The exhibition series Sculpture/Sculpture is now held for the fifth time in Gerðarsafn, where an attempt is made to explore the position sculpture holds in modern times. The series explores the development of three-dimensional art, with references to the pioneering work of Gerður Helgadóttir (1928-1975) within Icelandic sculpture. The title refers to Sculpture/Sculpture/Sculpture, a 1994 group exhibition of 29 artists at Kjarvalsstaðir which offered an important overview of Icelandic sculpture at the time. This fifth exhibition in the series at Gerðarsafn is different from the previous ones as it seeks to assess the status of modern sculpture with works from ten different artists. There is no single common denominator with all the participating artists, but the discourse between their works unveils interesting references to sculpture’s status as an art medium, its possibilities and its relevance to the present times.
In a traditional sense, sculpture is a formal art medium. A three-dimensional artwork, different from the two-dimensional painting. Normally, the status of the sculpture as a three-dimensional artwork did not constitute the work’s substance, but the artists rather experimented with stretching the materials to their limits and educing different texture, softness, features and delicacy in massive works, made from stone, clay or bronze. As sculpture developed, artists moved from examining the material’s possibilities towards exploring the relationship between the sculpture and the space itself.
Thus, Sculpture/Sculpture is a certain journey through the world of sculpture – an expedition between works, which reflects how contemporary sculpture encompasses various movements within the art form, with experimentation at its core. The artists’ constant experiments with sculpture as a tool, encourage us to reflect and ponder. They stretch the medium’s limits regarding size, technology, space, attitude and our role as spectators. At the same time, an interactive platform is created to speculate on the present, on reality and the environment with a figurative or abstract presentation.
