Alternative Eye - Selected photographic works from the collection of Pétur Arason and Ragna Róbertsdóttirog Rögnu Róbertsdóttur

The exhibition reveals main concerns, trends and approaches that are apparent in contemporary photography, as well as in the broad and varied use of photographs or photographic images in contemporary Icelandic and international art.

The works are grouped into general sections reflecting four dominant trends on how photographs are being considered in contemporary art now, and how photographers and artists alike are pushing their methods and interpretations of their subject matters beyond any one perceivable boundary.

The general sections are:

The Photograph as a Medium for Performance—the subject in the work is staged specifically for the camera. It may be a portrait or photographic documentation of preconceived actions. This specific trend developed partly from photo-documentation of happenings in the 1960s and 70s.

Environment / Emotional State—these works show external environment that has been placed out of its original context or introduced into to a different one; thus creating a situation where the experience of a space within the photographic frame might alter how one would experience the same space in reality.

The Photograph as Time-Based Sculpture—here artists explore photography as a time-based medium, and the possibilities of adding another dimension to the two-dimensional photographic form.

References / Connections—issues like originality, authorship, and truth value in relation to the photographic medium are presented in these works through the camera lens, allowing new meanings to evolve from found and archived images.

The collection of Pétur Arason and Ragna Róbertsdóttir consists of contemporary works by numerous major artists and photographers from USA, Europe, and Asia.