Bout: Q&A - Hlynur Hallsson and Ósk Vilhjálmsdóttir

During the exhibition there will be regular artist talks, delving into the making of the works, their subject and production. The works will be reviewed in light of the artists'  oeuvre and the development of video art. Sigurður Trausti Traustason, Head of Collections and Research, and Markús Þór Andrésson, Head of Exhibitions and Education, will speak with the artists and guests are welcome to contribute.

Hlynur Hallsson (1968), Important (1999)
Hlynur gets people who speak different languages to talk in their native tongue about matters that are important to them. This work blends points of view of different individuals towards the things that matter to them with the unreliable ways that are available to get those opinions across. A language is a way of communication for those who understand and speak it, but within it and between different languages is a sea of variation. Hlynur points out how vivid the meaning of all things is, it is relevant between cultures and individuals, and is in constant transformation in time and space.

Ósk Vilhjálmsdóttir (1962), Pump (2012)
Two screens display different, mundane actions, that at first seem to have very little in common. They reflect technical solutions in agriculture and transport that enable us to live in a modern consumer society. One of the videos is of a dairy farm where cows are milked with automatic pumps, while the other shows a tanker pumping fuel into a pumping system of a petrol station. These two events are usually not visible to consumers and are regarded quite mundane, but by focusing on them Ósk calls attention to the circulation and the systems that we live in. She addresses the question of what our relationship is to the gifts of nature and if the circulation in the pumping systems of modern society is in fact eternal?

The talk will take place in Icelandic. Free with admission.