The Light of Day - Magma Works | Lawrence Weiner & Ragna Róbertsdóttir

About

Lawrence Weiner (b. 1942, New York), a central figure in the conceptual art movement of the 1960s, is considered one of the most important and influential artists of the 20th century. He drastically challenged traditional assumptions about the status and nature of art by dematerializing objects and reducing art works to ideas and concepts. His works are mostly language-based and often take the form of descriptive, typographic texts. He composes works that describe process and material, often evoking a poetic vision which unfolds the viewer’s imagination. Weiner first came to Iceland in the early 1990s when invited by Pétur Arason and has spent a notable period of time of his life there, creating works that correspond to site-specific natural phenomena and processes.

Ragna Róbertsdóttir (b. 1945, Reykjavík) is among the most well-known and respected contemporary artists in Iceland. Her main topic is landscape, which she encounters in an unconventional, conceptual and minimalistic way. Her material ranges from natural resources such as mud, stones, and sand which she collects from the countryside in southern Iceland, to industrial materials such as glass and plastic. Directly applied onto the wall and therefore corresponding to the exhibition space, these works not only quote the place of their origin but create new imaginary abstract landscapes. Róbertsdóttir examines contrasting characteristics of landscape such as light vs. dark, chaos vs. order, plenitude vs. emptiness, and translates them into her works.

Safn is the private collection of Pétur Arason (b. 1944, Reykjavík). From the early 1960s, when he started collecting art works, he was interested in both Icelandic and international art which followed a conceptual and/or minimalistic approach. In 1987 he founded his first gallery called 2nd floor together with the Icelandic artist Ingólfur Arnarsson in Reykjavík, to which he invited artists to create works in situ. Since 2007 Arason runs his space Safn (Icelandic for collection) in Reykjavík, exhibiting art works from the collection. Starting in Spring 2014, Safn Berlin will serve as a new platform for both Icelandic and international artists and aims to introduce the collection to a broader audience.

Safn consists of more than 1200 art works, including pieces by Carl Andre, Birgir Andresson, Bernd & Hilla Becher, Stanley Brouwn, Alan Charlton, Olafur Eliasson, Dan Flavin, Seal Floyer, Hreinn Fridfinnsson, Hamish Fulton, Franz Graf, Katharina Grosse, Kristjan Gudmundsson, Sigurdur Gudmundsson, Roni Horn, Alan Johnston, Donald Judd, Ilya Kabakov, Ragnar Kjartansson, Richard Long, Sara Lucas, Max Neuhaus, Ragna Róbertsdóttir, Dieter Roth, Karin Sander, Roman Signer, Richard Tuttle, Günter Umberg, Gillian Wearing, Lawrence Weiner, and others.

The Light of Day – Magma Works is curated by Katharina Wendler.