Hildigunnur is known for her nuanced practice, which critically examines the global systems of production and distribution and the bizarre lives of the products they create. Her work calls attention to the objects that exist at the periphery of our vision, often the throwaway accessories of material culture: packing materials, price tags, signage, and systems of display. She looks for the beauty inherent in these objects, which have been shaped through countless aesthetic decisions, material limitations, production conditions, moral codes, deals, desires, and mistakes. Hildigunnur uses these human systems and interactions to create her artworks, harnessing the cultures and capabilities of manufacturers, fabricators, and commercial firms as part of her artistic process. She playfully subverts expectations of beauty, value, and utility, making clear commercial systems that are hiding in plain sight. The artist’s work reflects the tension between the personal pleasure to be found in our world of material objects, but also the consequences of a world full of these objects.
Hildigunnur Birgisdóttir (b. 1980, Reykjavík) lives and works in Reykjavík. In 2024, Birgisdóttir represented the Icelandic Pavilion at the 60th Venice Art Biennale in Italy. Recent exhibitions include shows at Iceland's Reykjavik Art Museum, the GES-2 House of Culture, the V-A-C Foundation, Moscow and H2H, Athens. Her work is included in the permanent collections of the National Gallery of Iceland, the Reykjavík Art Museum, and The Living Art Museum in Reykjavik, among others. Birgisdóttir graduated from the Iceland Academy of the Arts in 2003.
![HILDIGUNNUR BIRGISDÓTTIR, Fake News [never!] , 2024](https://artlogic-res.cloudinary.com/w_600,c_limit,f_auto,fl_lossy,q_auto/artlogicstorage/i8/images/view/1f3ecd239df205b80b631df27843f3cej.jpg)
-
Hildigunnur Birgisdóttir
Peace 17 Feb - 9 Apr 2022 i8 Galleryi8 Gallery is pleased to announce Peace , an exhibition of new work by Hildigunnur Birgisdóttir . The show, Birgisdóttir’s second with the gallery, includes installations, prints, and sculptures by...Read more -
HILDIGUNNUR BIRGISDÓTTIR
- a) b) c) d) e) & f) 27 Apr - 10 Jun 2017 i8 GalleryCovered in the dust of dry-wipe markers, I have come round to find that the content of my thoughts has been deleted. The memory of our movement together remains, written...Read more -
Works on Paper
Birgir Andrésson, Hildigunnur Birgisdóttir, Hreinn Friðfinnsson, Ignacio Uriarte, Janice Kerbel, Karin Sander, Kristján Guðmunddsson, Lawrence Weiner, Ólafur Elíasson, Ragna Róbertsdóttir and more 5 Sep - 31 Oct 2013 i8 GalleryFeaturing 30 artists, Works on Paper uses the conventional subtitle as title to emphasize the exhibition’s shift in focus; from paper as merely media toward a wider interpretation for its...Read more
-
Hildigunnur Birgisdóttir: That’s a Very Large Number – A Commerzbau
The National Gallery of Iceland 22 Feb - 7 Sep 2025The National Gallery of Iceland presents That's a Very Large Number - A Commerzbau a major installation by Hildigunnur Birgisdóttir, originally commissioned for the Icelandic Pavilion of the 2024 Venice Biennale. Playfully incisive, the exhibition, curated by Dan Byers, features sculptures and installations that probe aspects of the uncanny relationship between us and our world of mass-produced objects.Read more -
Hildigunnur Birgisdóttir: Wishing you the best on your birthday
Mokka Kaffi, Reykjavík 20 Jun - 14 Aug 2024The exhibition, titled Wishing you the best on your birthday , is on view from 20 June to 14 August 2024 and features multiple small-scale...Read more -
Hildigunnur Birgisdóttir: Icelandic Pavilion, 2024
Icelandic Pavilion, Arsenale, La Biennale Di Venezia 20 Apr - 24 Nov 2024Artist Hildigunnur Birgisdóttir and Curator Dan Byers announced for the Icelandic Pavilion at the Venice Biennale 2024 i8 Gallery is delighted to announce that Reykjavik-based...Read more -
HILDIGUNNUR BIRGISDÓTTIR AND WORKS FROM THE COLLECTION
Akureyri Art Museum, Akureyri, Iceland 2 Dec 2023 - 24 Nov 2024Collection: Hildigunnur Birgisdóttir and works from the collectionRead more
-
Ragnar Kjartansson: Santa Barbara and To Moscow! To Moscow! To Moscow!
