SOLO Exhibition
16.05 – 06.09.2026
Gallery Gudmundsdottir is pleased to announce the solo exhibition of Hulda Rós Guðnadóttir at Akureyri Art Museum. The exhibition will take place from the 16th of May until the 6th of
September 2026. Founded in 1993 Akureyri Art Museum is one of Iceland’s leading contemporary art institutions and the principal museum for visual art in North Iceland. Situated in Akureyri, a key cultural centre in Iceland the museum has become an important platform for contemporary art in Iceland bringing together Icelandic and international contemporary art. Its exhibitions have received recognition through the Icelandic Art Prize, and the museum director serves as one of three jury members for the prestigious Guðmunda Award, founded by Erró.
The curator of the solo exhibition is the museum director Sigridur Orvarsdottir.
Curatorial text:
Hulda Rós Guðnadóttir (born 1973) is a working artist educated in anthropology and interactive
design as well as in visual arts. She lives and works in Berlin, Germany and has exhibited her work far and wide.
Her works are characterized by her active participation in the international dialogue within
contemporary art. Her approach combines research, visual representation and social criticism where social science research methods create a visual result. Guðnadóttir has received numerous recognitions such as the Guðmunda-awards, from the Guðmunda-fund, in 2019.
Guðnadóttir’s art creations address the connections between international industrialization and local communities, with emphasis on the impact of resource extraction and questions on the gain, responsibility and long-term effect. In her work a clear connection is made to current discourses in contemporary art with the focus on material existence and the functionality of the materials themselves in the presentation.
Through the exhibited works Guðnadóttir addresses the interplay of natural resources, ecosystems, economy and power. She works with materials involved in the operations of the Silica factory PCC at Bakki in Húsavík and transforms them into a platform for critical contemplation, on the one hand metallurgical-grade silicon that is the product of smelting and on the other hand a piece of coal from the factory’s smelting process. The material is not only a medium but an active participant in forming a meaning and in the spirit of Neo-Materialism its qualities and origin become a part of the work itself.
The sculptures are created from unconventional materials, set straight on the floor of the exhibition space, which underlines their material presence. The materials are taken out of their original context and presented in a new fashion to make clear the economic and political connection – an approach that references the Art Povera tradition. Hence the works open as comments on local industry and as parts of a broader discourse within contemporary art, on material, energy and transformation.
The exhibition poses questions on sustainability and future vision as well as focusing on decision making that takes place far away from the remote little town in the north, where the production and industry is however set up, and how it can have a profound effect on a small community.
