05.02. - 28.02.16.

KEEP FROZEN PART FOUR
@ ASÍ MUSEUM

Mixed media installation and performance
Solo exhibition by Hulda Rós Guðnadóttir

February 5 / 19:00 - 22:00
Dock worker performance.
[english]
[icelandic]
 

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workshop.gif
Coffee break at Iceland Academy of the Arts in Laugarnes.. Photo: Hulda Ros Gudnadottir

Coffee break at Iceland Academy of the Arts in Laugarnes.. Photo: Hulda Ros Gudnadottir

Olof Olsson 'Driving the Blues Away'. Photo: Hulda Rós Guðnadóttir

Olof Olsson 'Driving the Blues Away'. Photo: Hulda Rós Guðnadóttir

 
Berglind Jóna Hlynsdóttir, moderator. Photo: Andrea Aðalsteinsdóttir

Berglind Jóna Hlynsdóttir, moderator. Photo: Andrea Aðalsteinsdóttir

 
Installation view. Photo: Dennis Helm

Installation view. Photo: Dennis Helm

Video still from dock worker performance documentation video.

Video still from dock worker performance documentation video.

 

11.02. - 12.02.16.

RECLAIMED LANDSCAPE - A SYMPOSIUM ON ART PRACTICE AS RESEARCH AND CREATIVE RESEARCH METHODS

[english]
[icelandic]

Directed by Aldís Snorradóttir
Moderated by Berglind Jóna Hlynsdóttir
UNDER CONSTRUCTION - LINKED VIDEO/PHOTO DOCUMENTATION COMING LATER

February 11 /

13:00 - 16:30 Hydra Reading Troupe Workshop #01 SPEAKING AS FISHES - A collaged reading of "The Many Headed Hydra" through the body sorcery of "Quota Queen" Workshop by Suza Husse and Emma Haugh.
@ Hverfisgalleri

17:00 Keep Frozen Part Four - Valur Antonsson
The philosopher and long term collaborator talks about the art work being exhibited and also 'two ways of showing research' in relation to Snaebjornsdottir/Wilson exhibition in the same museum (in Icelandic).
@ ASI art museum.


February 12 /
@ Iceland Academy of the Arts

10:00 - 10:30 Words of welcome by Aldís Snorradóttir, the director of the symposium and Suza Husse, the curator of SEA BODY INFRASCTRUCTURE IMAGE, introduced the sister symposium that occurred in Leipzig. Moderator, Berglind Jóna Hlynsdóttir, introduced speakers. 
10:30 – 11:30 A Curatorial Point of View - Stefanie Hessler
A lecture on artistic research from a curatorial point of view, within the purview of its manifestation (and oblivion) in exhibition making. Attempt was made to trace the development from art history to a history of (nearly) everything.
11:30 – 12:30 Transformative Masculinity - Narve Hovdenakk
Presentation about the artist research and work with a focus on an existential transformative masculinity. 
13:30 – 14:30 Reclaiming Reykjavik: memory, landscape and a thawing of archaeology - Gísli Pálsson and Oscar Aldred
Archaeologist exploration on the ‘thawing’ of the material culture associated with Reykjavík’s old harbor that has been brought to light in a series of excavations over the past decade - focusing on these excavations as a reclamation of sorts, as well as on this landscape’s uneasy role in Reykjavík’s city plans.
14:30 – 15:30 KEEP FROZEN PROJECTS - Hulda Rós Guðnadóttir
Overview of the project.
16:00-18:00 Driving the Blues Away- Olof Olsson
A performative lecture. In a comical way he deals with various subjects ranging from sociology, economy, aesthetics, biography, computing and much much more.
 

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Installation view. Photo: Dennis Helm

Installation view. Photo: Dennis Helm

 

KEEP FROZEN FJÓRÐI HLUTI (IS)

KEEP FROZEN fjórði hluti var innblásinn af hugrenningum um sögu Ásmundasals sem sýningarsals fyrir málverk og sögu safnsins sjálfs sem byggir tilvist sína á málverkasafni sem er í eigu verkamanna. Alþýðusamband Íslands (ASI) er eigandi safnsins og fagnar 100 ára afmæli sínu árið 2016. Það er engin tilviljun að Reykjavíkurhöfn fagnaði aldarafmæli sínu árið 2015. Það er því vel við hæfi að listaverkin sem sýnd voru, voru þróuð og sett fram í samstarfi við verkamenn á höfninni. Sýningin er sú fjórða í röðinni af Keep Frozen sýningarröðinni og í henni vefast saman nokkrir þræðir úr fyrri sýningum.

