Scan Magazine | Attraction of the Month | Iceland
Left: A viewer by the work Tägliche Einfalt by Jan Voss at his solo exhibition at the Akureyri Art Museum. Photo: Daníel Starrason /listak.is Top right: Listagilið (the Art Street) in Akureyri is vibrant and lively with the Akureyri Art Museum, an art school, artist studios, artist-run galleries, restaurants and cafés. Photo: Völundur Jónsson / listak.is Bottom right: Visitors at the opening of the autumn exhibition, sculpture works by Þórarinn Blöndal. Photo: Völundur Jónsson / listak.is
Attraction of the Month, Iceland
Big art in a small town In northern Iceland, in a small town famous for its rich culture and real Icelandic winters, is a museum dedicated to offering visitors and locals diverse art from across the globe. Creativity has birthed Akureyri Art Museum in a house where the manufacturing of dairy products used to take place. By Ingunn Huld Sævarsdótt
Akureyri, a town of around 18,000 people, is known for its vibrant arts, crafts and creativity and was chosen by Lonely Planet as the best place to visit in Europe for 2015. Downtown Akureyri, in a street that now goes by the name of Listagilið (or Art Street), are various galleries, studios and an art school as well as the Akureyri Art Museum. “The museum opened in 1993 when the dairy industry had left the buildings for more convenient premises. Various artists bought and moved into many of the houses on the other side of the street and set up their studios there. The dairy house with beautiful halls and a fascinating Bauhaus design was thought well-suited for an art gallery,” says museum director Hlynur Hallsson. 84 | Issue 84 | January 2016
The plan, when the museum first opened on the second floor of the building, was that the entire building would serve as a museum, and it now looks like that vision will be fulfilled in time for the museum’s 25th anniversary in 2018. “I expect it to become one of the more noteworthy exhibition halls in the country,” says Hallsson. Akureyri Art Museum offers exhibitions by both Icelandic artists and artists from around the globe. “The museum often collaborates with the other galleries and studios in the Art Street. When we launch an exhibition, it often goes hand in hand with what’s happening in the street – a win-win situation for everyone – with more variety and more action in general,” says the museum director.
Asked about the highlights of upcoming shows in 2016, he mentions that the museum is really proud to exhibit the work of Joan Jonas, who represented the United States at the Venice Biennale 2015. At the same time, local artists play a big role in the diverse exhibition programme for the year ahead. The Summer Arts Festival and the Performance Festival A!, which proved a massive hit last year, are also among the highlights. Hallsson goes on to highlight all the exciting upcoming exhibitions, and it seems unquestionable that a visit to the quaint town of Akureyri is a must in 2016 for any self-respecting art lover.
Hlynur Hallsson, the director of the Akureyri Art Museum, believes that the renovated museum will soon be one of the more noteworthy exhibition halls in Iceland. Photo: Völundur Jónsson / listak.is
For more information, please visit: www.listak.is