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KARLOTTA BLÖNDAL/ GUNNAR MAR PETURSSON
// aboutGunnar Már Pétursson and Karlotta Blöndal, artists and board members of The Living Art Museum, will give a talk on their project as an artists run initiative for over 30 years and its presence and impact on Icelandic art scene, the predicament of being an artist run initiative and an establishment, responsibilities, past glory and future dreams.
Gunnar Már graduated from Glasgow School of Art in 2006. Along with his work as an artist he has worked as a project leader for the distribution of Reykjavik Art Museum Collection to the municipal institutions in 2006-2008.
Karlotta Blöndal graduated from Malmö Art Academy in 2002 and has since worked as an artist, editor and publisher of Sjonauki Art Magazine 2007.
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___The Living Art Museum, Reykjavik
The Living Art Museum was founded by a group of twenty artists in 1978 and was the first non-profit artist-run organization in Iceland. This reputation was founded upon the commitment to the presentation of innovative work by Icelandic and international artists. The very distinctive character and history of Nylo have cemented it’s reputation as a unique place to produce and experience contemporary art.
Through the last 30 years it has stayed true to its original goals; to create a platform for progressive exhibitions and critical discussions on experimental art practice. The museum has given equal weight to work by international and Icelandic artists.The Living Art Museum’s collection holds today more than 1000 works, all donated by artists that have been a part of Nylo’s history. Traditionally, artists that have exhibited in Nylo have donated works to the collection, which means that over the past 30 years the museum has acquired an eclectic collection of works by both international and Icelandic artists. The Museum also holds a vast collection of artist books and prints, as well as documents that speak to the context and history of the works in the collection.
During their residency in Malmö Gunnar Már Pétursson and Karlotta Blöndal, artists and board members of the museum, gave a talk on The Living Art Museum as an artists run initiative for over 30 years and its presence and impact on Icelandic art scene, the predicament of being artist run initiative and an establishment, responsibilities, past glory and future dreams.
The reason for inviting representatives from The Living Art Museum was to connect the local history we researched in the project A Parallel History – The Independent Art Arenas of Skåne 1968-2008 with a similar initiative, but existing in a different context with a different history. We were interested to learn more about the situation in Iceland and how The Living Art Museum was initiated in 1978 and how it has changed its structure over the years. The final part of the project A Parallel History – The Independent Art Arenas of Skåne 1968-2008 will be a seminar which will have the future as its focus. After looking back and investigating the local history Signal will turn towards the future and affirm the possibilities that is ahead. To this seminar we will invite representatives from different initiatives who we find inspiring and who we think could generate an injection of positive energy into all the people who are engaged in running an art arena. For the planning of this seminar we were interested to talk to The Living Art Museum and learn more about their strategies for the future.