Á svæði útgerðarfélagsins Ögurvíkur í Reykjavíkurhöfn liggur nót, um tonn að þyngd, síðan hún var endurheimt eftir árslanga dvöl á sjávarbotni. Nótin tilheyrði áður frystitogaranum Vigra og misstu þeir netið á sama tíma og tökur á heimildarmyndinni Keep Frozen stóð yfir veturinn 2014. Heimildarmyndin fjallar um löndun úr Vigra. Næstum upp á dag ári seinna þá var það fyrir tilviljun að annað skip fann nótina á sjávarbotni. Litir þess og áferð efnisins hafa tekið umbreytingum vegna ágangs sjávar og verunnar í söltum sjó. Á fyrstu sýningu Keep Frozen sýningarraðarinnar í De-Construkt [projekts] í New York sýndi Hulda örlitlar netatæjur og búta sem hún hafði fundið á Atlantshafsströnd Afríku en mikið af tæjum skolar þar á land eftir að hafa velkst um hafið. Tæjurnar hafa þá fallið fyrir borð, losnað af netum og hreinlega skolast af bryggjum handan hafsins. Það má því segja að með því að sýna heila nót þá lokist ákveðinn hringur í pælingum listamannsins.

Á opnun sýningarinnar fór fram gjörningur þar sem nótin var flutt af löndunarmönnum, í gegnum bæinn og upp í safnið þar sem þeir komu henni fyrir í miðjum Ásmundarsal. Í Ásmundarsal öðlaðist nótin nýja merkingu fundins skúlptúrs endurheimtum af sjávarbotni.

Það var á annarri sýningu Keep Frozen raðarinnar á Listahátíð í Reykjavík 2014 sem Hulda kynnti til leiks pælingar sínar um listamanninn sem verkamann og verkamanninn sem listamann. Sýndi hún þar röð ljósmynda þar sem hún sem listamaður mátar sig við hreyfingar verkamannsins á meðan hafnarverkamenn fluttu ljóðagjörning á opnun en ljóðin voru sérpöntuð af fyrrverandi löndunarmanninum Hinriki Þór Svavarssyni. Í Listasafni Alþýðusambandsins var gengið enn lengra og pantaði Hulda röð málverka af Slippnum í Reykjavík þar sem skipalitir og áferð þeirra og málunaraðferðir skipsmálunarmanna áttu að vera í forgrunni samkvæmt ákveðnum fyrirmælum listamannsins. Alger tilviljun var að listmálarinn og innflytjandinn David Subhi var verkamaður í Slippnum. Því varð það svo að þjálfaður listamaður gerði málverkin á vinnutíma sínum sem verkamaður. Má segja að með samstarfinu við skipalistmálarann David lokist hringurinn í pælingum listamannsins um verkamanninn og listamanninn.

Hringnum er þó ekki alveg lokið. Í innsetningunni tekur Hulda upp þráðinn þar sem hann var skilinn eftir í vídéoverkinu Material Puffin sem var sýnt sem hluti af innsetningu á Listahátíð í Reykjavík árið 2014. Þar má sjá listamanninn sem lunda (fígura með risastóra lundagrímu) spúa út gulli ofan í höfnina. Margir spurðu sig hvað það hefði með höfnina að gera og svo sem ekkert eitt svar við því en pælingar listamanns skýrðust í Ásmundarsal. Þar var sýndur í fyrsta skipti nýr skúlptúr The Goldship sem vísar beint í vídéoverkið. Fagurfræði hafnarinnar hverfist að mörgu leyti um hina eilífu baráttu við ryð sem verður til vegna samspils sjávar og þeirra málmefna sem notuð eru í byggingarefni á skipum og höfnum. Skúlptúrinn tengist hugleiðingum hennar um orð listamannsins og ritgerðarsmíðandans Allan Sekula þess efnis að ef skip væru framleidd úr gulli þá þyrftum við ekki lengur að mála skipin í þeim fjölmörgu litum sem einkenna höfnina. Slíkt myndi umturna ásýnd hafna og stað þeirra í huga okkar sem stað þar sem niðurbrot á sér stað. Stað sem við tengjum ósjálfrátt melankólíu kapítalismans.

