Hekla Dögg Jónsdóttir: 0° 0° Null Island

Null Island is an imaginary place in the middle of the waters of the Gulf of Guinea. There, the coordinate system of the globe has its starting point at the point of intersection of the equator and Prime Meridian. The positioning system is the work of humans, just like the calendar, although you might rarely think about it. In her works, Hekla Dögg Jónsdóttir examines such basic systems and directs the viewers' attention to place and time. She stretches our ideas of "here and now" and uses art as a free and open space where everyone may set their own standards. Her works are a fleeting play between the everyday and the magical, where unexpected transformations invite us to perceive existence in a new light.

Hekla Dögg is the seventh artist chosen to participate in the Reykjavík Art Museum's Kjarvalsstaðir exhibition series, where the career of key figures in Icelandic art is reviewed. Each one of them is selected for their unique contribution and specialization in their field, both in terms of media, methods and subjects. Such a stance takes place in the presentation of key works from different eras in Kjarvalsstaðar's West Gallery and the publication of an exhibition catalog where the artist‘s career is discussed in the context of art history and contemporary theory. The curator is Markús Þór Andrésson.

Hekla Dögg was born in 1969 and studied at the Icelandic School of Fine Arts and Crafts from 1991 to 1994. She attended an exchange program at the University of the Arts in Kiel, Germany, and additional studies at the Staatliche Hochschule für Bildende Künste in Frankfurt am Main. After studying in Germany, Hekla went to the United States to study at the California Institute of the Arts, where she graduated with a BFA degree in 1996 and an MFA degree in 1999. Ever since graduation, Hekla Dögg has been active in exhibitions and has shown in museums and other venues both locally and abroad, including the Icelandic National Gallery, the Reykjavík Museum of Art, the Tate Modern Museum in London and the Truck Contemporary Art Center in Calgary, Canada. Hekla Dögg held the position of professor of art at the Iceland University of the Arts from 2012 to 2022 and is one of the founders and a member of the artist run space Kling & Bang.