{"id":433,"date":"2016-12-08T16:56:43","date_gmt":"2016-12-08T16:56:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/arcticincontext.com\/?p=433"},"modified":"2021-07-30T23:14:34","modified_gmt":"2021-07-30T23:14:34","slug":"borrowed-time-icelandic-artists-look-forward","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jsis.washington.edu\/aic\/2016\/12\/08\/borrowed-time-icelandic-artists-look-forward\/","title":{"rendered":"Borrowed Time: Icelandic Artists Look Forward"},"content":{"rendered":"

Icelandic Love Corporation \u201cEvolution\u201d 2010, Photographs and plywood, Collection of the artists<\/em><\/p>\n

By Kristine Jordan\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

In an age when the effects of climate change are visible like never before, have efforts to sustain the environment come too late? Can balance still be restored to the delicate ecosystems altered by industry? Is humanity living on borrowed time?<\/p>\n

This fall, Scandinavia House presented Borrowed Time: Icelandic Artists Look Forward<\/em>, bringing together the works of contemporary artists immersed in the global art movement for environmental preservation. Featuring collage, photography, sculpture, and video, the exhibit will be open through Feb. 11, 2017.<\/p>\n

Iceland\u2019s role in international cooperation for environmental preservation is often inspiring; the country\u2019s abundance of fresh water sources, hot springs, and volcanoes make Iceland the poster child for geothermal and hydropower development. Ironically, the thriving renewable energy sector also fuels growth in aluminum smelting, an energy-intensive and resource-depleting practice. The artist collective, Icelandic Love Corporation explains, \u201cThe conflict is that while most of Icelandic produced electricity is made at hydroelectric or geothermal power stations, it is still used for banal purposes, which so often goes un-recycled after use. For a country which prides itself in its \u2018untouched\u2019 nature, the local fight for environmental preservation of the interior part of the country is still rampant.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Borrowed<\/p>\n

Libia Castro & \u00d3lafur \u00d3lafsson \u201cUntitled\u201d 2000\/06 C-print, Courtesy of The National Gallery of Iceland, Listasafn \u00cdslands<\/em><\/p>\n

Moved by Iceland\u2019s increasing economic dependence on the aluminum industry, Libia Castro and \u00d3lafur \u00d3lafsson staged a performance art series, Straumur:\u00a0The Last Minute Show <\/em>outside the country\u2019s first aluminum plant in Hafnarfj\u00f6r\u00f0ur. Dressed in the national Icelandic women\u2019s costume, peysuf\u00f6t and upphlutur, the artists consider the links between social and environmental justice. \u201cComplicating the photograph are the queer aspects of the situation, and one of us is an Icelander and the other a Spanish foreigner, so it\u2019s like\u00a0double cross dressing,\u201d says \u00d3lafsson. With solemnity reminiscent of American Gothic<\/em>, Castro and \u00d3lafsson pose, mimicking pre-industrial era styled family portraits. The artists are framed by the historic Straumur farm to their right and the aluminum smelter to their left, emphasizing the presence of economic production.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\"Borrowed<\/p>\n

Bjarki Bragason \u201cIt\u201d 2005, Still Images from the Digital Recording, Collection of the artist<\/em><\/p>\n

Also exploring the intersection of time and nature, multimedia artist Bjarki Bragason created the video It<\/em>. In the still images above, Bragason films himself cutting ice from the S\u00f3lheimaj\u00f6kull glacier with a hot knife and melting it with a heat gun. The liquefying substance, symbolic of the glacier and the Arctic environment as a whole, meets physical change at the hands of man.<\/p>\n

Inspiration for the piece came at a glaciological conference, where Bragason witnessed scientists use the S\u00f3lheimaj\u00f6kull fragment to explain how time can be measured through carbon deposits. As he was exiting the conference, however, Bragason noticed the ice had been thrown in a waste bin. \u201cI was interested in how this thing, now discarded, had just a bit before been viewed as something spectacular. But once its purpose was filled, it returned to being just ice,\u201d explains Bragason.<\/p>\n

