LOCATION

Arnarhóll by Ingólfsstræti

Geirþrúður’s work, Monument To (Currency) Devaluations in the Eighties, located at Arnarhóll – only a stone’s throw away from the Central Bank of Iceland – attempts to depict the abstraction of economic systems and local history. These are systems associated with the processes of production and financialization that began in the 20th century. Like many of Geirþrúður’s previous works, it includes references that reveal the social order in which we live. The work deals with fluctuations and devaluations of the Icelandic currency during the period to which the title refers. Evoking a creative license for visual interpretations, the artist uses symbols and forms to reference individual buildings built between 1981-1987 that convey the architectural style of the eighties. Tiled surfaces bear an undeniable resemblance to home interiors of the period, but Geirþrúður also takes visual cues from the kinds of mathematical models, diagrams and graphs from which financial calculations are made.

Geirþrúður Finnbogadóttir Hjörvar (b. 1977) graduated from the Iceland University of the Arts in 2002 and and from the Fine Arts Academy in Malmö with an MFA in 2005. She has worked on a variety of projects and exhibited widely abroad, including Museo La Tertulia (CO), W139 (NL), Cosmos Carl and Kunstverein Milano (IT). In Iceland, she has exhibited in places such as Suðsuðvestur, Hafnarborg, The Hafnarfjörður Centre of Culture and Fine Art, Reykjavík Art Museum and the Living Art Museum. Geirþrúður was selected to take part in the Internationales Künstlerhaus Villa Concordia program and is among the few Icelanders to have been selected to participate in the renowned residency of Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten in Amsterdam.

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