Where Water Meets the Land​

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Living Sculpture.

Steel, blown glass, LED light, ecosystem made from harvested fresh water from Vatnsmýri and Tjörnin incubated since december 2023.

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Taking a sip of water; it glides through to my stomach, making me aware of the life carried in this ocean that our bodies are, small ecosystems. I influence its microbiome and it influences me back, in a song of reciprocity. There is no I or them, but rather the some of us all, co-existing. Constantly processing a multitude of data and nutrients, as a mean to stay afloat as a machine.

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I collected water from two ponds in the city environment. I used a method that allows the microbes contained in the water, to grow and thrive in a small ecosystem, encapsu- lated in blown glass vessels. The early stage of the sculp- ture resembles a genesis of place, of water and sand, but slowly communities grow, and relationships develop within it.

Working with city nature is a way to blur, the boundaries that still remain between the idea of humans and the idea of Nature. City nature is a type of nature that was amend- ed, transformed, and shaped to some extent by humans, but it still remains its own thing, it still is Nature: humans cannot build a tree, but they can plant it.

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As part of the exhibition 'Á tæpasta vaði' / ´Total Meltdown' Curated by Eva Lín Vilhjálmsdóttir.

To some extent, treading water has become quite casual. I regularly come to my senses and ask myself: "What am I doing and how am I supposed to do it?"

The exhibition 'Total Meltdown' explores how to stay afloat in an unusual environment. Seven artists show site-specific works made to be enjoyed while at the pool, an unconventional exhibition space that is also one of Iceland's most beloved public spaces. The artists adhere to the pool's rules and regulations as well as the limits that the space naturally imposes in order to find a nifty solution.

Artists: Deepa R. Iyengar, Hlökk Þrastardóttir, Julie Sjöfn Gasiglia, Margrét Dúadóttir Landmark, Martina Priehodová, Silja Jónsdóttir & Sölvi Steinn Þórhallsson.