Anna Hrund Másdóttir & Sigríður Torfadóttir Tulinius, "The Garden Project", photo: Ingvar Ragnarsson
According to the Icelandic press, the island has more sheep than people. There is no statistical data about the ratio of musicians and artists to a hundred residents, but Icelanders have proven themselves highly creative in the arts. This year, Iceland welcomed 14 European art galleries, including several dynamic Polish galleries, such as the Foksal Foundation, Plan b and the legendary Raster, to create a veritable art hub on the island
Because of the geographic distance, artists from Europe rarely end up visiting Iceland. So somebody had to make it happen. At the initiative of the
Raster Gallery's, top galleries from Europe arrived at Reykjavik, leaving their headquarters (from Istanbul, through Prague and Vilnius to Paris and London) and moving to Iceland's capital instead.
There has been much talk about Iceland lately, firstly because of its financial crisis (here called kreppa) which hit the country; secondly because of the infamous Eyjafjallajökull volcano which caused European air traffic to stop and made journalists from all over the world twist their tongues. Nevertheless, as the Icelandic commentator Egill Helgason wrote, Iceland has learnt to turn its disasters into export products. The volcano ash which covered Europe did not really affect Iceland itself.
"Villa Reykjavik", a project devised by Michał Kaczyński and Łukasz Gorczyca together with their friends from Iceland, and carried out in cooperation with i8 and Kling & Bang galleries from Reykjavik, is not an answer to Iceland's problems. It has however become part of the present time and space.
Before the crisis a new district close to Reykjavik's centre sprung up. It was supposed to become filled with new financial institutions and luxury homes. The investors miscalculated and the Icelanders heaved a sigh of relief. McDonald's left the island and the only remnant left of the huge building site is Harpa, a new concert hall which had been built with pre-crisis panache, its façade designed by Olafur Eliasson.
Many of the new buildings made of glass and steel remain empty, as is the case of a huge tower, called by its English name "The Tower". A number of unused offices were used by the "Villa Reykjavik" galleries.
Foksal Gallery Foundation from Warsaw and Galerie Jocelyn Wolff from Paris located their temporary headquarters in a black granite building, one which had never been occupied, at Tryggvagata 18. At the neighbouring Vesturgata a traditional Icelandic house put up for sale became the colony of Raster, IBID Projects (London), Zero (Milan), and Croy Nielsen (Berlin). Just around the corner, at the port fish hall, Hollybush Gardens (London), Johann König (Berlin) and Rodeo (Istambul) found their locations. Their exhibitions opened in the evening on July 9th.
Jan Mot's gallery from Brussels was marked in a more conceptual way. The artist Pierre Bismuth sent several litres of rainwater collected in Brussels to Reykjavik. The water was vaporised in front of the fish hall and returned to its regular cycle. The act was performed by Edda Kristín Sigurjónsdóttir, the "Villa Reykjavik" Icelandic coordinator. Edda, who became involved in the project together with a whole group of Icelanders, said that "Villa Reykjavik" has been without precedent in Iceland in the recent years.
Łukasz Gorczyca pointed at the venture's key aspect of movement and of the transformation of context. It is crucial not only because of the summer mood, but most of all because of the issues addressed in the art works. Johannes Wohnseifer's huge pumped T 72, which was transported by Hohann König, is probably the only tank in Iceland at present. With the end of the Cold War the army of Iceland lost its strategic significance and withdrew from NATO. A life-size tank standing in the middle of the fish hall fills up with air and lets it out after a minute, standing its barrel to attention and lowering it inertly in turns.
The sculpture created by
Rafał Bujnowski has its roots in Martinique. The bust made of volcanic ash depicts Cyparis, the only survivor of the eruption of the volcano, who was shut in a local jail. Fascinated by this story, the artist decided to carve Cyparis's bust. The monument will be erected in Martinique and its "travelling" copy in Reykjavik.
Saturday greeted the visitors with rain, and so they gladly hid inside the museum where Łukasz Gorczyca's and Łukasz Rodunda's films, a collection titled "Art Makes Us Drunk", inspired by Gilbert's & George's work, created hoots of laughter. In typical Icelandic cloudy weather, Kling & Bang, a gallery consisting of and led by artists from Iceland invited "Villa Reykjavik's" guests for a roof party, with a garden arranged by Anna Hrund Másdóttir and Sigríður Torfadóttir Tulinius. The guests mingled with the hosts to enjoy rhubarb treats, the music of the Icelandic Quadroplus and the Swedish band Cloud and Lightning.
Oskar Dawicki lost himself in the crowd for good. He did not show up at his own performance the next day (a Sunday), which the Polish audience had already grown accustomed to. Thoro, unable to guide the artist to the right spot by phone, had to face the public. No apologies were given to anyone for the situation ensued.
Author: Karol Sienkiewicz (Reykjavik, July 12, 2010)
Translation: Helena Chmielewska-Szlajfer, July 13, 2010