Despite dramatic changes in Iceland’s economic climate its cultural life continues to flourish with SEQUENCES Art Festival offering a spectacular program this year. The festival, which runs from October 30th – November 7th 2009, exhibits cutting-edge performance art with its curators placing a special emphasis on the ephemeral nature of art with reference to stage arts, such as dance and theater. Performances, video art, art in public/urban spaces, are combined to create a dynamic cross-platform within the festival. The vehicle for this are numerous LIVE events taking place throughout the Reykjavík city center; in renowned art spaces, galleries and institutions.
The events involve a large number of Icelandic and international artists: OBLIVIA, for one, is a unique force on the Finnish performance art scene. SØREN DAHLGAARD is a young Danish artist with a contemporary take on post-war Japanese performance art. SIGURÐUR GUÐJÓNSSON intertwines discrete images, music, and sound together with equal weight and consideration in his works. A performance by duo PRINZ GHOLAM will embody a sequence of postures and bodily constellations. A special highlight will be the work of SEQUENCES 2009 Honorary Artist MAGNÚS PÁLSSON. He studied theatre design in the early 1950s which inspired his move into visual arts, books, theatre pieces, audio works and teaching. He has been the subject of over thirty solo exhibitions in Iceland and Europe, and a part of more than forty group exhibitions worldwide. Magnús Pálsson will premiere a live performance event in collaboration with Pétur Zar Bragason and the Nýló choir at the Reykjavik Art Museum – Harbor House on the opening day of the festival, Saturday, October 31st with a repeat performance on Sunday, August 1st. Other artists include the ICELANDIC LOVE CORPORATION (IS), EGILL SÆBJÖRNSSON (IS), PARFYME (DK) and MAURICE BLOK (FI). The entire festival program will be announced soon!
Newly added to the festival lineup are LECTURE SERIES, allowing a platform for discussion on the traits and difficulties that characterize the field of time-based arts. Speakers include many of the participating artists this years as well as other invited speakers in the fields of visual arts, dance and theory.
Held for the first time in Reykjavík in 2006, SEQUENCES was founded by four artist-run galleries —The Living Art Museum, Kling & Bang Gallery, Gallery Dwarf and Gallery Bananananas— as well The Center for Icelandic Art, CIA.IS. The curatorial board for SEQUENCES 2009 consists of Kristín Dagmar Jóhannesdóttir, Art Director for Sequences 2009; Klara Þórhallsdóttir Executive Director for Sequences 2009; and Erling Klingenberg, artist; Special advisor is Birta Guðjónsdóttir, artist and curator.
