element,”
Þorgerður describes, in which “the
role of the museum space is going
to change.” Þorgerður and collec-
tions manager Becky Forsythe offer
no further details, leaving it a tanta-
lizing mystery. This will be followed
by Expedition to the Magic Mountain, a
“wonderful, poetic group exhibition,”
as Þorgerður describes it, named in
honor of the Thomas Mann novel.
Kling & Bang, meanwhile, will launch
their next exhibition in May, work-
ing alongside the television program
Opening. October will bring the eighth
edition of visual arts festival Sequences,
hosted by Nýló and Kling & Bang,
both co-founders of the biennial event,
along with the Center for Icelandic
Art.
LOCAL MATERIALS, INTERNATIONAL
INSPIRATION
Ólafur Elíasson’s large-scale pieces
will stay longer than Sequences, likely
throughout the first year. Nothing is
set in stone—apart from the basalt
tile mosaic—and Marshall House will
serve as both a gallery and a testing
ground. The fourth-floor studio will
allow Ólafur to construct and display
works that had previously been dif-
ficult to exhibit, according to Auður
Jörundsdóttir, director of Gallery i8,
which represents Ólafur in Iceland.
Paintings, two-story sculptures and
a delicate floating compass showcase
both his early and recent work.
Based in Copenhagen, with a studio
in Berlin, Ólafur has taken inspiration
from Iceland, but according to Auður,
needed a place to process that informa-
Looking down to the ground floor.