The Icelandic Horse Seen Through Art & Design

Take-off for the Icelandic Horse World Championship taking place in Berlin (August 4 to 11).

TÖLT is an art exhibition entirely dedicated to the Icelandic horse, presented through diverse media such as photography, sculpture, video, animation, design and fashion.


_{Foto: Benni Valsson}

The Icelandic horse carries a heritage of a tradition. It forms a significant part of the cultural identity of Icelanders. Wild in the Icelandic highlands, tamed for work and pleasure, transported and used for riding in new and different environments – horses are for Icelanders a concrete example of an ancestral culture. They embody a profound relationship to nature and are an inexhaustible inspiration – richly represented in Iceland’s literature, poetry and contemporary arts.

Contemporary Icelandic artists & designers have been given free reign to create and to present artworks inspired by the Icelandic horse: its beauty, its grace, its colors or its destiny. Each artist conveys his own vision and perception stemming from the horses.

Artists participating:
Hrafnkell Birgisson – Gígja Einarsdóttir – Kristín Gardarsdóttir – Ásta Gudmundsdóttir – Dögg Gudmundsdóttir – Una Lorenzen – Rut Sigurdardóttir – Spessi – Benni Valsson – Anderson & Lauth – Erna Einarsdóttir – Jör by Gudmundur Jörundsson – Mundi

A special homage will be paid to Birgir Andrésson (1955-2007) one of the most influential Icelandic artists of the last decades.

The Exhibition is funded by the Icelandic Government and co-sponsored by Promote Iceland and WOW air

      

Curated by Ragna Fródadóttir, a Berlin based Icelandic fashion designer, in collaboration with several artists.


RELATED PROGRAM AT FELLESHUS

May 23: Icelandic Film Night
Some of the best documentaries on the Icelandic horse:
»Kraftur. The Last Ride« by Árni Gunnasson, Steingrímur Karlsson, Thorvardur Björgúlfsson
»Herd in Iceland« by Lindsay Blatt and Paul Taggart
»Running With the Herd« by Thorfinnur Gudnason
Free entrance. You'll find the registration link shortly here.

May 31: Rímur and Sagas – As Icelandic as it Gets!
The recently translated Sagas of Icelanders are presented under the theme Horses and in the Icelandic Sagas. With Kristof Magnússon and Andreas Vollmer.
Rímur – traditional Icelandic rhyming storytelling poems. Live performance with the genial Steindór Andersen with music by the pagan high priest of Iceland, Hilmar Örn Hilmarsson. (By invitation only.)

June 13: Icelandic Song Recital
Young Icelandic musicians interpreting the theme of the exhibition. A song recital with a touch of summer as found in Icelandic and German songs.
Free entrance. You'll find the registration link shortly here.

  
_{Fotos: Gígja Einarsdóttir (links) und Spessi (rechts)}

BIOGRAPHIES

Birgir Andrésson
Horse Portraits
Visual artist (1955-2007). During his lifetime Birgir actively exhibited around Scandinavia and Northern Europe. Andrésson's work explores the relationship between visual perception and spoken language, thought and Icelandic cultural identity. The subjects stem from his closest surroundings; his work is based on language, history and memory as well as the exceptional experience of being brought up by blind parents. This experience formed his interest in »reading« in the very broadest sense. Birgir's work tap into the artificial myth about the Icelandic national character, most notable in his Icelandic color system and in his portraits, based on descriptive texts of people and animals. His work has been the subject of numerous solo and group exhibitions internationally. Major solo shows include his contribution to the 1995 Venice Biennale where he represented Iceland.
www.i8.is

Ásta Gudmundsdóttir
Installation
Iceland based fashion & textile designer. Ásta's designs are inspired by the ever changing Icelandic nature. Her creations are as rustic and contrasting as the Icelandic storms and eruptions – yet dreamlike at the same time. Ásta's works evoke a strong bond with Nature, bordering on the savage and the mythical. Ásta studied in Germany and has been designing for her own fashion label since the year 2000. For the last few years, Ásta has been expressing herself more and more with installations and sculptures. She has participated in numerous shows in Iceland and abroad.
www.astaclothes.com

Benni Valsson
Photo Series
Paris based Photographer. Björk, Martin Scorsese, David Lynch and Tim Burton are but a few of the numerous celebrities whom Benni has worked with & photographed. His sharp and gentle eye makes him one of the most notable portrait photographers of this decade. Benni has worked for international magazines, newspapers and advertising agencies. Benni had his first retrospective in his native city, Akureyri, in summer 2012 and won the Grand Prix de la Publicité Presse Magazine in 2010.
elvaogbenni.perso.sfr.fr

