The Listastofan arts space and collective will be closing its doors as of September. Per a press release from the venue, it will celebrate its four years in operation with one final exhibition, entitled WE RUINED EVERYTHING.
Listastofan was founded by immigrants Martyna Daniel and Emma Sanderson in September 2015 and during its four-year tenure has hosted 63 visual art exhibitions, as well as numerous life drawing sessions, readings, workshops, ceramics classes, artists talks, concerts, performances, and school group visits. Listastofan has also provided studio space to a community of 15 artists and a number of short-term international residents.
“It all started because we wanted to give a platform to new and emerging artists,” Martyna stated in an interview with Iceland Review, explaining that the space specifically aimed to highlight artists that did not have an existing platform or were otherwise underrepresented in Iceland. “We thought it would be a small-scale project, that we would have our desks there and just organise life drawing sessions and workshops from time to time. It soon became bigger and more public than we anticipated. We were contacted by many artists who also wanted to be a part of it and so we grew. We gave up our desks as in-house artists and focused all of our energy into running the space. Now cut to four years later and I feel like the work has been great, but it is time to hop onto a new cloud. Nothing really closes when you think about it, walls will be walls, but all that matters is that people meet, create and show what they do, no matter where it is. Many artists met through Listastofan and they will keep working together so I see it as a simple location closing, all the rest is alive.”
“It feels like it is the right time to close,” she concluded,“[to] encapsulate what has been done and allow for new projects to emerge. Listastofan was a great adventure for me but many more projects await.”
Curated by by Martyna Daniel and Claire Paugam, WE RUINED EVERYTHING is, Martyna says, “a fun take on this closing” and will feature work by eight Iceland-based artists that “all have a form of absurd and humorous take on the theme of destruction.”
WE RUINED EVERYTHING will feature the following work:
Sean Patrick O’Brien – Tveikjari (Ég kem að vörmu spori), artwork created for WE RUINED EVERYTHING, mixed media installation and performance.
Serge Comte – Pizza Tonton / Zéroticône, series of eight beaded pizzas and series of Facebook screenshots
Drengurinn fengurinn – Hvenær fær maður að vera í friði?, artwork created for WE RUINED EVERYTHING, mixed media installation including a video and a mural painting
Logi Leó Gunnarsson – Cut-Off Blade Looper, installation
Claire Paugam – Insects, photo collage
Martyna Daniel – Fix Me, My Mamma Broke Me, Acrylic paint on canvas, 90×65
Anne Rombach – Work Of Fiction, video piece
Þröstur Valgarðsson – So fucking Symbolic it hurts, artwork created for WE RUINED EVERYTHING, performance
The exhibition at Listastofan will open on Friday, September 6 at 5 pm. A “massive goodbye party” will be held at IÐNO at the end of the exhibition on September 19. Martyna says the party will include “a series of concerts, artwork, speeches and other surprises” and is free and open to all. More information on Facebook, here.
