Artist Katrin Sigurdardottir has been selected to represent Iceland at the Venice Biennial, La Biennale di Venezia 2013. The Minister of Education, Science and Culture, Katrin Jakobsdottir, announced the artist of the Icelandic Pavilion at a press conference held by the Center for Icelandic Art and Reykjavik Art Museum on February 16.
Sigurdardottir has in recent years achieved substantial acclaim in the domestic and international art scene where her ever more elaborate projects have been well received. She holds a unique position among Icelandic artists, particularly in terms of her diverse sculptures and installations that are based on a strong conceptual foundation. In selecting a representative for the Icelandic Pavilion, the artist’s capability to carry out a substantial contribution in the international context of contemporary art is considered. Much may be expected of Sigurdardottir’s participation considering this particular point in time in the artist’s career. Recently, she has held solo exhibitions in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Suburban, Chicago, Eleven Rivington, New York, PS1 Contemporary Art Center, New York, Galeria Leme,
Sao Paulo, Brazil and Frac Bourgogne, Dijon, France.
In her work, Katrin Sigurdardottir examines distance and memory and their embodiments in architecture, urbanism, cartography and traditional landscape representations. In her work she often plays with scale distortions. When she refers to distant places from the past, she relies on modeling and demonstrates how things become smaller from a distance and fade in memory. She tampers with the traditional attitude we have towards our environment and reminds us of the part we play in its development. Sigurdardottir emphasizes the close relationship between our sense for place and creativity, because when we experience a new environment we transform it into a place in our mind and remember it so. This play on the border of mental and material space is repeated in diverse and fascinating ways in her work. Katrin Sigurdardottir was born in Iceland in 1967 and has a studio in New York, she divides her time between the two places.
Sigurdardottir’s contribution to the Icelandic Pavillion follows the Spanish-Icelandic artist duo, Libia Castro and Olafur Olafsson. Since Iceland began participation in the Venice Biennale in 1960, 22 Icelandic artists have exhibited their work in this key event in the international art scene. Together with and Castro and Olafsson the following artists have been representatives of Iceland since the turn of the century; Ragnar Kjartansson in 2009, Steingrímur Eyfjord in 2007, Gabriela Fridriksdottir in 2005, Ruri in 2003 and Finnbogi Petursson in 2001 - all artists who exhibit internationally.
For further information visit the website of the Icelandic Pavilion and the Icelandic Art Center.
Photo: Iceland Review