Reykjavík Arts Festival
Material Time/Work Time/Life Time
Dieter Roth Train
Opens on Saturday May 14
For more information about the Reykjavík Arts Festival, please call 354 561 2444 or visit their website at www.artfest.is
The Reykjavík Arts Festival launches on Saturday, May 14, 2005 with a new focus on contemporary visual arts after three decades of festivals dedicated to the performing arts. A series of exhibitions and installations will be presented in Reykjavík and throughout the country, centering on the legacy of Dieter Roth, the German-born Swiss artist who spent a large part of his life in Iceland, and who influenced both established and younger artists. Curated by Jessica Morgan, curator of contemporary art at Tate Modern, London, a multi-venue program of newly-commissioned work will be entitled Material Time/Work Time/Life Time and will present an outstanding selection of local and international contemporary artists throughout Iceland. Running concurrently, a Dieter Roth private exhibition entitled Dieter Roth Train will be curated by Björn Roth, the son of the artist, and will be presented at several venues in Reykjavík.
Material Time/Work Time/Life Time brings together over 30 artists from Iceland, Europe and North and South America whose work shares Roths interest in collapsing the boundaries between art, life, and materiality. Most of the work is newly-commissioned. The artists include both Roths contemporaries and a recent generation such as Peter Fischli and David Weiss, Jonathan Latham, Thomas Hirschhorn, Micol Assäel, and Gabríela Fridriksdóttir who will represent Iceland at the 2005 Venice Biennale. Ólafur Elíasson and Margrét Blöndal will each present sculptural installations in outdoor locations. German artists Jonathan Meese and John Bock will develop new performances while Lawrence Weiner will show new work responding to the well known Icelandic sagas. Matthew Barney will present an installation conceived with Gabríela Fridriksdóttir. More than 20 venues and sites in Reykjavík, its surroundings and other major Icelandic towns, will host this exhibition. Most sites will focus on the work of only one or two artists.
The Dieter Roth exhibition entitled Dieter Roth Train will be curated by Björn Roth, the son of the artist. It will be featured at two of Icelands largest museums: The National Gallery of Iceland and the Reykjavík Art Museum, as well as in Gallery 100°, a renowned gallery, all in Reykjavík.
Two discussions will take place at the Reykjavik Arts Museum- Hafnarhus. On Monday, May 16 at 2pm, some of the artists will participate in a panel entitled Collapsing Boundaries. They will respond to the work and influence of Dieter Roth and discuss the artist’s interest in collapsing the boundaries between art, life and materiality. Participants are Jennifer Allora & Guillermo Calzadilla, Ólafur Elíasson, Brian Jungen, Elke Krystufek, Anna Líndal, and Björn Roth. The talk will be moderated by Hans-Ulrich Obrist. On Monday, May 16, 4pm, Christoph Schlingensief will discuss with Jens Hoffman in a talk entitled Me, Myself and I, and respond to the biographical impulse in Dieter Roth‘s work and his own performative projects.
Most of the exhibitions will be on view through July/August. A complete program is available on the festivals website, www.artfest.is
Artists Participating in Material Time/Work Time/Life Time: Jennifer Allora and Guilliermo Calzadilla, Micol Assäel, Matthew Barney, Margrét Blöndal, John Bock, Jeremy Deller and Allan Kane, Ólafur Elíasson, Urs Fischer, Peter Fischli and David Weiss, Gabríela Fridriksdóttir, Hreinn Fridfinnsson, Kristján Gudmundsson, Elín Hansdóttir, Thomas Hirshhorn, Carsten Höller, Hekla Dögg Jónsdóttir, Haraldur Jónsson, Brian Jungen, On Kawara, Ragnar Kjartansson, Gabriel Kuri, Jonathan Latham, Anna Líndal, Jonathan Meese, Ólafur Árni Ólafsson, Libia Perez de Siles de Castro, Arni Sala, Bojan Sarcevic, Finnbogi Pétursson, Wilhelm Sasnal, and Lawrence Weiner.
Festival Sponsor: Kaupthing Bank.
Media Contacts
For further information, interviews and images, please refer to the following contacts:
John Melick or Antoine Vigne
Blue Medium, Inc.
T: 1 212 675-1800
F: 1 212 675-1855
E: antoine@bluemedium.com
Gudrún Kristjánsdóttir
PR and Communications Director
Reykjavík Arts Festival
T: 354 561 2444
F: 354 562 2350
E: gudrun@artfest.is
