Fog Swept Cargo: First U.S. Exhibition of Contemporary Faroese Art Now On View
Featuring the works of seven versatile visual artists, the exhibition is on view with related programs through July 6, 2024.
April 13, 2024 - July 6, 2024
Fog Swept Cargo: Art from the Faroe Islands brings the striking diversity of the Faroe Islands’ contemporary art scene to the U.S. with works by Hansina Iversen, Rannvá Kunoy, Tóroddur Poulsen, Hanni Bjartalíð, Randi Samsonsen, Alda Mohr Eyðunardóttir, Jóhan Martin Christiansen and Steinprent studios.
RELATED PROGRAMMING
See upcoming Adult Art Workshops, Gallery Tours and more.
Fog Swept Cargo — Art from the Faroe Islands brings the striking diversity of the Faroe Islands’ contemporary art scene to the United States for the first time. The exhibition features seven versatile visual artists whose works range widely in terms of expression, media, and technique: from abstract painting and sculpture to figurative graphic art, textile works, and installations. Curated by Kinna Poulsen, the exhibition will also highlight the pioneering work of lithography studio Steinprent, whose atelier in the capital of Tórshavn attracts artists from all over the world for collaboration. This exhibition is presented in conjunction with Fog Swept Islands: Faroe Islands Culture Days, a special showcase featuring Faroese art and culture at Scandinavia House.
Related programming includes a series of Adult Art Workshops with Melkorka Helgadottir beginning Thursday, April 25 from 6-8 PM with “Fog Swept Manhattan,” in which participants will create mixed-media collages inspired by the work of artist Hanni Bjartalið. Our April 13 Opening featured a panel with artists Hansina Iversen, Randi Samsonsen, Jóhan Martin Christiansen, and Alda Mohr Eyðunardóttir, and Kinna Poulsen, moderated by Emily Stoddart, which is now available to stream here. The exhibition continues alongside other programming including in-person and virtual Gallery Tours, and Faroe Islands Culture Days also continues with programs including a Virtual Film Series (now through May 5), the upcoming performance “Songs of the Nordic Lands and Isles” with musicians Colin Levin & Evan Fein on May 17, and more.
In many ways, the Faroe Islands are a paradox. Though isolated in the North Atlantic Ocean, Faroese society has historically had an almost cosmopolitan character due to seaway connections and trade. Weather always has the last word when it comes to the daily lives of the Faroese, however, and the winds of change bring more than ships to the Islands’ craggy shores. Without an art academy in the Faroes, artists must travel abroad for a formal art education, bringing diverse experience and exchange back home with them. The entirety of Faroese art history spans scarcely 100 years. For most of the 20th century, Faroese visual art was dominated by motifs that favored natural landscapes and villages cast in mutable light, but much has changed since the beginning of the new millennium. Faroese art no longer consists solely of semi-abstract, expressive landscape renderings on canvas; today it is characterized by an eclectic mix of work.
Hansina Iversen (b.1966, Tórshavn; lives in Tórshavn) paints with multiple, interacting layers to build shifting organic forms and dynamic structures that vibrate with colour and light. Rannvá Kunoy (b.1975, Tórshavn; lives in London) questions the perceived hierarchy between paintings and their spatial environment, creating a beautiful, unsettling sense of motion reminiscent of the flickering on-screen effect made by vintage film projectors. Tóroddur Poulsen (b.1957, Tórshavn) is a self-taught poet, musician, and visual artist who lives in Copenhagen. His work combines graphic and literary expression to generate fresh—often satirical—reflections on capitalist society, nationalism, and so-called cultural norms. Hanni Bjartalíð (b.1968, Klaksvík; lives in Helsinki) works in a technically diverse range of drawings and reliefs, often chock-full of patterns and details—carpets, bowls, lamps, paintings, books—that serve as forms of contemporary memento mori. Randi Samsonsen (b.1977, Tórshavn; lives in Tórshavn) has worked with soft and round textile sculptures whose adorable clumsiness is so disarming that viewers often feel blindsided when they finally notice the artworks’ more ominous undertones. Alda Mohr Eyðunardóttir (b.1997, Tórshavn) lives in Copenhagen where she is pursuing an MFA at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts. Her work demonstrates a fascination with the tactile properties of materials often associated with Faroese culture and craftsmanship, especially wool. Jóhan Martin Christiansen (b.1987, Tórshavn; lives in Copenhagen) explores subjects such as how natural and man-made environments interact, queer body memory, the baroque, and pop music. He utilizes found objects as well as plaster, corrugated plastic, and scraps of building materials in his work. Steinprent (est. 1999, Tórshavn) is named after the Faroese word for stone lithography, Steinprent. Steinprent moved to Østrøm, a former factory building near the shipyard in central Tórshavn, in 2009 and has played a significant role in the evolution of contemporary Faroese art.
Fog Swept Cargo will open on Saturday, April 13 alongside a panel discussion with artists Hansina Iversen, Randi Samsonsen, Jóhan Martin Christiansen, Alda Mohr Eyðunardóttir, and curator Kinna Poulsen, and will be on view through July 6, 2024. It has been curated by Kinna Poulsen. Additional programs include gallery tours, adult art workshops with Melkorka Helgadottir, a Curator Talk, and a Virtual Gallery Tour.
