The Living Art Museum or Nýló is one of the oldest artist-run museum and a venue for contemporary visual art in Europe. It is committed to the presentation of work by Icelandic and international artists and to the collecting and preserving of contemporary art.
Nýló is a non-profit association with over 350 professional artists as members, and serves as a collector of works and as a platform for innovative experimental contemporary art.
Since it’s establishment the members have donated artworks to Nýló and today the collection includes around 2.000 works.
Image credit, works donated to the auction
To the left: Time /Pavillion II by Rúrí
To the right: Nordic Soap by Arnar Ásgeirsson
Throughout the years Nýló has had to change location several times because of unstable rental market and financial situation. Members of the Living Art Museum, along with other artists have now donated art works to finance new housing for the museum.
Click here to visit the auction website or on the link to the right.
The fundraising and auction will launch Wednesday 19th of November at 5pm in the Museum House of Iceland, Hverfisgata 15.
In early June 2014 Nýló had to move from its last location at Skúlagata 28, 101 Reykjavík due to highly increased rent. The board decided to move the collection and archives to Völvufell 13-21, efra-Breiðholt, a suburban area in east Reykjavík where the new facilities are devoted to the collection and research. The search for a more permanent exhibition space is ongoing.
The Living Art Museum was founded in 1978 by a group of 26 local artists. The main purpose of founding a new contemporary art museum in Reykjavik at the time was to establish and introduce contemporary art within the local culture scene. Since its establishment Nýló has functioned as a forum of possibilities for both art and reflections on society.
In 2010 Nýló was awarded the prestige Icelandic Museum Awards. The museum is an important platform for research, cross-disciplinary collaboration and critical discourse on contemporary art.
Alfredo Cramerotti has been appointed as the next artistic director of Sequences Real Time Art Festival that takes place for the seventh time in Reykjavík, Iceland, April 10-19, 2015.
Sequences is an independent biennial, established in Reykjavík in 2006. The aim of the ten-day festival is to produce and present progressive visual art with special focus on time-based media, such as performance, sonic works, video and public interventions. An offspring of the dynamic art scene that thrives in Reykjavik, Sequences is the first art festival in Iceland to focus on visual arts alone. New artistic directors are hired to reshape each edition of Sequences according to their vision, making it unique and different every time.
Following a successful Sequences VI in 2013, under the artistic leadership of Markús Thór Andrésson, it was decided to cultivate the power of the festival and further its development by seeking abroad for the next artistic director.
The organising bodies and responsible for Sequences are the Icelandic Art Center, The Living Art Museum and Kling&Bang gallery.
Alfredo Cramerotti is a writer and curator working across TV, radio, publishing, media festivals and exhibition making. He directs MOSTYN, Wales’ leading contemporary art institute and co-directs the roaming curatorial agencies AGM Culture and CPS Chamber of Public Secrets. Amongst other major exhibitions, he co-curated the Maldives Pavilion and the Wales Pavilion at the 55th Venice Art Biennale, Italy, in 2013, and Manifesta 8, the European Biennial of Contemporary Art, Region of Murcia, Spain, in 2010. The curatorial and organisational team of Sequences VII is made up of Cramerotti, Edda K. Sigurjónsdóttir, curatorial consultant and project manager and Edda Halldórsdóttir, managing director.
When asked about his interest in curating a visual arts festival in Iceland, Cramerotti said that: “Reykjavik has one of the most active and cutting-edge scenes in contemporary culture. Just notice the presence of Icelandic artists and programmes on a global scale in visual arts, music, digital imaging, theatre, dance, etc. To be able to go through the creative process of discussing themes, inventing formats, commissioning new work, and organising exhibitions, performances, conversations and more in the Iceland art scene is a great opportunity.”
Sequences VII will include approximately 25 artistic positions, from the established to the emergent, from around 10 different countries. The complete list of invited artists, partnerships and the festival theme will be announced soon. Exhibitions, performances and events will take place in various official venues and public spaces across Reykjavík. Alongside the main program, an Off-Venue program – introduced for the first time in the previous edition of Sequences, during which works from Matthew Barney and many more were exhibited – will be presented. Registrations for the Off-Venue program will be welcomed and advertised later.
Sequences is an artist initiated festival and has grown from the grass-root art scene in Iceland. It aims to be a progressive international visual arts event of significance, a valuable platform for artists to develop their practice, further their careers and facilitate increased participation and visibility in the international art scene. About the development of Sequences, Cramerotti said that:
“Sequences has done great things in the past six editions. Sequences VII will have an impact internationally and at the same time a strong local purpose, combining a range of cross-disciplinary works, curatorial approaches and multiple venues in Reykjavik. I am utterly enjoying the process, and looking forward to seeing the results myself. ”
