FRELSI
Mirror, sandblasted text, size 1740 x 1170 mm
Midbaugur og Kringla; Leisure, Administration & Control
Public Art Project in Reykjavik, Iceland
2007
The mirror was made for an advertisement sign in the downtown area of Reykjavik. The word “frelsi” was sandblasted on the mirror; it means freedom in Icelandic. Frelsi is also an Icelandic pre-paid phone card, which is widely advertised in the cityscape by the local Telecom Company Siminn. Basically this company owns the word. The word “frelsi” in my work is mirrored; it belongs to the idea of the city, but not the city as itself.
“Midbaugur og Kringla; Leisure, Administration & Control” was a collaborative visual art project and exhibition with 11 artist from the 5 nordic countries, which took place in Kringla, the city mall and the downtown of Reykjavik, Iceland, in July 2007.
The aim of the project was to create a meeting where the artist came together and worked directly with two public spaces in the city; the old downtown of Reykjavik and the mall, Kringlan, which has been an integral part of Reykjavik’s landscape since the 1980’s, attracting more than 20.000 visitors (10% of the city’s population) daily.
Supported by Nordic Culture Point
Other participating artists:
Anna Lind Sævarsottir ICE, Berglind Jona Hlynsdottir ICE, Bjarki Bragason ICE, Conny Bloom SWE, Juha Laatikainen FIN, Lasse Ernlund Lorentzen DEN, Linda Nora Rogn NOR, Pilvi Takala FIN, Stine Marie Jacobsen DEN and Søren Thilo Funder DEN