
12.01.2019 - 31.03.2019
Oh, So Quiet
Music as we look at it: Art and Cinema.
The exhibition consists of films, sound- and video works by both Icelandic and international contemporary artists. While the works may be different in style and subject, they are characterized by a balanced calm and profound serenity, as the exhibition title suggests.
The focal point of the exhibition evolves around the relationship between music and film in contemporary art. Whether the works include music, song, reading or sound, their tone contains a play on language, speech and listening. The artists create sound installations which are presented as a space for experience, music as we look at it, the distant sound of a song, unbearable noise, or music. Other works are based on a manuscript of an abstract audio-visual.
Works by artists Doug Aitken, Charles de Meaux, Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster, Pierre Huyghe, Ange Leccia, Romain Kronenberg, Jean-Luc Vilmouth and Lorna Simpson, from the CNAP collection (Centre National des Arts Plastiques), bear witness to the rich diversity of film creation in France, and resonate with works by three leading video artists in Iceland: Steina, Dodda Maggý and Sigurður Guðjónsson.
Curator’s text, Pascale Cassagnau:
Parallel and common stories of modern and contemporary art, including photography, films, videos and television, are increasingly becoming intertwined, the present demands art take place in front of the camera. In this context, we may recall the significant meeting of movies and visual art which came as a result of a 1966 documentary on modern art; “The Responsive Eye”, by Brian de Palma.
Elaborating a program of films on contemporary creation perceived in its wider context means causing subjects, domains and fields of expression to collide and emphasizing the way art is worked on. When the relationship between music and cinema is examined with this in mind, a bountiful world of unique art opens up.
Whether the works include music, song, reading or sound, their tone contains a play on language, speech and listening; a play which, as Roland Barthes has often pointed out, is both complicated and exquisite. The artists create sound installations which are presented as a space for experience: the distant sound of a song, screaming, piercing unbearable noise, or music. Other works are based on a manuscript of an abstract audio-visual.
Artists:
Doug Aitken, Charles de Meaux, Dodda Maggý, Pierre Huyghe, Romain Kronenberg, Ange Leccia & Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster, Sigurður Guðjónsson, Lorna Simpson, Steina, Jean-Luc Vilmouth.
Curators:
Pascale Cassagnau, CNAP & Gústav Geir Bollason, Verksmiðjan á Hjalteyri. With support from Berg Contemporary, Reykjavík.
Gerðarsafn Kópavogur Art Museum, 12.01 - 31.03 2019.
Verksmiðjan Hjalteyri / Center for Contemporary Art, 24.7.-9.9.2018.
Exhibition at Gerðarsafn organized and produced in collaboration with curators:
Kristín Dagmar Jóhannesdóttir, museum director. & Klara Þórhallsdóttir, exhibition manager.
With support Ambassade de France à Reykjavik.
Image: Romain Kronenberg,
To Walk Then Disappear (Marcher puis disparaître), 2013, CNAP.

Events
12/1
16:00
Exhibition opening
13/1
15:00
Curator‘s talk
Pascale Cassagnau, CNAP.
23/1
12:15
Culture Wednesdays
Singing tour with soprano Hrafnhildur Áradóttir.
26/1
13:00
Family Workshop
Spirals and patterns with Dodda Maggý.
8/2
18:00-00:00
Museum Night
13/2
12:15
Culture Wednesdays
Quiet tour in sign-language.
16/2
13:00
Family Workshop
Kaleidoscope workshop
25. og 26/2
13:00-15:00
Winter break
Sound-workshop (for 10-14 years).
2/3
13:00
Family Workshop
Video-workshop
6/3
12:15
Culture Wednesdays
Guided tour
31/3
15:00
Guided tour
Finissage