Skriða consists of audio work and an installation in the innermost space at the Living Art Museum. The work is based on data from the Meteorological Office about the geological transformation that occurred in December 2020 when a landslide fell from the mountain above the town of Seydisfjordur, pushing buildings out into the sea. This event had a huge impact on the community and a permanent impact on the town’s appearance. This is one of the biggest landslides to fall in Iceland. The installation includes rocks that Gunnhildur retrieved from the wound which the landslide left in the mountain. The rocks hang suspended in the air in satin ribbons, forming pendulums, surrounded by a recording of a composition, based on Gunnhildur‘s drawings, played by Borgar Magnason double bass player. The drawings are created with a view of the earth’s imagined sense of time and from the reports of geologists at the Meteorological Office. Thus, the audio synthesis of geological transformation has its roots in musings on different senses of time; on one hand man’s perception of the flow of time and, on the other, the imaginary sense of time of the earth and earth beings; mountains, water and rocks.
The work was created in collaboration with the avalanche department of the Meteorological Office, which gave Gunnhildur access to reports and risk assessments regarding this event. Based on this data, Gunnhildur created drawings that she realised into musical language for Magnason.
The performance will take place in the installation setting at the Living Art Museum. Ribbons hanging from the ceiling elevate and sway rocks collected from the landslide. The pendulums rock to and fro, around Magnason, while he plays the double bass. The gesture of the instrument’s bow moves in parallel with the rock pendulums.
Gunnhildur Hauksdottir received her MFA from the Sandberg Institute in Amsterdam, Netherlands in 2006 and her BFA from the Iceland University of the Arts in 2002. Her works and performances have been exhibited and performed widely throughout her career, she took part in the Silver Lining, Collateral Event at the 56th International Art Exhibition at the Biennale di Venezia in 2015. Among the institutions that have displayed her works are the Galeria Municipal do Porto, the National Gallery of Iceland, the Reykjavik Art Museum, the Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein, the Uppsala Art Museum and the 21 Haus at the Belvedere Museum in Vienna. Gunnhildur has strong ties to Seydisfjordur and has lived there on and off since the start of her career. She is currently based in Reykjavik and Berlin.
Borgar Magnason is a double bass player and composer, he readily interprets soundscapes based on visual material, including the visual arts. His practice is closely related to the visual world.