FOCUS ON PHOTOGRAPHY AT THIS YEAR'S REYKJAVÍK ARTS FESTIVAL
The Reykjavík Arts Festival celebrates its 40th anniversary this year and, for the first
time, in its history it focuses on photography. There will be 20 exhibitions by Icelandic
and foreign photographers held in art museums, galleries and in the open air. The
exhibitions are grouped under the heading Reality Check, which refers to the fact
that photographs are both a contemporary tool and a method used to unveil reality: to
communicate and to express an individual's experience, outlook and background.
The exhibitions demonstrate the diverse uses artists make of photographs, as well
as the different attitudes they have towards the medium. They shed light on the power
of photographs as a medium, and reveal the important role they play in contemporary
society. Photographs have never held more significance than they do now – as a means
of documentation, of providing information, as a form of communication and as an
artistic medium.
It is also available at all museums and galleries participating in the festival.