Keep Frozen part two
Mixed-media installation, 2014.The installation consisted of a ‘Buoy’ sculpture made of six transperant plexiglass plates, 3mm thick, colours variable, shape irregular 50 x 60 cm, hemp rope in beige and and threads in yellow; ready mades of variable size metal objects painted with various coloured ship paint that were found in the harbour; HD16:9 00:06:28 video loop 'Material Puffin' on a 24 inch flat screen monitor with original sound piece by Guðný Guðmundsdóttir; ‘Artist as Worker’ digital C-print with archive ink on Hahnemühle Photo Rag Baryta 315 g. Sequence of 3 prints each 50 x 50 cm, 2014 each in custom made wooden frames made out of dismantled 100 year old pier wood from Reykjavik harbor.
The second part of Keep Frozen was exhibited as a mixed-media installation at Thoka gallery in Reykjavik as part of Reykjavik Art Festival in spring 2014. During the opening dock workers from the film Keep Frozen performed original poems by then dock worker Hinrik Svavarsson.
Still frame from 'Material Puffin'.
“During her working process the artist collaborates with dozens of professionals and laymen in researching her childhood memories of the aesthetics of harbour existence. Every part of the series calls for audience response and a unique aesthetic contemplation that informs the next steps. The journey of the research started in 2010 with the artist visiting the birth village of her grandmother. A fishing village of 166 inhabitants where the grandmother lived as an orphan until emigrating to the city as a 10-year-old maid. A village of similar character as all the villages of her childhood summer vacations spent navigating the many fishing and cargo docks of the coastline of Iceland in the 70s and 80s.”
Video: Title 'Material Puffin' HD, 00:06:28, 16:9.
At the opening there was a dock worker performance developed in collaboration with Hinrik Þór Svavarsson, a performer and a former dock worker. Dock-workers read original poetry for the audience written about their own reality of work and thus they became the artists for the night.
'Artist as Worker' version 1, 50x50 cm. Photo: Dennis Helm.
'Artist as Worker' version 2, 50x50 cm. Photo: Dennis Helm.
'Artist as Worker' version 3, 50x50 cm. Photo: Dennis Helm.
Studio photo: Hulda Rós Guðnadóttir.
Sculpture: Six plexiglass plates, 3mm thick, colours variable, dimensions boya shaped 50 x 60 cm, hemp rope.
Ready-mades: Variable size metal objects painted with various coloured ship paint. Found in the harbour.
The artist is an observer of socio-political issues and approaches the subject in a surreal and abstract manner. The often forgotten or hidden work of dock workers is examined and she puts it in context with the artist as worker. The work is multilayered and thought provoking.
Installation view. 'Artist as Worker'. C-print: Three 50x50cm C-prints framed in crumbling 100 year old dock floor wood. Photo: Hulda Rós Guðnadóttir.