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| Örn Alexander Ámundason |
| Sýning sem verður kannski tilnefnd til Íslensku myndlistarverðlaunanna- An Exhibition That Might Be Nominated for the Icelandic Art Prize |
| 24. 08. 2026 - 04. 10. 2026 |
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Every year a few visual artists are selected to be on the committee deciding which of their colleagues and their exhibitions will be nominated for the Icelandic Art Prize. They try to see as many exhibitions as they can, have regular meetings and at the beginning of each year they make a decision. It is not until after this decision has been made public that we get to know who they are, in the meantime these committee members are undercover. In March the Icelandic Art Prize will be handed out, and this solo exhibition at Kling & Bang by Örn Alexander Ámundason, An Exhibition That Might Be Nominated for the Icelandic Art Prize, has the same chance of a nomination as any other exhibition.
Discussions about the mechanism of the art world usually take place in half-whispers. Artists discuss, complain, mutter and yammer amongst themselves but usually not in front of other people. Someone might claim in a small group that open calls make curators lazy – then someone could complain that not only visual artists are making art in public spaces. Örn Alexander Ámundason now tackles these matters head on with new works in his solo exhibition at Kling & Bang, opening Friday August 21 at 5 pm. There he exhibitis, among other works, a new video using the form of aggressive debates, known from social media to tackle big current controversies, to examine heated topics from niche art world discussions that are very important to very few people.
Örn Alexander Ámundason’s (born 1984, graduated with BFA 2009 and MFA 2011 from Malmö Art Academy) works persist in an uncomfortable zone. He makes works that put the audience in a curious but often awkward situations. In a secure and composed manner he presents work that can even overwhelm the audience with a feeling of cringe, a feeling many people go to lengths to avoid and in subtle ways is formative in our contemporary culture. To avoid cringe there is a substantial sector of culture where sarcasm and sincerity are so intertwined that they are impossible to dismantle. Örn on the other hand sends his audience head first into its core, without us necessarily being able to distinguish what he sincerely means and where he’s playing with the form. But it is hard not to look into the slow boiling turmoil, that is excessive and insignificant at the same time. He has previously worked openly and attentively with awkwardness and nuances in everyday communication, objects and situations but has lately been applying these methods to the inner workings of his own field, the system of the art world, which he does in An Exhibition That Might Be Nominated for the Icelandic Art Prize. To quote an anonymous artist before he walked into an exhibition of another anonymous artist: “This will be exciting”.
Exhibition program:
August 21, opening Friday 5:30 pm - Performance
September 5, Saturday 2 pm - Performance
September 13, Sunday 2 pm - Performance
September 24, Thursday 8 pm - Artist Talk
October 3, Saturday 2 pm - Performance |
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The exhibition is supported by The Visual Arts Fund.
Kling & Bang is supported by the municipality of Reykjavik.
Kling & Bang
The Marshallhouse
Grandagarður 20
101 Reykjavík
Opening hours
Wed to Sun 12 – 18
Closed on Mondays/Tuesdays
Public Transportation
Bus number: 14
Stop: Grandi
Admission
Free
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Grandagarđur 20 - 101 Reykjavík
kob@this.is |
