David Byrne: Inside Out

David Byrne made two works the Reykjavík Arts Festival, one for information kiosks in Downtown Reykjavík, called “Moral Dilemmas,” and the other for the windows of Hafnarhús, called “Inside/Out.”

As Byrne explains, “The second group of images consists of photos I took of old-style curtains (and one of doors, from Belsay Hall near Newcastle) stuck on the windows of Reykjavík's modern art museum.” “I've always loved the advertising technology that I've seen covering busses and windows that lets the people inside see out—albeit dimly—but the folks outside see only the giant images. It's as if the whole world were wrapped in images and ads, as if every surface is not only itself, but something else as well. Playing with this phenomenon I … proposed putting windows and doors over the windows. An obvious idea, maybe; but if a very modern art museum can come off as itself and also a combination luxury hotel, fabric shop, and ordinary house—then that would be wonderful.”

David Byrne is best known as a founding member and principal songwriter of the American new wave band Talking Heads (1975–1991). He attended the Rhode Island School of Design and the Maryland Institute College of Art and has had several one-person exhibitions in the United States and Europe.