Gunnhildur Hauksdóttir (born 1972) is an Icelandic visual artist. Works of art created by Hauksdóttir consist of audio, video, performance such as dance, sculpture, drawing and text.
Early life and education
Hauksdóttir was born in Reykjavik in 1972. She is the daughter of Icelandic artist
Haukur Halldórsson
Haukur Halldórsson (4 July 1937 – 30 July 2024) was an Icelandic artist and illustrator. After beginning his career as a graphic designer and illustrator he developed into a visual artist. Halldórsson's work also included sculpture. He wa ...
and health worker Sigrún Kristjánsdóttir. Hauksdóttir received her BFA from
Iceland University of the Arts
Iceland University of the Arts ( ) is an Icelandic institution of higher art education, located in Reykjavík, which offers the only university-level degrees in the arts in Iceland.Lisa Z. ValdimarsdottirIceland Academy of the Arts, Department of ...
in 2001. Her
MFA is from the
Sandberg Institute,
Gerrit Rietveld Academie
The Gerrit Rietveld Academie, also known as Rietveld School of Art & Design and Rietveld Academy, is an art academy in Amsterdam, Netherlands. It was founded in 1924 and offers programs in fine arts and design.
History
The Instituut voor Kuns ...
in
Amsterdam
Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...
in 2005 and she is a member of the
Dieter Roth
Dieter Roth (April 21, 1930 – June 5, 1998) was a Swiss artist who gained recognition for his diverse body of work, which included artist's books, editioned prints, sculpture, and creations from found materials, including rotting foodstuffs. ...
Academy. She has lived and worked in Reykjavik and Seydisfjord in Iceland, in Amsterdam, Netherlands and
Berlin
Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...
, Germany. Her son is Matthias Tryggvi Haraldsson, a playwright and founding member of the Icelandic performance art group,
Hatari. Her father is a long-time member of the
Icelandic neopagan organization
Ásatrúarfélagið
(, ''Ásatrú Fellowship''), also known simply as , is an Icelandic religious organisation of Heathenry (new religious movement), heathenry (in Iceland also called , " faith"). It was founded on the first day of summer (Iceland), first day of s ...
, which she also joined as an adult.
Artistic work
Gunnhildur Hauksdóttir works with drawing, sculpture,
audio
Audio most commonly refers to sound, as it is transmitted in signal form. It may also refer to:
Sound
*Audio signal, an electrical representation of sound
*Audio frequency, a frequency in the audio spectrum
*Digital audio, representation of sound ...
,
video
Video is an Electronics, electronic medium for the recording, copying, playback, broadcasting, and display of moving picture, moving image, visual Media (communication), media. Video was first developed for mechanical television systems, whi ...
and
performance
A performance is an act or process of staging or presenting a play, concert, or other form of entertainment. It is also defined as the action or process of carrying out or accomplishing an action, task, or function.
Performance has evolved glo ...
. Her work entails public participation and cross disciplinary practice, such as her body of works called
Borderline Human, Milk River Valley', where she collaborated through th
University Art Galleryin Lethbridge in Canada with a team of Scientists from th
The work consists of an installation with audio work, drawings and dance performance along with providing a platform for interdisciplinary workshops. Some of the works from the ''Borderline Human'' project are found in the collection of the Goethe Institute in Copenhagen and the Hess Gallery of the University of Lethbridge. Hauksdóttir consistently works together with
Hošek Contemporary
Hošek Contemporary is a gallery located on a barge in central Berlin. The gallery focuses mainly on performing arts, experimental music, installations and dance. It was founded in 2016.
History
Hošek Contemporary was founded by Petr Hošek ...
art gallery in Berlin, Germany.
Among her other notable works are ''Five Drawings'' where she has five singers vocalise drawings for a sculpture transformed into a binaural microphone. ''Ritualized Disciplinary Practices in Social Life'' was an exhibition project in four phases. ''Der Abstand,'' a cacophony reading which was part o
The Silver Lining a collateral event at the 2015
Venice Biennale
The Venice Biennale ( ; ) is an international cultural exhibition hosted annually in Venice, Italy. There are two main components of the festival, known as the Art Biennale () and the Venice Biennale of Architecture, Architecture Biennale (), ...
organised by th
Kunstverein Schichtwechseland th
Liechtenstein Kunstmuseum ''Cencus'' i
Skaftfell, Center for Visual Art(IS 2014), Hauksdottir is engaged in a long-term collaboration with author
Kristín Ómarsdóttir and the duo have produced works like the ''Footbath'' with the Reykjavik Art festival (IS 2002), ''Stars'' with the Context Gallery (NI 2011) ''My Gift, Your Excellency'' in ASI Art Museum (IS 2011), ''Audition'' with the Ace Art Inc (CA 2008). Hauksdottir participated in th
D-Seriesat the
Reykjavik Art Museum with her work ''Cultus Bestiae'' (IS 2008).
Exhibitions
The first exhibition of ''Borderline Human, Milk River Valley'' was at th
Terminal Exhibitionsin Postwerk in Berlin in 2018. It was also on display as a solo exhibition at the University of Lethbridge in Canada in 2019. Her collective exhibitions include ''Mirrorriff'' DRA-Hjalteyri (IS 2010), ''Howl''
Donau festival (AU 2010) and ''Rockabilly Gal'' w. Kling & Bang (DK 2009).
Work related to art
Gunnhildur Hauksdóttir has served on the board of
Safnasafnið, The Icelandic Folk and Outsider Art Museum, Skaftfell, Art Center, and
the Living Art Museum
The Living Art Museum (Nýló) is a not-for-profit, artist-run museum and exhibition platform for innovative and experimental contemporary art in Reykjavík, Iceland. The Living Art Museum is committed to presenting, collecting, and preserving w ...
in Reykjavik where was head of the board and director for four years until March 2014. She has served on the artistic board of
Sequences Art Festival
Sequences Real Time Art Festival is an independent biennale, established in Reykjavík, Iceland in 2006.
Concept
An offspring of the dynamic art scene that thrives in Reykjavík, Sequences is the first art festival in Iceland to focus on visual ...
and has been and is involved in numerous publications, lectures, and research on artist initiatives and their impact on culture.
Yggdrasil Divination Deck
Apart from several publications related to contemporary art, Hauksdóttir has authored a guidebook to the
Yggdrasil
Yggdrasil () is an immense and central sacred tree in Norse cosmology. Around it exists all else, including the Nine Worlds.
Yggdrasil is attested in the ''Poetic Edda'' compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional sources, and in t ...
Norse Divination Cards, which she published together with Haukur Halldórsson who illustrated the cards. The deck of cards is based on
Norse mythology
Norse, Nordic, or Scandinavian mythology, is the body of myths belonging to the North Germanic peoples, stemming from Old Norse religion and continuing after the Christianization of Scandinavia as the Nordic folklore of the modern period. The ...
as told in the Poetic and
Prose Edda
The ''Prose Edda'', also known as the ''Younger Edda'', ''Snorri's Edda'' () or, historically, simply as ''Edda'', is an Old Norse textbook written in Iceland during the early 13th century. The work is often considered to have been to some exten ...
. The deck was published in 2019 by
Llewellyn Books.
References
External links
Official Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hauksdottir, Gunnhildur
1972 births
Living people
Gunnhildur Hauksdóttir
Gunnhildur Hauksdóttir
Gunnhildur Hauksdóttir
Gunnhildur Hauksdóttir
Modern pagan artists
Adherents of Germanic neopaganism