Cold Facts/ Hot Enchantment
Artist statement - Text by Stine Hebert - curator
Artist statement
A point of departure for the installation Cold Facts/Hot Enchantment, is sub glacial volcanism. The project articulates the behaviour of sub glacial eruptions in the glacier Vatnajökull and its interventions on my personal life. I have used my video camera as a registration tool, documenting the precise methods and measurements done by scientists in the annual research expeditions by the Icelandic Glaciological Society. All my videos are documentary and shot on location. The editing and production is simply a rearrangement of unaltered sequences. It is a way to recreate my relationship with reality while simultaneously exploring the social potential of the medium.
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Anna Líndal, September 2009
Anna Líndal
Anna Líndal's solo exhibition, Cold Facts/Hot Enchantment, at The Factory of Art & Design, is the culmination of a work process which has spanned several years. Líndal lives and works in Iceland, and in more recent years, she has pursued an interest in investigating the complexity of the landscape in collaboration with a number of researchers. Since 1997, she has participated in annual expeditions with the Icelandic Glaciological Society, and a recurring destination for these expeditions is Vatnajökull. Vatnajökull is Europe's largest glacier, and covers an area which is greater than Zealand in Denmark. The result of the collected material is now presented in The Factory's spacious 1000 m˛ production hall, where Líndal's installation is stretched out between the corners of this substantial space. Strong, brightly coloured nylon straps, which are normally used to harness equipment on the expeditions, connect eight large white square blocks in a dynamic installation. The blocks represent the walls of a broken white cube - the dissolved exhibition space - while their white colour references the Icelandic landscape. At the core of the installation, videos are shown, consisting of images and sound recorded entirely during the expeditions to Vatnajökull. Cold Facts/Hot Enchantment marks a new phase in Líndal's oeuvre, in that this exhibition is the first large scale project, which she has realized, since ending her nine-year professorship at the Iceland Academy of the Arts. The exhibition reflects on the development, direction and journey of an artistic practice. The project is also borne of an interest in investigating the human quest for answers, and the need to understand the forces of nature.
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Stine Hebert - curator