Hildigunnur Birgisdóttir: Peace

i8 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. A major new publication highlighting ten years of Birgisdóttir’s work will be released to coincide with the opening of the show. 

Throughout her nuanced practice, Birgisdóttir explores ideas of beauty, utility, and context, continually questioning the balance between perception and reality. For Peace, Birgisdóttir presents five bodies of work, including both singular objects and connected installations. This exhibition examines banal items such as computer buttons, plastic clips, and textile sprays, each of which is considered by the artist for its simplicity and sheer existence. By presenting prosaic objects in new mediums and scales, Birgisdóttir overemphasizes their familiarity, while also challenging their functionality. These shifts highlight the sculptural value of the original item and celebrate the aesthetics of objects that are normally overlooked. 

Hildigunnur Birgisdóttir (born 1980, Iceland) lives and works in Reykjavík. In 2021, she was included in shows at Iceland’s Reykjavik Art Museum; the GES-2 House of Culture, V-A-C Foundation in Moscow, Russia; and H2H in Athens, Greece. Her work is included in the collections of the National Gallery of Iceland, the Reykjavík Art Museum, and Iceland’s Living Art Museum, among others. Birgisdóttir graduated from the Iceland Academy of the Arts in 2003.