Curator: Þórhildur Tinna Sigurðardóttir
Artists: Cecilia Fiona (DK, 1997), Kirstín Morthens (IS, 1992), Hayden Dunham (USA, 1988), Morehshin Allahyari (IR/USA, 1985) & Gerður Helgadóttir (IS, 1928 – 1975)
Venues: Þula Grandi 26. september – 7. nóvember & Skaftfell 3. október – 11. nóvember
Weaving Cosmologies: dreymendur og draumgjafar reflects on the search for meaning at a time when it often feels fragmented or out of reach. Bringing together works across generations, the exhibition creates a shared space where historical works and new experiments meet; opening up conversations around existence, belief, and imagination.
Connecting spiritual traditions such as theosophy, gnosticism, and Nýalismi with contemporary art practices rooted in speculative fiction, embodiment, and religious worldbuilding, the exhibition unfolds a range of possible cosmologies. The works invite viewers into worlds both internal and external, where dreams, ritual, and reflections on life beyond the Earth become alternative ways of grieving the present.
The exhibition draws on spiritual and occult movements that emerged over a century ago, in a time shaped by uncertainty and the threat of war. Which at present finds a clear resonance in today’s current climate, as similar anxieties reappear in the face of global instability and environmental crisis. These earlier movements can be seen as precursors to a renewed spiritual current in contemporary art, where art continues to serve as a space for reflection, refuge in order to pursue the search for meaning and purpose.
Spanning a more expansive presentation in Þula at the Marshallhouse in Reykjavík and a more intimate, experimental approach in Skaftfell, Seyðisfjörður, the exhibition shifts between scales and sensibilities. It invites visitors to pause and imagine alternative ways of being, within themselves and in the world around them.
The exhibition is accompanied by a publication that puts the artworks in conversation with a selection of texts that inform the artists’ practices and the exhibition’s core themes, including newly commissioned texts as well as existing poetry, prose and art-historical writing. The publication is edited by Eva Lín Vilhjálmsdóttir and the book design will be by Hrefna Sigurðardóttir.
Image: ‘Infinite Pollination’ (detail), rabbit skin glue and pigments on canvas, 350 x 190 cm, 2024. Courtesy of Cecilia Fiona and Andersen’s Contemporary. Photo by Malle Madsen.
