ART AGAINST ARCHITECTURE - 16.5. - 29.6. 2008
A contribution of the National Gallery to the Reykjavík Arts Festival 2008

Art and architecture have always been on difficult terms, having a hard time understanding each other’s claim to unconditional attention and territorial authority. Most of the time it is art which has a weaker position, having to rely on architecture as its framework, protection and setting. This does not mean that art accepts its position unconditionally. It calls for surroundings as neutral as possible, which means as un-architectural as possible.

Still museums designed by architects continue to be built, leaving artists no other option than to confront their restraining rule. In this struggle the artist reflects the individual who rises against unconditional authority in whatever form it may appear, hoping to counter-balance it, or at least indicate a possible alternative. In this sense every exhibition reveals a latent conflict between artists and architects, but only a few unveil this fact explicitly.

With its typical postmodernistic structure dating from the 1980s, the National Gallery of Iceland asks for a dialogue with artists brave enough to challenge its difficult structure. A better team than Monica Bonvicini, Elín Hansdóttir, Finnbogi Pétursson, Steina and Franz West is hard to find.

The catalogue will cover e.g. the ideas of Sant'Elia's Futurist architecture, Constant's New Babylon, Huizinga's Homo Ludens theory, Archigram and Archizoom, Koolhaas and the fact that Iceland's natural wilderness has recently been confronted by harnessing projects which jeopardize Europe's largest unspoilt territory.

Exhibition curator: Halldór Björn Runólfsson
Assistant curator: Harpa Þórsdóttir, Bryndís Ragnarsdóttir
Exhibition installation: Olga Bergmann, Úlfur Grönvold, Anna Hallin, Ólafur Ingi Jónsson