Throughout her nuanced practice, Hildigunnur Birgisdóttir explores ideas of beauty, utility, and context, continually questioning the relationship between perception and reality. The artist often examines banal items such as computer buttons, plastic clips, and textile sprays, celebrating their simplicity and the fact of their essential existence. By presenting prosaic objects in new mediums and scales, Birgisdóttir overemphasizes their familiarity, but also questions the straightforwardness of their functionality. These shifts highlight the sculptural value of the original item and celebrate the aesthetics of objects that are normally overlooked.
Hildigunnur Birgisdóttir (b. 1980, Reykjavík) lives and works in Reykjavík. In 2021, she was included in shows at Iceland's Reykjavik Art Museum; the GES-2 House of Culture, Moscow, Russia; the V-A-C Foundation, Moscow, Russia and H2H, Athens, Greece. 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. In 2024, Birgisdóttir is to represent the Icelandic Pavilion at the Venice Art Biennale in Italy.
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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 the artist....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
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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
EDUCATION
2000 - 2003 BA from the Icelandic Academy of the Arts
2002 - 2003 Kuvataideakatemia in Helsinki.
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2022
Peace, i8 Gallery, Reykjavík, Iceland
2019
UNIVERSAL SUGAR, ASÍ Art Museum, Westaman Islands and Garðabær, Iceland
2018
10 pieces for local nails, Staðir / Places Biannual, Westfjords, Iceland
2017
TIME PASSES: Camera accidentally taking video instead of still pictures, Stairway, Vesturgata 7, Sequences Art Festival, Reykjavik, Iceland
a, b, c, d, e & f, i8 Gallery, Reykjavik, Iceland
2015
Presenting papers, ANNAELLEGALLERY, Stockholm, Sweden
2014 - 2015
Matinée, Sirka 1715, Reykjavík
2014
[carpet], 002 Gallerí, Hafnafjörður, Iceland
2014
Selfsame (with Bjarki Bragason and Claudia Hausfeld), Hverfisgallerí, Reykjavik, Iceland
2013
Nacho Cheese (with Anna Hrund Másdóttir), Kling & Bang, Reykjavik 2011
2011
Nebula, Reykjavik Art Museum, Reykjavik, Iceland
ASÍ Art Museum, Reykjavik, Iceland
2010
Plenty, Mosfellsbær Artspace, Mosfellsbær, Iceland
2008
Branch Collection, Reykjavik Art Festival, Safnasafn, Svalbarðsströnd, Iceland
On the pointlessness of all things, Nýlistasafnið - The Living Art Museum, Reykjavik
2005
Round and Round II, Skotgallerí, Reykjavík, Iceland
2004
Round and Round, Gallery Vesturveggur, Skaftfell, Seyðisfjörður, Iceland
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2022
Internal Clocks, Culterim Gallery, Berlin, Germany
2021
To Moscow! To Moscow! To Moscow!, GES-2 House of Culture, V-A-C Foundation, Moscow, Russia
PS:, H2H, Athens, Greece
Abrakadabra, Reykjavik Art Museum Iceland
u’s, Badlands Art Department, Alberta, Canada
Góðir Gestir - group show with Icelandic artists, Cecilia Hillström Gallery, Sweden
Iðavöllur: Icelandic Art in the 21st Century, Reykjavik Art Museum, Iceland
2020
After all, Gerðarsafn, Kópavogur Art Museum, Iceland
2019
Amy's Donation, Listasafn Íslands - The National Gallery of Iceland, Reykjavik, Iceland
2018
BÆKLINGAR, Open, Reykjavik, Iceland
2016
(In)visible dreams and streams, Norden Office, Vilnius, Lithuania
Experiment - Clay and more, Hafnarborg Centre of Culture and Fine Art, Hafnafjörður
Infinite Next, Nýlistasafnið - The Living Art Museum, Reykjavík, Iceland
2014
The Palace of the Summerland, Ragnar Kjartansson and friends, TBA21, Vienna, Austria
2013
Civilization - Monumental Materialism, The Colony, PS1 MoMA, New York, USA
2013
Works on paper, i8 gallery, Reykjavik, Iceland
2012
Tómið; horfin verk Kristins Péturssonar, Listasafn Árnesinga, Hveragerði, Iceland
2011
In Between, Hafnarborg Centre of Culture and Fine Art, Hafnafjörður, Iceland
Somewhere along those lines, Reykjanesbær Art Museum, Keflavik, Iceland
2010
Listveisla 1, Safnasafn, Svalbarðsströnd
2009
Fokhelt, exhibition in an unfinished "inflation" house, Breiðakur 17-19, Garðabær, Iceland
Remains, Natural History Museum of Kópavogur, Kópavogur, Iceland
2008
Drummsolo, Gallerí Kling og Bang, Reykjavík, Iceland
Hills and valleys, outdoor exhibition, Skarðsströnd, Iceland
2006
Færópró, Gjógv, Faroe Islands
2005
Nornir og föðurmorð, The Nordic House, Reykjavík, Iceland
Cute, Nýlistasafnið- The Living Art Museum, Reykjavík, Iceland
Cute, Lýsuhóll, Snæfellsnes, Iceland
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
MEMBERSHIPS
The Living Art museum Confederation of Icelandic Artists (board member)
Center for Icelandic Art (board member)
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