KEEP FROZEN PART FOUR (EN)

KEEP FROZEN part four was inspired by reflection on the history of the Asmundarsalur gallery in the Listasafn ASÍ museum in Reykjavik – an exhibition space for paintings and the venue in which the exhibition takes place – and the history of the museum, which features a painting collection owned by manual workers. The Icelandic Confederation of Labour (ASÍ) owns this museum, and celebrates its 100-year anniversary in 2016. It is no coincidence that the Reykjavik harbour celebrated its 100-year anniversary in 2015. Befittingly, the artwork on view will be developed and performed in collaboration with dock workers from the Reykjavik harbour. The exhibition is the fourth in the Keep Frozen series, and it weaves together various narrative threads from previous exhibitions in the series.

In the storage area of the fishing company Ögurvík in the Reykjavik harbour, a net weighing about a tonne, lies in a heap, recovered from a one-year sojourn at the bottom of the sea. The net belonged to the factory freezer trawler Vigri, that lost the net to the sea at the same time as the artist's documentary film Keep Frozen was being shot, in the Winter of 2014. The documentary revolves around the unloading of frozen fish from Vigri. Coincidentally, almost exactly a year later to the day, another ship found the net at the bottom of the sea and recovered it. Its colours and texture have been deeply affected by the year it spent underwater in the salty sea. At the first exhibition in the Keep Frozen series at DE-CONSTRUKT [projekts] in New York City, Guðnadóttir exhibited tiny, delicate fragments of net threads and detritus that she had found on the Atlantic coast of Africa. Large quantities of leftover threads constantly wash ashore after floating across the ocean. Some have fallen off of ships, others tumbled into the water at faraway docks. One could say that the artist brings the theme of the net full circle by now exhibiting an entire, massive net.

During the exhibition opening, a performance took place in which the net was transported by a group of dock workers from the harbor, through the center of Reykjavik and up to the ASÍ Art Museum, which is situated at the top of a hill. There the workers placed the pile in the middle of Asmundarsal gallery on the 2nd floor of the museum to join the rest of the installation. In Asmundarsal, the heap of net took on the role of a “found sculpture” recovered from the bottom of the sea.

At the second exhibition of the Keep Frozen series, at the Reykjavik Art Festival in 2014, Guðnadóttir introduced her thoughts on the artist-as-worker and the worker-as-artist: A series of photographs titled The Artist as Worker depicted her reenacting sequences of physical movements of manual labor, while workers held a poetry reading during the opening. The poems were commissioned especially for the occasion from a former dock worker, Hinrik Thor Svavarsson.  To bring this theme to a beautiful conclusion at the ASÍ Art Museum Guðnadóttir commissioned a series of paintings of the shipyard of Reykjavik harbour, with an emphasis on the colors and texture of ships and the methods of ship hull painting. By chance, the contemporary painter David Subhi was a worker in the shipyard at the time, and so it came to pass that a professional artist painted these paintings in his working hours as a manual labourer.  

However, the circle is not yet entirely complete. Keep Frozen part four also took up a line of thought pursued by the artist in the video Material Puffin, which was shown as part of her installation at the Reykjavik Art Festival in 2014. The video shows the artist as a puffin (a female figure with a large puffin costume head) pumping liquid gold into the harbor from a gas pump.  The relevance of the gold pumping became clear at ASI. A new sculpture The Godship directly referenced the video. The aesthetics of the harbor revolve largely around the eternal struggle of keeping rust at bay. Rust is created by the interplay of the sea and the metals used as construction material for ships and harbor structures. The sculpture is connected to Guðnadóttir's reflection on a quote from artist and essayist Allan Sekula, saying that if ships were made of gold then we wouldn't need to paint them in the many colors that characterize the harbors. Such a shift in the use of materials would subvert the aesthetics of harbors and our image of the harbor as a site of degradation – a place that we instinctively connect to the the melancholy of capitalism.