Fog Swept Cargo is organized in collaboration with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Industry and Trade of the Faroe Islands. Scandinavia House is grateful for additional support for the exhibition provided by Ellen Braestrup Strickler and the Bequest of Birgitta Dill.
Hear Curator Kinna Poulsen on the artists and works featured in Fog Swept Cargo:
Image: Hansina Iversen, Purple Rain, 2023
ARTIST INTRODUCTION
HANSINA IVERSEN (b.1966, Tórshavn) lives and works in the capital city of Tórshavn. She studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Helsinki, Finland and the Icelandic College of Art and Design. She has exhibited extensively in the Nordic region and Europe, with commissions from North Atlantic House, Copenhagen, Hotel Føroyar, Faroe Islands, and recipient of the Faroese Culture Prize, 2022.
RANNVÁ KUNOY (b.1975, Tórshavn) lives and works in London. She earned a degree in fine art painting from the Royal College of Art. She has had solo exhibitions at Nathalie Karg Gallery, New York; Lundgren Gallery, Mallorca; Stigter Van Doesburg, Amsterdam; and is featured in the Saatchi Collection, among others.
TÓRODDUR POULSEN (b.1957, Tórshavn) is a self-taught poet, musician, and visual artist who lives in Copenhagen. Poulsen’s long-standing collaboration with Steinprent has produced hundreds of lithographs, not to mention other graphic works, that have exerted an inestimable influence on contemporary Faroese art.
HANNI BJARTALÍÐ (b.1968, Klaksvík) attended art school in Finland and currently lives in Helsinki. He has exhibited across the Nordic region, with exhibitions at the National Gallery of the Faroe Islands, Tórshavn; North Atlantic House, Copenhagen; Gallery Kapriisi, Tampere; and Gallery 12, Kuopio. His work is included in the The National Gallery of Faroe Islands, Birmingham Art Museum UK, and K.H.Renlund Museum Finland.
RANDI SAMSONSEN (b.1977, Tórshavn) lives in the capital city of Tórshavn. She earned an MFA in design from Design School Kolding in Denmark. She has exhibited widely across the Nordic region, Canada, Germany, and the United States. She won the Juror’s Award at Design TO in Toronto, Canada, and her work can be found in the collection of the National Gallery of the Faroe Islands.
ALDA MOHR EYÐUNARDÓTTIR (b.1997, Tórshavn) lives in Copenhagen where she is pursuing an MFA at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts. Last year, she was enrolled in the Interdisciplinary Art and Theory Program in Manhattan, New York, as well as the Fondazione Studio Rizoma mentorship program in Palermo, Italy. She has been featured in several exhibitions in the Faroe Islands, Denmark, Iceland, and Finland. Her work is represented in the collection of the National Gallery of the Faroe Islands.
JÓHAN MARTIN CHRISTIANSEN (b.1987, Tórshavn) lives in Copenhagen. He earned his MFA in visual arts from Malmö Art Academy in Sweden and primarily works with sculptures and installations. His work was recently featured in Down North – North Atlantic Triennial, Portland Art Museum, USA; Reykjavik Art Museum, Ísland; Bildmuseet, Svøríki.
STEINPRENT (est. 1999, Tórshavn) is named after the Faroese word for stone lithography, Steinprent. The Lithographic Workshop of the Faroe Islands was originally located on the premises of the National Gallery. Steinprent moved to Østrøm, a former factory building near the shipyard in central Tórshavn, in 2009 and has played a significant role in the evolution of contemporary Faroese art. The gallery and workshop are operated by lithographer Jan Andersson and graphic artist Fríða Matras Brekku alongside Louise Aakerman-Nielsen and Mikkjal Andersson. The professional skills and hospitality of Steinprent’s staff have made the workshop an immensely popular place for artists from all over the world to mingle and experiment.
Curator KINNA POULSEN (b. 1968, Tórshavn) works as a teacher, curator, critic, and published writer in the Faroe Islands. She has curated more than 70 art exhibitions and writes articles and reviews on a regular basis. For 10 years she has managed the Faroese art site listaportal.com, primarily dedicated to art in the Faroe Islands which has been her focus for almost 30 years.
FAROE ISLANDS CULTURE DAYS — THIS SPRING AT SCANDINAVIA HOUSE
This spring, ASF presents “Fog Swept Islands: Faroe Islands Culture Days,” a major celebration of the North Atlantic archipelago!
Fog Swept Cargo is curated by Kinna Poulsen and organized by Scandinavia House in collaboration with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Industry and Trade of the Faroe Islands. Scandinavia House is grateful for additional support for the exhibition provided by Ellen Braestrup Strickler and the Bequest of Birgitta Dill.
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FAROE ISLANDS CULTURE DAYS — THIS SPRING AT SCANDINAVIA HOUSE
This spring, ASF presents “Fog Swept Islands: Faroe Islands Culture Days,” a major celebration of the North Atlantic archipelago!