Sirra Sigrún Sigurðardóttir graduated with a BA from the Iceland University of the Arts in 2001 and an MA in Art Practice from the School of Visual Arts in New York in 2013. She has participated in numerous exhibitions, including solo exhibitions at the Reykjavík Art Museum, The Living Art Museum, Hafnarborg, and Kling and Bang. She has participated in group exhibitions and projects worldwide, e.g., Chinese European Art Center, Xiamen, Amos Anderson Art Museum, Helsinki, Tate Modern, and Frieze Projects in London.
Sirra is one of the founders of the exhibition venue Kling & Bang in Reykjavík. She has received grants and recognition from the art funds of Dungal, Leif Erikson, Svavar Guðnason, Guðmunda Andrésdóttir, and Guðmunda S. Kristinsdóttir. In 2015, Sirra was among 24 international artists nominated by Modern Painters magazine as artists worth watching in the years to come.
Sirra's work often seems to find its footing on a thin line between art and entertainment, catching the viewer's attention without revealing careful artistic investigations into the color spectrum and principles of movement and space. Certain personal symbols, referencing art history, the artist's status, statistical information, scientific theories, and topographical contexts.
Sirra Sigrun Sigurdardottir
Laugavegur 132
105 Reykjavik
mobile +354 697 33 73
sirra@this.is
Education:
2011 – 2013 Art Practice, School of Visual Arts, New York, USA – MFA degree
2003 – 2004 University of Iceland, Department of Philosophy, Art Theory. Reykjavik, Iceland.
1997 – 2001 Art Academy of Iceland, BA degree, Mixed Media dep. Reykjavik, Iceland.
1996 – 1997 Icelandic College of Art & Craft, Reykjavik, Iceland.
Selected solo exhibitions:
2021
Ásmundarsafn, Reykajvik Art Museum, Iceland
2020
Ljósvaki // Æther 1.0.1. BERG Contemporary, Reykjavík collaboration with Selma Hreggviðsdóttir
Ljósvaki // Æther 1.0.2, Dahlhús, Gamla Barnaskólanum, Eskifjörður, Iceland, collaboration with Selma Hreggviðsdóttir
2019
Ljósvaki // Æther, Dahlhús, Eskifjörður, Iceland (collaboration with Selma Hreggviðsdóttir Residency)
2017
Teikningar/Drawings, Kompan, Alþýðuhúsið Siglufirði
2015
LA Museum, Hveragerði Iceland, (Reykajvik Art Festival)
2014
Flatland, Reykjavik Art Museum, Reykjavik, Iceland.
2013
Fractions, Hafnarborg,Museum, Hafnarfjord, Iceland.
2008
Uncertainty principle, Kling & Bang gallery, Reykjavik Art Festival. Reykjavik, Iceland
Basement, Torstasse 111, Berlin, Germany
2007
Fata Morgana, The Living Art Museum, Reykjavik, Iceland
2005
Movements, Kling & Bang gallery, Reykjavik, Iceland
2003
Installation Really /Alvoru, Art festival of Arborg., Selfoss, Iceland.
Mokuleki, collaboration with Erling T.V. Klingenberg, Skaftfell, Cultural Centre.
Seydisfjordur, Iceland.
2002
Senses of Balance, Kompan. Akureyri, Iceland.
Selected group exhibitions:
2020
Ein fjöl í einu, Listasafni Samúels Jónssonar,Selárdal, Iceland
2019
Inside the outside, Chinese European Art Center, Xiamen City, Fujian, China (3 months Residency)
Cheating the Constant, Berg Contemporary, Reykjavik
Criss Cross projects, Performance workshop Athens, Greece
2018
It is happening now, Safe house, London, UK
2017
Rolling snowball 9, Rúllandi snjóbolti 9, Djúpavogi
2016
KINGDOM – Flora, Fauna, Fable, Reykjavik Art Museum, Reykjavik
Trampa vatten | Veden varassa | By Water, Amos Andersons konstmuseum, Helsinki
Rotation/Hringrás, Berg Contemporary, Reykjavík
2015
Gáttir – Gleym mér ey, Listasafn Así, Reykjavik, Iceland.
Spectrum, Kunsthal Charlottenborg, København
Linubilun, Galleí Ekkisens, off Venue Sequences – Real Time Art Festival
Nowhere Else, Verksmiðjan Hjalteyri, Iceland
Doma, Sofia, Bulgaria
2014
Due North, Icebox Project Space, Philadelphia, PA. US.
Form, Listamenn, Reykjavik Iceland
2013
Another fourfold, Interstate projects, New York, US.
CIVILIZATION - Monumental Materialism, Colony, PS1 MOMA, New York, US.
Cypher, The Sphinx, New York, US.
Portraits, ASÍ Art Museum, Reykjavik, Iceland.
24 Spaces – en kakofoni, Malmö Konsthall, Malmö, Sweden
2012
Landmarken, (Two man show) Dorothea Schlueter gallerí, Hamborg, Germany.