Installation view: Photo: Dennis Helm

Installation view: Photo: Dennis Helm

Still from video documentation of dock worker performance.

Still from video documentation of dock worker performance.

 
 

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RECLAIMED LANDSCAPES - A SYMPOSIUM ON ART PRACTICE AS RESEARCH AND CREATIVE RESEARCH METHODS.

 

Directed by Aldís Snorradóttir
Moderated by Berglind Jóna Hlynsdóttir

Reclaimed Landscapes originates in the ongoing artistic research project Keep Frozen by Hulda Rós Guðnadóttir.

The aim of the symposium was to create a forum for multi-disciplinary dialogues about art practice as research, artist as researcher and creative research methods. The symposium brought researchers from artistic, curatorial and theoretical fields together to engage, interact and share methods and ideas as they present new works, research projects and performances.

The Keep Frozen research project has reflected how the aesthetics of the harbor have changed and how it has become the victim of gentrification, which thrives on a romanticized conception of the docks. The Reclaimed Landscapes symposium examines this subject within a broader context and additionally reflects on how borders are shifting and how, in turn, various landscapes are changing. With respect to the increase in tourism around the globe, locals sometimes experience visitors taking over the environment and landscapes of their surroundings - the environment they feel is their own. The host country of the symposium, Iceland, is a prime example of how the landscape is becoming more regulated and defined by specific attractions. This raises questions of humans' positions on its environment and changing landscapes. It could be argued that man is in an existential crisis of some sort – feeling the need to reclaim forgotten landscapes and traditions. In relation to changing environments, labor and authority, with an emphasis on the male role, will also be reflected on and the ever blurring borders defining it.

Through workshops, lectures, performances and an open dialogue with the audience these issues were examined from the perspective of art practice as research.

Keep Frozen Symposium poster. Photo: Andrea Aðalsteinsdóttir

Keep Frozen Symposium poster. Photo: Andrea Aðalsteinsdóttir

Coffee break for the audience. Photo: Hulda Rós Guðnadóttir.

Coffee break for the audience. Photo: Hulda Rós Guðnadóttir.

Stefnaie Hessler. Photo: Andrea Aðalsteinsdóttir

Stefnaie Hessler. Photo: Andrea Aðalsteinsdóttir

 

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Gísli Pálsson and Oscar Aldred.. Photo: Andrea Aðalsteinsdóttir.

Gísli Pálsson and Oscar Aldred.. Photo: Andrea Aðalsteinsdóttir.

Photo: Hulda Ros Gudnadottir.

Photo: Hulda Ros Gudnadottir.

Endurheimt Landslag - Málþing um rannsóknartengda myndlist og skapandi rannsóknaraðferðir.

Stýrt af Aldísi Snorradóttur.

Fundarstjóri Berglind Jóna Hlynsdóttir

Endurheimt landslag á rætur sínar að rekja til listrannsóknarverkefnis Huldu Rósar Guðnadóttur, Keep Frozen.

Markmið málþingsins var að búa til vettvang fyrir þverfaglegar samræður um rannsóknartengda myndlist, listamanninn sem rannsakanda og skapandi rannsóknaraðferðir. Málþingið færir saman listamenn, sýningarstjóra og fræðimenn af ólíkum sviðum til að mynda tengsl, skiptast á aðferðum og hugmyndum um leið og þeir kynna ný verk, rannsóknarverkefni og gjörninga.

Rannsókn Huldu Rósar hefur endurspeglað hvernig fagurfræði hafnarinnar hefur breyst og hvernig höfnin hefur orðið að fórnarlambi svokallaðrar “miðstéttarvæðingar” (gentrification) sem hefur snúist um að skapa og viðhalda rómantískri hugmynd um bryggjusvæði. Með þema málþingsins er litið á þetta viðfangsefni í víðara samhengi ásamt því að skoða hvernig landamæri eru að breytast og hvernig mismunandi landslag breytist á móti. Með auknum ferðamannastraumi víða um heim upplifa heimamenn stundum gesti sína taka yfir umhverfi sitt og landslagið – umhverfið sem þeim finnst vera sitt. Ísland er tilvalið dæmi um það hvernig landslaginu er í meiri mæli stýrt með ýmsum reglum og hvernig áhersla er lögð á ákveðna staði sem aðdráttarafl. Þetta vekur spurningar um stöðu mannsins gegn umhverfi sínu og breyttu landslagi. Það má líta þannig á að maðurinn sé í hálfgerðri tilvistarkreppu – þar sem hann finnur fyrir þörfinni að endurheimta gleymt landslag og hefðir. Vinnuafl og vald verður einnig skoðað í samhengi við breytt umhverfi þar sem karlkyns hlutverkið verður í aðalhlutverki og þau síbreytilegu mæri sem skilgreina það.

