Hlynur Hallsson

Hlynur Hallsson's works are a series of murals each consisting of text, three different statements on the same theme. Although the theme recurs in each mural, the statements are drawn from different contexts and have slightly different nuances. So the same work speaks of a theme in three different ways, and in three different languages.

Biography

HLYNUR HALLSSON (1968, Iceland) lives and works in Iceland and Germany. Language and communication play an essential roles in his practice as an artist and curator, and in his work, which moves across mediums, from installation to photography. Through conceptual and purposeful multilingualism, Hallsson explores the semantic difficulties of communication surrounding a work of art and the cultural preconditions of, and multifarious opportunities for, interpretation. He has exhibited and completed curatorial work at Kunstraum München, Reykjavík Art Museum, The Living Art Museum, Reykjavík, Chinati Foundation, Locker Plant, Marfa, Texas, Overgaden, Copenhagen and is represented by Kuckei + Kuckei gallery, Berlin.

Essays

Seven writers have been invited to write on the work of Hlynur Hallsson for osloBIENNALEN FIRST EDITION.

Markús þór Andrésson is a curator based in Reykjavík, and Chief Curator at the Reykjavík Art Museum. He writes about Hlynur Hallsson’s text based work.

Read the essay here:
ON THE WORK OF HLYNUR HALLSSON

Æsa Sigurjónsdóttir is an Associate Professor in Art History and Art Theory at the University of Iceland and freelance curator. She writes about the work Immigrants in Oslo on Sørenga Bridge.

Read the essay here:
IMMIGRANTS IN OSLO

Alexander Steig is an artist and curator.
He writes about the work The King of Norway at Grorud metro station.

Read the essay here:
ROCHADE

Einar Bjarki Malmquist is an architect, at Ola Roald Arkitektur in Oslo, and former editor of Arkitektur N, The Norwegian Review of Architecture. He writes about the work Minority Groups in Oslo at The Vigeland Sculpture Park in Frogner Park.

Read the essay here:
PRECISELY OSLO

Jill Maurah Leciejewski is an art historian based in Berlin. She writes about the work This is Oslo located on an electricity mast at Bjerke.

Read the essay here:
THIS IS OSLO

Kristin Kjartansdóttir is a social historian, freelance writer and manager of the cultural spot Flora in North Iceland. She writes about the work The Mayor of Oslo.

Read the essay here:
THE MAYOR OF OSLO

Kari Ósk Grétudóttir Ege is an Icelandic/Norwegian visual artist and writer based in Oslo. She writes about the work The Vigeland Park at Huk, Bygdøy.

Read the essay here:
THE FENG SHUI PROBLEM

You can read all the essays collected here,
or in the publication October 2019.