Artist talk: Hulda Rós Guðnadóttir
A warm welcome to an artist talk with Hulda Rós Guðnadóttir on Thursday the 10th of april at 18:30 o'clock. The exhibition NEW ACQUISITIONS: received, remade, replaced puts on view a selection of works aquiered in the years 2020-2024 and curated by Jenny Barrett that is Nýló's collection manager. The exhibition includes works by Bryndís Snæbjörnsdóttir & Mark Wilson, Douwe Jan Bakker, Fiona Banner, Graham Wiebe, Geirþrúður Finnbogadóttir Hjörvar, Helgi Þorgils Friðjónsson, Hulda Rós Guðnadóttir, Ívar Glói, Ívar Valgarðs, Kristín Karólína Helgadóttir & Ófeigur Sigurðsson, Joseph Marzolla, Rúna Þorkelsdóttir, Sidsel Winther, Unnar Örn, Sóley Frostadóttir & Joe Keys.
Puffin Shop (2019) is a sculpture-installation by Hulda Rós recently acquired by the Living Art Museum. The work is a triangle made from three triangles with each triangle is made from three IKEA shelves. In addition, the work is made of 2,470 puffin figurines. Both are mass-produced in its original manufacturing context. The artist, Hulda Rós Guðnadóttir, originally created the piece as part of a larger installation titled All is Full of Love, which explored the triangle of art, travel, and fishing industries that characterized Icelandic reality in the 21st century. It was the artist's solo exhibition at Künstlerhaus Bethanien in Berlin.
As Katla Kjartansdóttir, a PhD candidate in cultural studies, points out in the essay "Thinking through and with the Atlantic Puffin," to be published later this month in a monograph by Distanz Publishing on Hulda Rós Guðnadóttir’s artistic research project Keep Frozen, Hulda has, for nearly twenty ''delved deeply into the meaning of the intricate layers surrounding the imagery of the Atlantic puffin.''
It is worth noting that this exhibition marks the twentieth anniversary of Hulda Rós Guðnadóttir’s artistic career, which began at the Living Art Museum b showing the relief McNolia, the only other work in her career made from mass-produced plush animals.
In her art Hulda Rós Gudnadóttir combines her academic background in anthropology with personal experience and uses techniques like self-reflection, displacement, and defamiliarization to challenge narratives, exploring complex, historically contingent spaces and framing the Sub-Arctic in relation to broader global imaginaries. Her long-term, transdisciplinary, and collaborative approach involves research through art-making and on-site engagement, using mediums such as documentaries, installations, videos, performances, sculptures, and photography. Frequently recognized in the international art press, Hulda is one of Iceland's most visible artists. Her solo exhibitions include the Berlinische Galerie, Reykjavik Art Museum, and Künstlerhaus Bethanien, with over 50 group exhibitions globally. Residencies at the International Studio and Curatorial Program (NYC, 2023) and Künstlerhaus Bethanien (Berlin, 2018), along with art fairs like Spark Art Fair (Vienna, 2025), highlight her global reach.
A warm welcome to an artist talk with Hulda Rós Guðnadóttir on Thursday the 10th of april at 18:30 o'clock. The exhibition NEW ACQUISITIONS: received, remade, replaced puts on view a selection of works aquiered in the years 2020-2024 and curated by Jenny Barrett that is Nýló's collection manager. The exhibition includes works by Bryndís Snæbjörnsdóttir & Mark Wilson, Douwe Jan Bakker, Fiona Banner, Graham Wiebe, Geirþrúður Finnbogadóttir Hjörvar, Helgi Þorgils Friðjónsson, Hulda Rós Guðnadóttir, Ívar Glói, Ívar Valgarðs, Kristín Karólína Helgadóttir & Ófeigur Sigurðsson, Joseph Marzolla, Rúna Þorkelsdóttir, Sidsel Winther, Unnar Örn, Sóley Frostadóttir & Joe Keys.
Puffin Shop (2019) is a sculpture-installation by Hulda Rós recently acquired by the Living Art Museum. The work is a triangle made from three triangles with each triangle is made from three IKEA shelves. In addition, the work is made of 2,470 puffin figurines. Both are mass-produced in its original manufacturing context. The artist, Hulda Rós Guðnadóttir, originally created the piece as part of a larger installation titled All is Full of Love, which explored the triangle of art, travel, and fishing industries that characterized Icelandic reality in the 21st century. It was the artist's solo exhibition at Künstlerhaus Bethanien in Berlin.
As Katla Kjartansdóttir, a PhD candidate in cultural studies, points out in the essay "Thinking through and with the Atlantic Puffin," to be published later this month in a monograph by Distanz Publishing on Hulda Rós Guðnadóttir’s artistic research project Keep Frozen, Hulda has, for nearly twenty ''delved deeply into the meaning of the intricate layers surrounding the imagery of the Atlantic puffin.''
It is worth noting that this exhibition marks the twentieth anniversary of Hulda Rós Guðnadóttir’s artistic career, which began at the Living Art Museum b showing the relief McNolia, the only other work in her career made from mass-produced plush animals.
In her art Hulda Rós Gudnadóttir combines her academic background in anthropology with personal experience and uses techniques like self-reflection, displacement, and defamiliarization to challenge narratives, exploring complex, historically contingent spaces and framing the Sub-Arctic in relation to broader global imaginaries. Her long-term, transdisciplinary, and collaborative approach involves research through art-making and on-site engagement, using mediums such as documentaries, installations, videos, performances, sculptures, and photography. Frequently recognized in the international art press, Hulda is one of Iceland's most visible artists. Her solo exhibitions include the Berlinische Galerie, Reykjavik Art Museum, and Künstlerhaus Bethanien, with over 50 group exhibitions globally. Residencies at the International Studio and Curatorial Program (NYC, 2023) and Künstlerhaus Bethanien (Berlin, 2018), along with art fairs like Spark Art Fair (Vienna, 2025), highlight her global reach.
