Overview

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, 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.

Works
Exhibitions
Public Exhibitions
Biography

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

 

2023

Hildigunnur Birgisdóttir and works from the collection, Akureyri Art Museum, Akureyri, Iceland

Kaleidoscpoe: Icelandic 21st Century Art, Reykjavík Art Musuem, Reykjavik, Iceland

hvað var - hvað er  - hvað verður? ARS LONGA, Djúpivogur, Iceland

Outside looking in, inside looking out, Singing Fish Circus Art and Literature Festival, New York, United States

 

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:, H2HAthens, 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

 

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

Press
Art Fairs