GES-2, V-A-C Foundation, Moscow 4 Dec 2021 - 24 Feb 2022Two major installations by Ragnar Kjartansson will open on December 4, 2021 at the GES-2 House of Culture, the V-A-C Foundation’s new permanent site in...Read more -
Hildigunnur Birgisdóttir: Neighbours (Series)
Head2Head, Athens, Greece 11 - 21 Nov 2021Hildigunnur Birgisdóttir's recent site-specific installation, “Neighbours(series)”, is made from photographic images that the artist took from Google Maps and printed on plexiglass. Birgisdóttir chose frames...Read more -
IÐAVÖLLUR: ICELANDIC ART IN THE 21ST CENTURY
Reykjavik Art Museum, Iceland 10 Jun - 17 Oct 2021In 2021, Reykjavík Art Museum focuses on the microenvironment, with an aim of displaying the growth of the Icelandic art scene. The whole Hafnarhús becomes...Read more -
Hildigunnur Birgisdóttir: Universal Sugar
ASÍ Art Museum, Iceland 16 - 28 Feb 2019Hildigunnur Birgisdóttir is the second artist chosen to participate in the ASÍ Art Museum’s new series showcasing the latest works in the museum’s collection. Hildigunnur’s...Read more
-
Hildigunnur Birgisdóttir: NACHO CHEESE
Kling & Bang, Reykjavík 22 Feb - 24 Mar 2013Nacho cheese Triangle. Basic shape. Orange, blue. Basic colours. Food, nutrition, aliment. Actually chips, which isn’t really food - but still, of course it’s real...Read more -
Hildigunnur Birgisdóttir: Somewhere along those lines
Reykjanesbær Art Museum, Keflavik, Iceland 14 May - 22 Aug 2011'Somewhere along those lines', opens on Saturday 14 May at 15.00 in the Reykjanesbær Art Museum. The exhibition attempts to shed light on the different...Read more
-
Hildigunnur Birgisdóttir on Representing Iceland at the 60th Venice Biennale
-
Hildigunnur Birgisdóttir's Peace
Gregory Volk , The Brooklyn Rail , March 22, 2022 -
This Week in Art: Interview with Hildigunnur Birgisdóttir
Tom Seymour, The Art Newspaper, October 13, 2023 -
CHANEL Connects: Hildigunnur Birgisdóttir
Chanel Connects, August 14, 2024 -
‘Everything human-made is of interest to me’: Hildigunnur Birgisdóttir in Venice
Hannah Silver, Wallpaper, August 16, 2024
-
Art Basel Miami Beach 2023
Miami Beach Convention Center 6 - 10 Dec 2023i8 Gallery's presentation for Art Basel Miami Beach 2023 features artists who are key figures within the gallery's history from past to present.Read more -
Chart 2022
Charlottenborg, Copenhagen, Denmark 26 - 28 Aug 2022For CHART 2022, i8 Gallery will present works by three of the gallery artists: Hildigunnur Birgisdóttir, Eggert Pétursson, and Þór Vigfússon . Despite their varied...Read more
EDUCATION
2000 - 2003 BA from the Icelandic Academy of the Arts
2002 - 2003 Kuvataideakatemia in Helsinki.
