After the show Dreams of the Sublime and Nowhere which traveled from the Festival in Brussels (see LIST#17) to the one in Reykjavík a second group show is giving an overview on the art production in Iceland of the last ten years. The American-Scandinavian Foundation (ASF) presents the exhibition From Another Shore: Recent Icelandic Art. Drawn from the collection of the National Gallery of Iceland the exhibitions displays installations and videos as well as painting and sculpture.

The exhibition is a succinct account of Icelandic art as it appears in the works of 21 artists who have been prominent in the last two decades. Due to particular geographical conditions, Icelandic artists are to a large extent influenced by the overwhelming nature of the country, which is Europe’s largest unspoiled territory. They are also marked by the particular isolation of the island, halfway between Europe and North-America, which despite its area as Europe’s second largest island has a population of a mere 300,000 spread along the rugged coast, turning their back on the uninhabited, volcanic, and glacial highland. Keenly aware of the international art scene, Icelandic artists are constantly torn between their sublime hinterland and the urge to seek out its opposite—the bustling vitality of a cosmopolitan city such as New York.

The show includes about 30 works by 20 internationally acclaimed artists: Þórdís Aðalsteinsdóttir, Olga Bergmann, Hildur Bjarnadóttir, Margrét H. Blöndal, Ólafur Elíasson , Gabríela Friðriksdóttir, Jón Óskar (Hafsteinsson), Hulda Hákon, The Icelandic Love Corporation (Sigrún Hrólfsdóttir, Jóní Jónsdóttir, and Eirún Sigurðardóttir), Guðný Rósa Ingimarsdóttir, Hekla Dögg Jónsdóttir, Ólöf Nordal, Eggert Pétursson, Katrín Sigurðardóttir, Hrafnkell Sigurðsson, Magnús Sigurðarson, and Hulda Stefánsdóttir and Iceland’s representative at the Venice Biennale 2007 Steingrímur Eyfjörð.