Wallcarpet

2016

Site specific installation for Reykjavík Art Festival,

Hotel Canopy Hilton, Smiðjustígur, 101 Reykjavík, Iceland

A gable and a yard is a two-year art project engaging in and activating the heart of the city space in the centre of Reykjavík. It is a public intervention that invites us to think with and feel with the urban environment of our everyday circumstances, the sites and situations we are embedded in.

Þórdís Erla Zoëga is the artist who will actualize the promise of the huge wall that visually links the site to its surroundings in the city centre. She is working with the idea of connecting the dots, playing with hidden meanings and stereotypes, creating an encounter between the symbols of public and private spaces.

I was working with the idea of taking over a space that once was; creating a temporary home where there will no longer be a home. The carpet is placed over 3 floors of an old building that used to be a living area in the center of Reykjavík. The spaces that used to be there create the grid of the pattern of the rug.

The purpose of the work is to raise awareness of the issues that matter most to us: who are we and how do we shape our community and interact with each other.

This project was curated by Birgir Snæbjörn Birgisson and Mika Hannula, in collaboration with the city of Reykjavik and Icelandair Hotels.