Með vinnustofum, fyrirlestrum, gjörningum og opnu samtali við áhorfendur var fjallað um þessi efni út frá sjónarmiði rannsóknartengdrar myndlistar.

Photo: Hulda Rós Guðnadóttir

Photo: Hulda Rós Guðnadóttir

 
 
 

 

Keep Frozen Part Four - Valur Antonsson





The philosopher and long term collaborator talks about the art work being exhibited and also 'two ways of showing research' in relation to Snaebjornsdottir/Wilson exhibition in the same museum (in Icelandic).
 
 

 
 
 

A Curatorial Point of View - Stefanie Hessler



A lecture on artistic research from a curatorial point of view, within the purview of its manifestation (and oblivion) in exhibition making. Attempt was made to trace the development from art history to a history of (nearly) everything.

 
 
 
Narve Hovdenakk and Stefanie Hessler. Photo: Hulda Rós Guðnadóttir

Narve Hovdenakk and Stefanie Hessler. Photo: Hulda Rós Guðnadóttir

 
 
 

Transformative Masculinity - Narve Hovdenakk

Presentation about the artist research and work with a focus on an existential transformative masculinity.

 
 
 

Reclaiming Reykjavik: memory, landscape and a thawing of archaeology - Gísli Pálsson and Oscar Aldred



 

⬇ ⬇

 

Archaeologist exploration on the ‘thawing’ of the material culture associated with Reykjavík’s old harbor that has been brought to light in a series of excavations over the past decade - focusing on these excavations as a reclamation of sorts, as well as on this landscape’s uneasy role in Reykjavík’s city plans.

 

 

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KEEP FROZEN PROJECTS - Hulda Rós Guðnadóttir



Photo: Andrea Aðalsteinsdóttir

Photo: Andrea Aðalsteinsdóttir

 
 

 

An overview of the Keep Frozen Projects and the Keep Frozen research  and exhibition series. 

 

 
 

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Driving the Blues Away - Olof Olsson



Video still 'Driving the Blues Away'

Video still 'Driving the Blues Away'

 

An Info Comedy. Here are all the things you need to know – about Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, love trouble, Adam & Eve & the Snake, typewriters, erotic entertainment, Virgin Mary, Coca-Cola, Richard Nixon, Charlie Chaplin, Madonna, sanitary porcelain, Friedrich Nietzsche, Alan Turing, Snow White, Warren Buffett, and Toblerone – the Swiss triangular milk Chocolate – but forgot to ask.

 

After performance chat with the audiences about his methods.

 
 
 
Aldís Snorradóttir, director of Reclaimed Landscape. Photo: Hulda Rós Guðnadóttir

Aldís Snorradóttir, director of Reclaimed Landscape. Photo: Hulda Rós Guðnadóttir

Video still 'Driving the Blues Away'

Video still 'Driving the Blues Away'

 
 
 

 
 
 
Photo: Hulda Rós Guðnadóttir.

Photo: Hulda Rós Guðnadóttir.

 
 
Video still 'Driving the Blues Away'

Video still 'Driving the Blues Away'

 
 

⬇ ⬇

 
Video still 'Driving the Blues Away'

Video still 'Driving the Blues Away'

 
 
 
Photo: Hulda Rós Guðnadottir

Photo: Hulda Rós Guðnadottir

 
 

Photo: Hulda Rós Guðnadóttir

Photo: Hulda Rós Guðnadóttir

 

 
Video still 'Driving the Blues Away'

Video still 'Driving the Blues Away'