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#2 [June 2005] |
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Tímy - Rými - Tilvera. The Reykjavík Arts Festival
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The Reykjavík Arts Festival this year represents the biggest coordinated effort ever made to exhibit contemporary art in Iceland. It’s scope is such, in fact, that most of the people who worked on it are still a little surprised a month after the opening.
There were two parts to it: The exhibitions of Dieter Roth’s works in the Reykjavík Art Museum, the National Gallery and Gallerí 100°, and the various exhibitions curated by Jessica Morgan and collectively titled Material Time / Work Time / Life Time, see www.timirymi.is. The latter included works by both international and Icelandic artists exhibiting in most of the museum and gallery space in Reykjavík and around the country that was not already filled Dieter Roth’s sprawling oeuvre. Numerous independent exhibitions in smaller venues contributed to the mood for those who live in Iceland and for those guests from abroad who had more than just the opening weekend to look around.Guests from abroad arrived in great numbers and the opening celebrations had a very international flavour indeed. Icelandic artist and museum professionals are not used to playing host on such a scale but were undoubtedly flattered by the attention and proud of what they had to offer. That it was not empty flattery has been confirmed by extensive and enthusiastic coverage in the international press.
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| Matthew
Barney |
The Dieter Roth exhibitions are large and encompassing. Though most of these works have been seen in international exhibitions recently the shows have a unique significance simply because they are now mounted in Iceland which was central to the artist’s life from the late 1950s to his death in 1998. They are important to the Icelanders in that most are seeing for the first time the scope of Dieter’s work and his thought. Though he was a friendly and inspiring presence on the Icelandic art scene, he was working in a context too vast for most of us to comprehend. The exhibitions are also important in highlighting the Icelandic context of the works which is a prerequisite to any informed reading of the artist’s life and artistic contribution.
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| Elke
Krystufek |
The other exhibitions are a great deal more varied but certainly include a number of ambitious projects and give us much food for thought on the context in which Icelandic artists can be placed and how we can present contemporary art in our exhibition spaces. The selection of artists is more up-to-date than Icelandic audiences are used to seeing all at the same time but this serves to confirm the arrival of new generations of artists in Iceland as well as in the wider art world. Media attention in Iceland was high during the festival and there has been general discussion on various aspects ranging from the provocative contributions of Matthew Barney, Gabríela Friðriksdóttir and Elke Krystufek to who were the more glamorous guests at the openings. The opening days were a celebration for all those involved and perhaps a bit intoxicating as they saw all that had been achieved. While, of course, only a few Icelandic artists actually had works in the exhibition there seemed to be a general spirit of inclusion and people celebrated the vitality of the Icelandic art scene in all its variety.
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| Ragnar Kjartansson. The Great Unrest, 2005 |
A lot of friends and well-wishers from around the world helped make this
art festival memorable but the most important thing to remember is that
all this was achieved with institutions and funding, public and private,
already in place in Iceland. All it took was coordination and a general
enthusiasm for the project. Perhaps we might have done it better in some
ways but there is no reason why we cannot do it again.
JP
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| Libia Pérez de Siles de Castro &
Ólafur Árni Ólafsson |
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