Art Exhibition

Up until 5 January 2020, the exhibition 'Lots of tiny people' at the Gerðarsafn Kópavogur Art Museum will ask about spirituality in art.

The Icelandic artists Gudrún Vera Hjartardóttir and Sigrún Halldóra Gunnarsdóttir /Úavon are working with the question of how their spiritual interest in anthroposophy relates to their artistic process and work. This seems to be natural as art has always been a place to investigate the realm of the unknown, to access deeper meaning and the sublime.

Inspired by the idea that spiritual experience can come to expression in various ways, not just through words or as a private matter, curiosity about how it engages with the culture and society of the early 21st century has led to collaboration with Gerðarsafn Kópavogur Art Museum (IS) and the artworks of pioneer modernist sculptor Gerður Helgadóttir. Like many of the Icelandic pioneering modernists she became involved with spirituality later in life, which can be found reflected in her art work.

Expressions of spiritual experiences

Inviting international artists and experts and making contact with institutions brought us to Rudolf Steiner's blackboard drawings. Even though these drawings were not intended to be art, bringing them into dialogue with contemporary artworks – by Hilma af Klint, Joseph Beuys and Gerður Helgadóttir – gave us access to a visual language and allowed us to read them as attempts at articulating deeper meaning and experiences, involving the senses rather than just the intellect.

Most contributors will create new works for this exhibition or present works that relate to the topic of a spiritual dimension in the arts. In addition we will provide a wide-ranging programme of performances, lectures, workshops and guided tours to facilitate further discussion, research, artistic development and to nurture and celebrate the diversity of contemporary art and artistic practice in the future.