Ever since the first publicly owned art museums were established in the late 18th century, they have had certain obligations towards their collection. An art museum is of course not a real one unless it possesses a collection. The main duties are registering and exhibiting the collection as well as educating the public about its value.
In this exhibition these obligations are implemented in a rather unconventional way. The director of Akureyri Art Museum, Hlynur Hallsson, contacted Jón B. K. Ransu, curator, about putting together an exhibition from the collection, who then contacted the artist Hildigunnur Birgisdóttir on working with the visual aspect – as if the collection was simply raw material. Birgisdóttir is known for applying collecting and registering to the creative process. A collection in this context has a double meaning: on the one hand it is the art that the museum has acquired, and on the other hand it is a piece of art by Hildigunnur Birgisdóttir.
