Text from the catalogue

by Dagný Heiðdal

Anna Línda

The National Gallery of Iceland recently opened two exhibition rooms and will be inviting artists from the younger generation to show their works there. Opening this new program is Anna Líndal, with an exhibition that can be divided into three parts. The first is the video sculpture Borders (1999-2000), followed by Glacier Cowboys (2002) on a five-minute videotape, and finally new works that Líndal has produced specially for the occasion: Heartbeat, Snowdrift and Dog, Woman, Wolf and Perihelion.

Through her work, Anna has explored various social rituals and customs which are more often than not so mundane or deep-rooted that they pass unnoticed. In her earlier works she has tended to draw her subjects from the empirical world of women, but recently she has increasingly focused on the Icelanders' identity and their relationship with nature.

Borders juxtapose the household and nature. While the home is a cocoon which we all instinctively create, Líndal has probed beneath the surface and discovered that even in the domestic environment, nature is a major presence. The work is set in a shelf unit from Ikea which the artist could have taken from any typical Icelandic home, and undeniably links other parts of this assemblage with everyday reality. On the shelf are four TV screens showing different videotapes, each telling us a brief story. A documentary on the Grímsvatn volcanic eruption in 1998 reminds us of the archetypal forces that dwell within nature. Another video presents man's efforts to understand these forces, with scenes from a field expedition on Vatnajökull glacier undertaken by the Glacier Research Society. On the third screen we see a totally different approach to discovering the natural world, in which Líndal shows us a personal and lyrical expedition through Icelandic nature. Finally we see a recording of a young girl reading aloud from Njál's Saga. Inextricably woven into the fabric of Icelandic culture, Njál's Saga is an emblem of the Icelanders' culture and language which they are plied with from an early age, regardless of whether they like it or not and often without any understanding of what this involves.

For all its modern technology, Anna Linda's shelf unit has a warm and homely character, to a large extent created by the lights, flowers, statues and little cloths that it contains. On first impression these appear to be very personal objects, even chosen at random, yet on closer examination they have wider allusions. Allusions to Anna Lynda's earlier works can also be read from the shelf, for example the china cup full of yarn which she uses to invoke the unconscious traditions that govern our dining habits.

Videotapes, a prominent feature of contemporary art, has been given an increasingly high profile in Linda's work in recent years, inviting an exceptional audio-visual experience as well as occupying a regular niche in our routine lives. Furthermore, the video is an obvious medium to adopt in order to reflect today's complex conceptual world. By arranging videos and everyday objects together, Líndal rejects conventional linear narrative and the relationship between objects and events, diverting attention instead towards conceivable associations and opening the opportunity for greater interpretation of content on the part of the viewer. This is precisely the approach taken in her new work Heartbeat, which uses as its material the Icelandic weather and used clothes.

Few topics are as widely discussed in Iceland as the weather, which undeniably occupies a major place in people's lives. But what effect does the weather have on the Icelandic identity? Does the heart of the nation beat in time to the weather and nature? Such are the questions that Anna Líndal poses, prompting us at the same time to ponder the diverse parts of the jigsaw puzzle that identity constitutes. Another question involves the relationship between man and his surroundings, how much it shapes us and how large a part we play in shaping our own environment.

Anna Líndal explores her environment to acquire understanding and insights. Instead of seeking a logical conclusion, she sheds light on specific aspects of it. In her works, Anna Líndal weaves many strands of everyday life together to guide the viewer along in diverse ways. However, she does not only allude to the reality beyond the work, because the atmosphere that she creates within the space also has an effect of its own on how the work is perceived and experienced. Looking more closely, countless tiny details are concealed in her installations which recall little stories from routine life and inspire surprise and even delight among those who notice them.

Dagný Heiðdal