Gunnhildur Hauksdóttir: Ratchoir

Rats make sixteen different sounds to express happiness in a frequency undetectable by the human ear. They name each other and play social games according to rules which they express with sounds, as their existence is mostly lived in darkness. Gunnhildur Hauksdóttir has created a score for human voices based on the rats’ social dynamics, sonographic images of rat sounds and human phonetics, thus assembling the Rat Choir. On Sunday 27 September at 4pm, the all-female choir Hrynjandi, conducted by Jón Svavar Jósepsson, will decode the voices of the rats in Kjarvalsstaðir with a live performance.  The Rat Choir will bring the accompanying sculpture to its location on Sunday. The work will stand against the window of Kjarvalsstaðir and be visible and audible from the yard outside for 24 hours, for the remaining duration of the exhibition until October 18th.

Gunnhildur Hauksdóttir (b. 1972) lives and works in Reykjavík and partly in Berlin. She graduated from The Iceland University of the Arts in 2001 and finished an MFA from Sandberg Instituut in Amsterdam, Holland in 2006. She works in equal measures with performances, drawings, installations, audio and video and often mixes media. Her topics cover patterns and systems interpreted in voice projection and motion. Her work raises questions about the boundaries of humanity and cultural patterns in a broader sense.

This autumn, Reykjavík Art Museum for the second time holds a group exhibition of new art in public spaces. The works of eight artists appear in a diverse and novel fashion around the city and in the communal spaces modern technology has to offer. This includes performances, interventions and various happenings which echo the communal space, the public domain, streets, squares and buildings which we share. Mostly, these works are created in intangible media; the Autumn Bulbs take root around the city and appear in unexpected circumstances. The subject matters of the eight participating artists vary but they all have in common that they illuminate or ask questions about the daily life of locals and visitors in the city. They revolve around the line between private and public space, ownership and freedom as well as getting people to stop, look around and gain a new perception of their environment. Inevitably, the works incorporate the societal changes which have taken place this year, regarding daily interaction and habits in epidemic times. Some of the works will only be performed once but others have a longer or more frequent existence. The programme can be found in an accompanying catalogue, on the museum’s social media and its activity calendar.