The Museum is a School – Three exhibitions will be opened at Hafnarhús on 15 January

Three exhibitions will be opened at Reykjavík Art Museum,  Hafnarhús on Friday 15 January at 8. p.m. were works by more than dozen artists will be on display. This is the group exhibition Back to the Sandbox, the solo exhibition Envoi by the German artist Monika Grzymala and the exhibition Rate of Return % by  Saemundur Thor Helgason. The subjects of the exhibitions range from examining the relationship between art and radical pedagogy to exploring the role of art in the technologically-sophisticated and market-driven world of today. The artist Michael Joaquin Grey (f. 1961) who participates in the exhibition Back to the Sandbox will commit performance at Thingvellir called One Thousand Citrus Trees @ Thingvellir on the opening day at 11.45 a.m.

In the exhibition Back to the Sandbox: Art and Radical Pedagogy, curator Jaroslav Anděl (b. 1949) has selected works by a number of contemporary artists who pose questions about the nature and role of education, while also seeing creativity as a key factor in today’s society. 
The works in the exhibition span a wide range. Some will involve participation by visitors, taking place both inside the Museum and outside. Works by such artists as Michael Joaquin Grey, Ane Hjort Guttu and Priscila Fernandes form the core of the exhibition, together with a piece by Luis Camnitzer which extends beyond the Museum’s walls. In addition the exhibition includes works by Jim Duignan, Markus Kayser, Eva Koťátková, James Mollison, Calvin Seibert, Renzo Piano and The Society for a Merrier Present. In conjunction with the exhibition an ambitious programme of events will take place, for the public and professional educators. The programme starts on Saturday 16 January with a symposium at Hafnarhús were the curator and the artists will participate from 3 p.m.- 5 p.m.  In addition, the Biophilia educational project will hold workshops at Hafnarhús during the exhibition. 

The German artist Monika Grzymala is presenting the exhibition Envoi in Gallery A at Hafnarhús, in which a unique encounter occurs between an artistic intervention in the Museum’s architecture and extensive spatial drawing using coloured adhesive tape. Monika Grzymala calls her work Raumzeichnung, literally “drawing through space,” a special technique she has developed in making three-dimensional drawings. She uses many kilometres of adhesive tape, which she stretches through the space, combined with tactile handmade paper. Her works are a powerful intervention in the space, while also underlining the ephemerality of the material. 
Monika Grzymala, born in Poland in 1970, has lived in Germany since she was a child. Her work has been shown in prestigious galleries on both sides of the Atlantic such as MOMA in New York, the Judd Foundation in Marfa, Texas and Theseus Temle in Vienna. 

Saemundur Thor Helgason (b.1986, Reykjavík) is the first artist to show his work in Gallery D in 2016. The focus in Gallery D is on artists who have not previously held one-person shows in Iceland’s major galleries. Saemundur Thor calls his exhibition Rate of Return %. In his practice Saemundur Thor addresses the role and conditions of art in the technologically-sophisticated and market-driven world of today. Saemundur Thor lives and works in London, where he graduated in 2015 from Goldsmiths University with an MFA in fine art. He completed his BA from the Gerrit Rietveld Academie in Amsterdam in 2012. Recent exhibitions in which Saemundur Thor has been a participant include Co Workers in Paris (2015), Vanity Fair | Demo Mode at Project Native Informant in London (2015) and #KOMASVO at the ASÍ Art Museum in Reykjavík (2015). Saemundur Thor’s most recent solo show in Iceland was at Kunstschlager in 2013.