As a kid I thought airports were the most romantic places in the world. Now, while other airports destroy my jet-setting romanticism, Keflavík aptly revives it.  more

A young man armed with a knife threatened the clerk of Sunnubúd, a small family-run store in the Hlídar neighborhood in Reykjavík, on Sunday, demanding money from the cash register. The thief got away with the money and police are looking for him.  more

Click on the picture to observe how to prepare a traditional Icelandic meal of roe and liver (hrogn og lifur). At this time of year, egg pouches are harvested from female fish, mainly cod and haddock, and sold in fish stores around the country along with the liver. The egg pouches may not look appetizing; just remember that caviar is fish eggs too.  more

Fjallabyggd (“Mountain Settlement”) is a skier’s dream. Its slopes are perfect for slaloming and there are also tracks for telemark skiing. Winter sporting enthusiasts can also go ice skating or rent snowmobiles. In summer, Fjallabyggd turns into a paradise for hikers. Read this special promotion about one of Iceland’s best hidden gems.  more

Review by Kremena Nikolova-Fontaine. Photo courtesy of the museum.

Without a doubt, the exhibition of this month is the Carnegie Art Award currently displayed at the National Art Gallery of Iceland.

If you have not heard about this biannual event, it was first held in Sweden in 1998 by the Carnegie Investment Bank with the intention to support and promote Nordic art.

The exhibition includes 50 selected works by the 23 finalists, who were chosen from a group of 148 candidates and 526 nominations.

Iceland is proudly represented by two artists from different generations: the minimalist veteran Kristján Gudmundsson—the first Icelander to win the first prize—and his younger musician/artist colleague Egill Saebjörnsson (whose exhibition I reviewed in December).

Icelanders have placed second on two occasions.

In 2006 the Icelandic floral figurative painter Eggert Pétursson received the second prize for his meticulous large-scale, almost abstract, patterns of brightly-colored blossoms in their natural Icelandic habitat.

And in 2000, the Amsterdam-based leading Icelandic conceptual artist Hreinn Fridfinnsson received the second prize. He is famous for his lyrical arrangements of mundane found objects.

Both Fridfinnsson and Gudmundsson are veterans of the legendary avant-garde SÚM group, which was founded in 1965.

I went to see the 2010 exhibition on the second day after the opening. Even with Icesave being on everyone’s mind, the gleeful event was well-attended.

Perhaps because I am of a different breed, my nationalistic ego was rather skeptical than flattered by an Icelander receiving the award.

My first question (not without irony) was: is Nordic art any different from other art in this globalized world? Could this event be a Eurovision art parody where the Nordic countries toss each other the award by hierarchy of their political relations?

Not wanting to be influenced by preconceived opinions I decided to look at the works without reading the labels first.

After a fast superficial glance and a second more detailed inspection, I failed to find any traces of typicality or the other extreme, unorthodoxy.

There were no emerging trends, although I did notice particular talents. The works could be judged only on their individual merits, and as such it is good quality art.

I am glad that the jury realistically admitted that the Carnegie Art Award has no such insane ambition as to reinvent the wheel in art and promote "Nordic art" as a touristy brand.

In the booklet accompanying the exhibition, Iwona Blaznick, the only non-Nordic member of the jury and director of Whitechapel Art Gallery in London, commented by quoting an unspecified art observer:

"The culture of the present-day does not thrive on progressive ideas of the future but the appropriation of languages and cultural forms produced by the progressive ideas of the past."

So where is the magic of the selected works? These facts impressed me:

1. The finalists are as diverse as they can be in regard to medium, age and gender. The nominations were equally open to established names and newcomers. For example, the youngest nominee graduated in 2008. To my surprise, the oldest generations are underrepresented.

2. Even though the majority of the artists are supremely educated at most prestigious institutions, education is not a rule. The winner is an autodidact, which to me is very positive sign of open-mindedness.

