KNIT: Performance project

Ásta Fanney Sigurðardóttir (IS)
Brent Birnbaum (US)
Gavin Morrison (GB/F) – collaborating with Karen Breneman (US)
Karlotta Blöndal (IS)
Yvette Brackman (US/DK)
Curated by Ráðhildur Ingadóttir

Performance sessions:

About the project:

Knit is dedicated to the exploration of performance art. Five artists will be invited to Seyðisfjörður for two weeks for the sole purpose of experimenting with the art form. None of the artist have before used this medium to any extend for realizing their artistic endeavour.

The project is based on the assertion that a completed artwork is only a fraction of its existence and the relation between meaning and method is truly the core of art development. Thought process, ideas and life views are essential fundamentals to producing interesting art, but not trained skill or ability in a particular medium.

The performance sessions occurring during Knit will be flexible and spontaneous. The artists will present their work when and where they see fit during the period. Around town there are posters where the artists will advertise their performances. Therefore the posters will be constantly changing while the program evolves.

Artists Bio

Ásta Fanney Sigurðardóttir is born in Reykjavik, Iceland, and graduated from the Icelandic Art Academy in 2012, the Fine Art department. Later that year she co-founded Kunstsclager, a project space and basar located in down town Reykjavik.

Brent Birnbaum was born in Dallas, Texas in the year of the snake and currently lives at Rockaway Beach in Queens, New York. Most people are more surprised he is not on Facebook than learning his cousin invented the Bedazzler. Recent solo shows include Second Street Gallery in Charlottesville, Virginia and Scope in Miami. He has appeared on VH1 as their You Oughta Know Artist and was interviewed on New York´s public radio about his Vanilla Ice Museum. Brent is busy preparing for his first museum show since exhibiting his collection of used condoms for World Aids Day at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. A nine-room installation will open at Casino Luxembourg – Forum d’art contemporain in October, followed by an interactive sculpture show at Space Gallery in Portland, Maine opening in November.

Gavin Morrison is a curator, writer and publisher based in Marseille. He is an Exchange Fellow in the Department of Architecture at the University of Edinburgh and a co-director of the research project, What is Ignorance? at the Royal Institute of Art, Stockholm, Sweden. In addition he is also a director of Atopia Projects, a curatorial and publishing initiative. He is currently working on an exhibition about the modernist architect Berthold Lubetkin for the Art Academy in Tbilisi, Georgia. And recently he has started to collaborate with a number of different artists, including: A History of Type Design with Scott Myles. Further he is presently working on two books: The Unresolved Fate of the Kinetic Tower, an irregular history of a maligned public sculpture in Edinburgh and Falkirk Cannons for Corsica an explorative travelogue searching for cannons sent from Scotland to Corsican rebels in the 1770s. During Knit Gavin is collaborating Karen Breneman. Karen was born in Sarasota, Florida. She now lives and works in Edinburgh, Scotland. She studied art at University of Central Florida and went on to get her MFA at Edinburgh College of Art. She has exhibited in Europe and USA.

Karlotta Blöndal is a visual artist. Her work involves different media and appears in various contexts. Her practice ranges from exhibiting her work as well as being part of artist run initiatives and projects. She has co-published and edited a magazine on art and theory and teaches art on a regular basis. In her art the notion of language and mediation has been her main focus. Colour and material as such. Her work is often site specific. She graduated from Malmö Art Academy in 2002 and is currently living in Reykjavik.

Yvette Brackman is an artist and writer. Her work takes many forms such as installations, sculptures, performances, videos and text. She explores themes such as the relationship of the body to space and memory; the interaction between origin and trauma as a result of displacement and exile; cultural survival and adaptability and political systems and their consequences. She was Professor and Head of the Department of Mur and Space at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts  from 2000-2007. She lives and works in Copenhagen and has exhibited widely, both at home and abroad.