STRAY BEACONS -Reykjavík Arts Festival in lighthouses around Iceland until August 3
Reykjavík Arts Festival 2009 hosts an unconventional art exhibition in four lighthouses around Iceland, one in each quarter of the island. Artists have been invited to install their work in the lighthouses that will be open to the public during the summer. Each of the participating artists is quite different from the others, even if they belong to the same generation. A mutual element in their work, however, is a coherent search for innovative ways to relate to their immediate surroundings, society and the audience.
The project's title reflects its itinerant nature. Not only spread over some of the most remote places of Iceland, it will also pop up in unforeseen sites throughout the summer. Traditionally emitting a guiding light to seafarers in the dark, there is little need for the lighthouses to do so during bright summer nights. Instead, they will function as beacons of another nature, signalling to the islanders after a hard winter of dismay and uncertainty. People are encouraged to travel this summer from one lighthouse to the next, take part in a rare cultural event, visit the intriguing constructions and enjoy the beautiful surroundings.
Ásdís Sif Gunnarsdóttir exhibits in Kópasker-lighthouse by Öxarfjörður
Curver Thoroddsen exhibits in Bjargtangar-lighthouse in the West Fjords
The Icelandic Love Corporation exhibits in Garðskagi-lighthouse in Reykjanes Peninsula
Unnar Örn exhibits in Dalatangi-lighthouse in the East
The exhibition is a joint project of the Reykjavík Arts Festival, the Icelandic Maritime Administration, lighthouse guards at each lighthouse and cultural representatives from the communities in question.
Stray Beacons is curated by Markús T Andrésson and Dorothée Kirch.
Opening hours in the summer: Thursday - Sunday 2-6 pm