The Reykjavík Arts Festival will launch on May 15, 2008 with a groundbreaking series of visual and performing arts programmes that will take over most of the city’s exhibition spaces and extend to other cities, including Akureyri, Hveragerði and Seyðisfjörður. This year will mark the Festival’s second focus on contemporary visual art, following the acclaimed program presented in 2005 by Jessica Morgan of Tate Modern and Björn Roth, son of artist Dieter Roth. It will feature more than 30 exhibitions of over 60 Icelandic and international artists, with most exhibitions on view through July or August 2008. The Festival will also present a full performing arts program from May 15 through June 5, 2008. 

Firmly rooted in Iceland’s traditions of hospitality, a special opening weekend will celebrate the launch of the Festival, with festivities and receptions held at most venues, and will culminate in a one-day flight around the country to visit the exhibitions presented outside the capital.

One of the highlights will be the Experiment Marathon Reykjavík, a large-scale exhibition and program of related events organized by the Reykjavík Art Museum and the Serpentine Gallery, London. From May 15, the RAM will become a laboratory in which leading artists, architects, filmmakers, academics and scientists will create an environment of invention through a series of installations, screenings, performances and experimental films. The exhibition and related events are curated by artist Ólafur Elíasson and Hans Ulrich Obrist, Co-Director of Exhibitions and Programmes and Director of International Projects, Serpentine Gallery, London. 

The Experiment Marathon Reykjavík builds on the enormous success of the 2007 Serpentine Gallery Marathons in the Serpentine Gallery Pavilion designed by Ólafur Elíasson and Kjetil Thorsen. It featured leading artists, writers and scientists including John Brockman, Steven Pinker, Marina Abramović and John Baldessari. The event was a collaboration with Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary.

Other exhibitions and events will include:

• Art Against Architecture at the National Gallery of Iceland, featuring the works of Finnbogi Pétursson, Monica Bonvicini, Elín Hansdóttir, Steina (Vasulka), and Franz West

• An exhibition of works by Swedish artist Karl Holmqvist at The Living Art Museum

• Sublime at the Reykjavík Art Museum/ Kjarvalsstadir. Presented concurrently with work by landscape architect Martha Schwarz

• Work by Paul Armand Gette and Halldór Ásgeirsson at The ASÍ Art Museum

• Work by Magnús Kjartansson (1949–2006) at LA Art Museum;

• An exhibition by Ernesto Neto at Gallery i8

• An exhibition titled Wanwood, with artists Hannes Lárusson, Guðjón Ketilsson, and Helgi Hjaltalín at the Reykjanes Museum

• An exhibition by Rúrí at Start Art

• Facing China, at the Akureyri Art Museum, with paintings and sculptures by prominent contemporary Chinese artists

• Displacement at The Icelandic Folk Art Museum, featuring work by several artists, including Anna Líndal

• A joint project presented by three arts institutes on the themes of installation and performance, curated by Björn Roth. Participants include Hrafnkell Sigurðsson, Christof Buchel, and dancer Erna Ómarsdóttir.

Other venues participating in the Festival include Gallery Ágúst, The National Gallery of Photography in the National Museum, and Kling and Bang. A full list of artists is available for press.  

Most exhibitions will be on view through July/August. A complete Festival program—including concerts, theater, dance, and opera performances—will be available at the festival’s website, www.artfest.is, at the end of February.