3. The quality of work is not judged by previous reputation and awards, but solely on the merits of the participating works. Each year the jury is different.

As for specific artwork, my husband enjoyed the video "Coral” by Norwegian artist Tone Kristin Bjordam of dancing pigments in water, but I rejected it as too cute and watercolorly romantic: it seduces you to like it too easily.

The next thing to obtrusively poke a finger in your eyes and brain was the ink-massacre over virgin white space by the Swedish artist Anastasia Ax, called "The Kid Below.”

Even though we were not there to witness the splashing of the ink and smashing of the plaster figures, which were part of the performance piece, we did see the aftermath.

The physical presence of the unwitnessed act is so strong that the whole space vibrates of nauseating energy.

To my delight, the exhibition booklet includes a DVD with interviews with the artists. There, I could also watch parts of Ax’s performance.

Unfortunately, the trailer ruined the magic of the experience: some things are better left unspoken. No, this work was too repellently loud; it hijacks the attention too easily.

However, the moment I saw the winner’s work I witnessed the silent confidence of a winner.

Kristján Gudmundsson’s sculptural sound-absorbing four-piece paintings mounted on the wall (see picture), entitled “Black and White Painting in Grey and White Frames,” have both monumental and subtle quality.

Despite not wanting to place any nationalistic labels, I even found that the artwork demonstrated a very "Icelandic" quality of a silent stoicism. The kind of stunned cosmic awesomeness one experiences in the magnetic surroundings of Snaefellsnes peninsula.

My favorite part of Gudmundsson’s interview from the DVD was his (typically Icelandic) unwillingness to be verbally excessive.

The artist did not smile and seemed uncomfortable in the spotlight. He simply read the label of his work, commenting that all that needs to be said about his piece is already written there.

By the way, the three works that I mentioned are not the only ones which caught my attention. Because of space limitation, I couldn’t write about everything I enjoyed. Bjordam and Ax are just examples of the diversity this exhibition offers.

Overall, the exhibition was quite pleasant but not especially memorable. However, I am glad that in times a global financial crisis, the Carnegie Investment Bank continues to support the arts. It is often said that when the economy takes a downturn, the entertainment and art industry flourish.

The Carnegie Art Award is simply a good foundation for the future, a promise. Because the event is so young, I am optimistic that it has the potential to evolve and, who knows? Perhaps it will even inspire trends.

The exhibition runs until February 21, 2010. For more information, check Carnegie’s website.

The National Gallery of Iceland is located on Fríkirkjuvegur 7, 101 Reykjavík. Admission is free.

KNF – kremenan@gmail.com  

Kremena Nikolova-Fontaine works at home for the elderly and is a passionate collector of art books, dedicating every spare moment to learn more about art while dreaming about having an exhibition of her own. She studied graphic design at the School of Visual Arts in Akureyri from 1999 to 2002. In college she realized that she didn’t want to be a designer or commercial artist but rather an illustrator and writer. At the moment she’s experimenting with her first graphic novel.

  more

When I first heard of the photographic book Legend by Fiann Paul, portraying people dressed in Viking-style in Icelandic landscapes, I imagined it would depict scenes from Norse mythology. However, the idea with the book is to tell a story of how “The Seeker” finds “The Legend” and it feels like a wishy-washy self-help book.  more

Fresh back from Brazil, where she was one of 28 international judges at the ‘Cup of Excellence’ awards, Kaffitár founder and owner Adalheidur Hédinsdóttir sat down with Atlantica’s Mica Allan in Kaffitár’s Bankastraeti cafe to talk about her passion and delight: coffee.  more

“Lucy” is a video and music installation by Dodda Maggý (1981), the 15th artist to exhibit in Reykjavík Art Museum’s D-gallery project in the Hafnarhús exhibition hall. In “Lucy” the artist explores the idea of the “acousmetre,” a film character portrayed only by voice, never in body, omniscient and ubiquitous.  more