\"Borrowed<\/p>\n

Hildur Bjarnad\u00f3ttir \u201cRe-give\u201d 2007\/09, Wool and pigment, Collection of the artist<\/em><\/p>\n

As Bjarki Bragason deconstructs the subject of ice, inversely, Hildur Bjarnad\u00f3ttir constructs subjects from her Scandinavian environment. Shown above, \u201cRe-give\u201d considers local resources to be handmade gifts from nature to humanity. The four mittens are displays of the country\u2019s distinct ecosystems. Made of wool from Icelandic sheep and dyed with pigments from Bjarnad\u00f3ttir\u2019s Hvalfj\u00f6r\u00f0ur garden, \u201cRe-give\u201d is constructed through nalbinding, a method of textile making used by Vikings that predates knitting and crocheting. Bjarnad\u00f3ttir\u2019s handicrafts demonstrate how environments are closely sewn into lifestyles.<\/p>\n

Textile is also emblematic for the Icelandic Love Corporation (ILC). However, they opt for a synthetic material to construct their work: nylon. Nylon thread is the man-made imitation of thread from a silkworm. Through their work, the textile acts as a reminder of humanity\u2019s desire to simulate nature. In Evolutions<\/em>, the ILC recreates the March of Progress, dressing each body in the fabric. Here nylon is a manifestation of society\u2019s desire to perfect itself through industry. The artists explain, \u201cIf tights are so great in correcting nature by sculpting our legs, ass and stomach, why not take it all the way and correct the whole body?\u201d This progression imagines humanity immersing herself in a trap of her own creation.<\/p>\n

The use of female bodies challenges default representations of the human race. \u201cMost [recreations of the March of Progress] usually picture a black, hairy, sexless monkey that evolves into a white male in his underwear.\u201d Pointing to the oldest fossil remains of human ancestry\u2014Lucy, a female found in Ethiopia\u2014the group aims to counter the gendering and racialization of progress, \u201chow black turns white, female turns male, and how humans are constantly\u2026changing their nature.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Borrowed<\/p>\n

\u00d3l\u00f6f Nordal <\/em>Iceland Specimen Collection \u201cSkoffin\u201d 2005 C-print, Collection of the artist<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00d3l\u00f6f Nordal\u2019s \u201cSkoff\u00edn\u201d examines earth\u2019s extraordinary diversity and mankind\u2019s need to tame it. The photographer takes a taxidermy rendition of an Icelandic fairy tale creature, the skoffin, and positions it in the natural world. Tension between the lush scene and the lifeless subject question man\u2019s domination of the animal kingdom.<\/p>\n

Nordal\u2019s use of the skoffin initiates a larger conversation about humanity\u2019s self-destructive nature, evidenced by climate change. Known as the basilisk\u2019s Icelandic cousin, the skoffin is a mythical monster with the cunning of a fox and the cruelty of a cat. The Scandinavian creature kills its victims instantly through eye contact; the only way to survive an encounter is to place a mirror in its line of vision. Nordal\u2019s photograph acts as that mirror, immortalizing a fleeting moment between self-sabotage and death as mankind reflects on its place nature.<\/p>\n

Collectively, the pieces in the exhibit broaden \u201csustainability\u201d from an opaque term to a frontier of artistic exploration. Icelandic artists\u2019 connections to their surroundings are integral to a global understanding the environment. Bragason explains, \u201cWe live in an era when the geological and human time scales have collided; human activity physically changes the way that the world works. It is obvious to me that artists will be busy taking apart what this means.\u201d<\/p>\n

*****<\/p>\n

*****<\/p>\n

Click for more information about <\/em>Borrowed Time: Icelandic Artists Look Forward<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Kristine Jordan is an editorial assistant at<\/em> World Policy Journal.<\/p>\n

[Photos courtesy of Scandinavia House<\/a>]<\/p>\n

This article first appeared on the World Policy Institute website.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Icelandic Love Corporation \u201cEvolution\u201d 2010, Photographs and plywood, Collection of the artists By Kristine Jordan\u00a0 In an age when the effects of climate change are visible like never before, have efforts to sustain the environment come too late? Can balance still be restored to the delicate ecosystems altered by industry? Is humanity living on borrowed<\/p>\n

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