Dögg Gudmundsdóttir
Installation
Copenhagen based Designer. Dögg is much inspired by nature, natural materials, colors & geometry. She is keen to surprise and inspire people with unknown items, combining unusual materials. A quote by Albert Einstein could be Dögg's motto »if at first the idea is not absurd, then there is no hope for it«. She often collaborates with specialists from whom she can learn new techniques and skills. Her most famous product is without any doubt the Fifty chair which she conceived with Rikke Arnved – for which she won the Wallpaper price for the best outdoor chair 2013. Among other success stories is the Uggi light created with Fanney Antonsdóttir that has been shown around the world in the last 12 years and the cutlery Hekla.
www.doggdesign.com

Gígja Einarsdóttir
Photos and Audiovisual Installation
Iceland based Photographer. Gígja has had a long experience with horses since an early age and has a deep understanding of horses. She spends hours observing them, trying to tame them with her camera, creating a two way relationship before taking a picture. She shows the horse as a part of its natural surroundings, aware of each sound, each movement. Her photos are poetic, natural and spirited.
www.gigjaeinars.com

Hrafnkell Birgisson
Installation
Copenhagen based Designer. His work consists of a mix of experimental and conceptual product development, often in collaboration with designers or traditional factories. Through the use of second hand or forgotten items, Hrafnkell creates new objects and provides them a new life and purpose: old cups, glasses, driftwood etc. His creations are ingenious, poetic and always surprising. He collaborated among others with companies like Vikurprjón, an Icelandic wool factory; Hugo Bräuer, a metal typography company and the Danish Academy of Fine Arts – where Hrafnkell leads student workshops. Hrafnkell Birgisson has participated in major design exhibitions around the world.
www.hrafnkell.com

Kristin Gardarsdóttir
Installation
Iceland based Ceramic artist & designer. Kristín Gardarsdóttir is an experienced ceramics artist and designer. Working primarily with materials such as clay and glass, she employs a wide range of techniques, producing her sculptures, reliefs and craft items. Her work has been featured around the world in solo and group exhibitions and she has received various grants for her work.
www.subba.is

Rut Sigurdardóttir
Photo Series
Berlin based Photographer. In her work Rut focuses on people, both in fashion and artistic work. Rut's main source of inspiration come from her Icelandic roots – Icelandic nature, its history and myths. Her work is often based on a certain Icelandic historical or cultural topic, where Rut strives to find a new approach to visualize a subject already well known. In »Hidden People«, a recent photoserie by Rut, she interpreted the topic of mystical creatures living in Icelandic lava fields, breaking the boundaries between seeing and feeling. Her work has been exhibited in various galleries, including Berlin's Freies Museum.
www.rutsigurdardottir.com

Spessi
Photo Series
Icelandic based photographer, nomad & filmmaker, known as one of Iceland’s most important visual chroniclers. Since 1996 Spessi has shown his work in numerous solo and group exhibitions in Iceland, Europe and in New York. His photographs are included in various private and public collections. Spessi has done advertisement and editorials, for among others; Big New York, New York Times, Politiken, Ekstrabladet and Information in Denmark, MINI International Germany, Forum AID and MCM Sweden.
www.spessi.com

Una Lorenzen
Animation
Montreal based Icelandic filmmaker. Una uses mixed media techniques to create unique worlds, often deriving from her Icelandic heritage – as can be seen in her short films »Farmer John’s World« (2005), »In the Crack of the Land« (2009) and now »Tölt« (2013). Her short films and music videos have traveled widely to festivals and museums including New Museum NYC (Nordic Outbreak 2013), Nordisk Panorama, Kro Art Gallery Vienna, Papay Gyro Nights Hong Kong, Unsound Poland and Artforum online.
www.this.is/una

Fashion in the photo series by Rut Sigurdardóttir:
Mundi – A Berlin based wunderkind that was already doing fashion designing at the age of nineteen in Iceland. Mundi is a multifaceted artist and designer, constantly finding new outlets for his creativity. His collections are sometimes presented with a flair bordering on installation and performances. Mundi drifts effortlessly between fashion design and film making, where he alternates between expressing his artistry and promoting his fashion label. His design signature are strong, borderline crazy geometric patterns and powerful knit texture.

Fashion in the photo series by Benni Valsson:
Andersen & Lauth
Erna Einarsdóttir
Jör by Gudmundur Jörundsson