S-I-L-I-C-A, also a series of five photographs, is of a different nature. It is part of Hulda Rós’s ongoing research focusing on the global supply chain of silicon. A more documentary tone prevails in these works, which resemble field studies where coincidental moments are captured on film — standing in deliberate contrast to the neatly arranged boxes of WERK.
Gallerí Grótta is an interesting choice of venue for an artist of her scope. For those unfamiliar with it, the gallery is a small space adjoining the Seltjarnarnes Library on the upper floor of Eiðistorg, directly above Hagkaup supermarket. The exhibition text explains that this location is no coincidence: “The library and its surroundings are deeply intertwined with the artist’s childhood years in Seltjarnarnes, where she grew up by the sea and immersed herself in books. The exhibition begins in a place where personal roots and artistic research meet,” it states. This connection gives the exhibition an added dimension — the setting becomes part of the whole, resonating meaningfully with the exhibition’s content and binding it together.
The raw architecture of the space further underscores the subject matter of the works. The concrete floors and exposed ventilation pipes echo the industrial imagery of the pieces, especially the photographs depicting factories. This demonstrates how Hulda Rós carefully considers the final presentation, incorporating spatial context and embodied experience into the narrative of her works — much as she did with her installation at the Reykjavík Art Museum’s Hafnarhús, where she evoked the urban transformation of Reykjavík’s harbor area: how former warehouses become art spaces, and how traditional harbor industry gives way to hotels, concert halls, food markets, tech offices, and luxury retail.