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2025
That’s a Very Large Number – A Commerzbau, The National Gallery of Iceland, Reykjavík
2024
Wishing you the best on your birthday, Mokka kaffi, Reykjavík
That’s a Very Large Number – A Commerzbau, La Biennale di Venezia, Venice
2022
Peace, i8 Gallery, Reykjavík
2019
UNIVERSAL SUGAR, ASÍ Art Museum, Westaman Islands and Garðabær
2018
10 pieces for local nails, Staðir / Places Biannual, Westfjords
2017
TIME PASSES: Camera accidentally taking video instead of still pictures, Stairway, Vesturgata 7, Sequences Art Festival, Reykjavik
a, b, c, d, e & f, i8 Gallery, Reykjavik
2015
Presenting papers, ANNAELLEGALLERY, Stockholm
2014 - 2015
Matinée, Sirka 1715, Reykjavík
2014
[carpet], 002 Gallerí, Hafnafjörður
2014
Selfsame (with Bjarki Bragason and Claudia Hausfeld), Hverfisgallerí, Reykjavik
2013
Nacho Cheese (with Anna Hrund Másdóttir), Kling & Bang, Reykjavik
2011
Nebula, Reykjavik Art Museum, Reykjavik
ASÍ Art Museum, Reykjavik
2010
Plenty, Mosfellsbær Artspace, Mosfellsbær
2008
Branch Collection, Reykjavik Art Festival, Safnasafn, Svalbarðsströnd
On the pointlessness of all things, Nýlistasafnið - The Living Art Museum, Reykjavik
2005
Round and Round II, Skotgallerí, Reykjavík
2004
Round and Round, Gallery Vesturveggur, Skaftfell, Seyðisfjörður
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2025
Art is our only hope!, Reykjavík Art Museum, Reykjavík
Sun Swallower, Skaftfell Art Center, Seyðisfjörður
2024
more overall, Irene Laub Gallery, Brussels
2023
Hildigunnur Birgisdóttir and works from the collection, Akureyri Art Museum, Akureyri
Kaleidoscpoe: Icelandic 21st Century Art, Reykjavík Art Musuem, Reykjavik
hvað var - hvað er - hvað verður? ARS LONGA, Djúpivogur
Outside looking in, inside looking out, Singing Fish Circus Art and Literature Festival, New York
2022
Internal Clocks, Culterim Gallery, Berlin
2021
To Moscow! To Moscow! To Moscow!, GES-2 House of Culture, V-A-C Foundation, Moscow
PS:, H2H, Athens
Abrakadabra, Reykjavik Art Museum, Reykjavík
u’s, Badlands Art Department, Alberta
Góðir Gestir - group show with Icelandic artists, Cecilia Hillström Gallery
Iðavöllur: Icelandic Art in the 21st Century, Reykjavik Art Museum, Reykjavík
2020
After all, Gerðarsafn, Kópavogur Art Museum, Kópavogur
2019
Amy's Donation, Listasafn Íslands - The National Gallery of Iceland, Reykjavik
2018
BÆKLINGAR, Open, Reykjavik
2016
(In)visible dreams and streams, Norden Office, Vilnius
Experiment - Clay and more, Hafnarborg Centre of Culture and Fine Art, Hafnafjörður
Infinite Next, Nýlistasafnið - The Living Art Museum, Reykjavík
2014
The Palace of the Summerland, Ragnar Kjartansson and friends, TBA21, Vienna
2013
Civilization - Monumental Materialism, The Colony, PS1 MoMA, New York
2013
Works on paper, i8 Gallery, Reykjavik
2012
Tómið; horfin verk Kristins Péturssonar, Listasafn Árnesinga, Hveragerði
2011
In Between, Hafnarborg Centre of Culture and Fine Art, Hafnafjörður
Somewhere along those lines, Reykjanesbær Art Museum, Reykjanesbær
2010
Listveisla 1, Safnasafn, Svalbarðsströnd
2009
Fokhelt, exhibition in an unfinished "inflation" house, Breiðakur 17-19, Garðabær
Remains, Natural History Museum of Kópavogur, Kópavogur
2008
Drummsolo, Gallerí Kling og Bang, Reykjavík
Hills and valleys, outdoor exhibition, Skarðsströnd
2006
Færópró, Gjógv, Faroe Islands
2005
Nornir og föðurmorð, The Nordic House, Reykjavík
Cute, Nýlistasafnið - The Living Art Museum, Reykjavík
Cute, Lýsuhóll, Snæfellsnes
GRANTS AND AWARDS
2019
Nominated as artist of the year by the Icelandic Art Prize
2017
Awarded 6 months from the Visual Artist's Salary Fund
2016
Awarded the Guðmunda S. Kristinsdóttir Artist Grant
2012
Awarded 18 months from the Visual Artist's Salary Fund
2011
Awarded Stephan and Adriana Benediktson Fellowship for Icelandic Artists
2010
first prize in a closed competition on artwork for the entire front of Reykjavik School of Visual Arts
2009
Awarded 6 months from the Visual Artist's Salary Fund
2006
Publishing grant from The Icelandic Visual Art Copyright Association
PRIVATE AND PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
National Gallery of Iceland
Reykjavik Art Museum
Nýlistasafnið - The Living Art Museum
Collection of Icelandic Confederation of Labour (ASÍ)
European Patent Office