10 Years i8 Gallery
Interview with Edda Jónsdóttir
Artists in Iceland have a lot of possibilities to present their art on the island. Especially in Reykjavík, one can find many possibilities to buy and sell paintings and sculptures. But it is only the i8 gallery which is acting on the international stage to introduce Icelandic art professionally to collectors and curators. Ten years ago Edda Jónsdóttir decided to open up her gallery in Ingolfstræti 8 in Reykjavík – a good reason to talk to her about the past and the future of the Icelandic art scene.
Christian Schoen: At first: congratulations! In November you will
celebrate the 10th anniversary of your gallery. In the meanwhile a lot of
things have changed on the Icelandic visual art scene. What was your motivation
to open a professional gallery in Reykjavík?
Edda Jónsdóttir: I have always been interested in visual art, since childhood. I was raised by parents who read a lot and there were always discussions about visual art, theatre and literature in the house. I studied at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and the graphic department at the Rijksakademie in Amsterdam and worked for years as a printmaker. When I was not working on my own art I was always around art, I followed the SÚM group, and went to every exhibition in Reykjavík. Besides that I used every opportunity to visit exhibitions abroad.
Suddenly in 1995 I got the idea that it might be interesting to sit at the other side of the table, to work with the artists instead of being one. I have never regretted this decision because I have learned so much.
The possibilities for artists in Reykjavík 1995 were
not great, nobody had a gallery to work with and we did not take part in any
of the international art fairs. I thought it might be interesting to check
out the possibilities for Icelandic artists at those fairs, as we needed to
get international collectors to buy our work.
When my son opened an advertising company at Ingólfstræti 8 he
told me that there was a tiny place on the ground floor that could be an interesting
space for a gallery. I had been telling him that I wondered if artists in
Reykjavík could survive without a gallery, and that I was getting tired
of the lack of possibilities for Icelandic artists. So why not open a gallery
myself? I thought that I could use my knowledge and experience and give it
a try.
The space was very small but interesting. I already had good
contact with my generation of artists in Iceland so what I had to do was to
prove to international artists that the gallery was putting on proper shows.
The gallery attracted attention very quickly, but people did not buy anything,
and running a gallery was more difficult than I had imagined. Around 1997-1998
I thought about giving up, but my friends and supporters encouraged me to
keep on.
CS: The general interest in visual arts is very young in Iceland. How will it, from your point of view, develop in the near future?
EJ: Here as everywhere else, the interest
in visual art, especially contemporary visual art, is not a general one. The
interest is definitely developing, but it is still very new – it seems
that people are not as educated in visual art as in literature or music, for
example. There isn’t the same level of critical ability and this development
will be a gradual process.
In the past, and to some degree still, people tend to buy art according to
the latest trend. To some degree this prevents the interest from developing
properly. As trend after trend comes and goes with no increase in the value
of the work, no solid foundation is put down. If the value of the art doesn't
increase, it is hard for people to understand what the value in visual art
is in general.
For the general interest in visual art to develop and become more sophisticated,
people have to know more about what they are seeing in museums, or buying
for themselves, and why – what the value of the piece is in the larger
context as well as to them personally. By “value” I am not just
speaking of the monetary value, but the historical, aesthetic, and sentimental
value as well. But the elements that make a piece a good one, and one that
will appreciate in value long after trends disappear, need to be understood.
There will always be very good artists who work, either by choice or circumstances, more or less locally and this is fine. But it is also important for artists who want to work on a more international scale to have to possibility to do so. For visual art in Iceland to continue to develop, as well as the general public’s interest in it, it is necessary to have some connection to art in an international context – and making that connection is perhaps the essential role of the gallery.
Reykjavík, 19.9.2005
Visit the gallery's website: http://www.i8.is
i8 Gallery in Reykjavík, Klappastigur 33
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#5 [September 2005] |
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CS: Your gallery is the only professional gallery in Iceland in terms of acting internationally. You present at art fairs and you have a network of foreign curators and collectors. What is more important for your business: those international contacts or the local contacts to companies and collectors?
EJ: My primary objective was to open
a gallery with high standards, which for me meant showing both international
and Icelandic artists and representing all our artists on the local and
international scale.
A big part of our job is participating in the best international art fairs.
These fairs are visited by international galleries, collectors, museums,
and curators and are a unique opportunity to showcase our artists and
make vital contacts. Iceland is such a small community so for Icelandic
art to thrive it is vital to have a relationship with the bigger international
art community.
The first time we took part in an international art fair was in 1999,
at ARCO, Madrid, and again later that year in Stockholm. Since then we
have participated in Art Brussels, Cologne, STHLM, Berlin, Artissima in
Italy, and Basel.
Obviously, local contacts are also very important to us. In fact, some of our participation in fairs has been made possible in part by the generous support of Íslandsbanki, which helped us both in our first participation in Arco, 1999, as well as our first time at Art Basel in 2004. At Art Basel, i8 presented the Icelandic Love Corporation at Statement and Finnbogi Pétursson at Art Unlimited, which was a very big honour for both the artists and the gallery.
For the past three years, we have seen a strong increase in interest from the general public as well as foreign collectors. I think the energy level in the Icelandic contemporary art scene is very high at the moment and we are representing some fantastic artists with great potential.
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