Make a mountain out of a molehill, (Two man show) 68 Square Metres Art Space, Copenhagen, Denmark. (+ residency)
13th Annual Conference of the Dieter Roth Academy, Institute for (X), Aarhus, Denmark.
Place, displace, replace, Art Practice in Situ, (and curating) an exhibition in School of Visual Art's Gallery, New York, US.
Tremor, The Demented Diamond of Kling & Bang's Confected Video Archive, Reykjavík Art Festival,The Reykjavík Art Museum, Reykjavik Iceland.
SPRING/BREAK Art Show, New York, US
2011
The Space Between Now and Then, Galería OMR, Mexico City, Mexico
Trolley presents TJ Boulting presenting Kling & Bang presenting The Confected Video Archive, TJ Boulting, London, UK
The Big Picture, Nuna-Now Art festival, Ace Art, Winnipeg, Canada. (+ residency)
Perspectives - On the Borders of Art and Philosophy, Reykjavik Art Museum, Reykjavik, Iceland
2010
Tower of Now, No Soul For Sale, Festival of Independents, Tate Modern, Turbine hall, London, UK
Time, Dionysia international residency, Gallery Dynjandi Bildudal, Iceland
Acknowledging knowledge, LA Museum, Hveragerdi, Iceland
2009
Iceland meets Berlin, Emerson gallery, Berlin, Germany
Rainbow, Skaftfell Book Store, Seydisfjordur, Iceland
One month residency in Upernavik north west Greenland
2008
Sundogs, Truck Gallery, Calgary, Canada. (+ residency)
Sirkus, Frieze Projects - Frieze Art Fair, Regents Park, London, UK
2007
Islandia, Skolska 28 gallery, Prague, Czech Republic (+ residency)
Kling & Bang VS Torstrasse 111, Torstrasse 111, Berlin, Germany
2006
The Apostles’ Clubhouse, Reykjavik Art Museum, Reykjavik, Iceland
Glocal, Ground One, Festival Expo, Quartair Contemporary Art initiatives, Hague, Netherlands
6th Annual Conference of the Dieter Roth Academy, Gulangyu Institute, Xiamen, China
Idea of North, Saint Mary’s University Art Gallery, Halifax, Canada
2005
Patricide and Witchtime, The Nordic House, Reykjavik, Iceland
BerlInvasion - Berliner Liste, Klink and Bank Invasion, Old Vitra-Design Museum, Berlin,
5th Annual Conference of the Dieter Roth Academy, Reykjavik Art Festival, Reykjavik Art Museum
2004
Dreams of Dystopia KlinK and BanK, Reykjavik, Iceland. (curating)
Winter Mass, The Nordic House, Reykjavik, Iceland.
In between – among others, the Cube gallery, Iceland Academy of the Arts,
4th Annual Conference of the Dieter Roth Academy, Lubeck, Germany
Summerdays, LA museum, Hveragerdi, Iceland
The Garden, Klink & BanK, Reykjavik Iceland,
Vision & Sound, KlinK og BanK, Reykjavik, Iceland
I kolli minum geymi eg gullid, KlinK and BanK, Reykjavik, Iceland
In-novation, Ice-tech, Reykjavik, Iceland (curating)
Other art related projects & positions:
2003 - now Kling & Bang gallery: Founder / owner
2004 - 2005 KlinK & BanK artists’ base: Founder
2002 – 2004 Board member of The Living Art Museum
2006 – 2009 Board member of Sequences Real Time Art Festival
2001 – 2009 Museum guide and educator at Reykjavik Art Museum.
2009 – 2011 Public program manager, Reykjavik Art Museum.
2001-2002 Dieter Roth estate, archives
2004 -2005 Sheep Plug, Jason Rhoades and Paul McCarthy, production and performance, exhibition Dionysiac, Centre Pompidou, Paris, France
2005 Production of and performance in John Bock ‘s film Skipholt
2007 Installation of Steingrimur Eyfjord’s The Golden Plover Has Arrived, for the Icelandic Pavilion
2008 Sirkus, Frieze Projects - Frieze Art Fair, Regents Park, London, UK
Stipends and awards:
2006 Visual Artists’ stipend of Iceland’s Ministry of Culture: 6 months
2007-2009 Visual Artists’ stipend of Iceland’s Ministry of Culture: 24 months
2008 The Dungal Art Fund - Award
2011 Visual Artists’ stipend of Iceland’s Ministry of Culture: 6 months
2012 The Svavar Gudnason - Award
2013 Gudmunda Andresdottir – Award
2014 Visual Artists’ stipend of Iceland’s Ministry of Culture: 6 months
Membership:
The Living Art Museum
The Reykjavik Association of Sculptors
The Dieter Roth Academy
ICOM The International Council of Museums
Selected press and publications:
Modern Painters, 24 Artist to watch, December issue, 2012, p. 73
Perspectives - On the Borders of Art and Philosophy, Reykjavik Art Museum, Reykjavik, Iceland, 2011
100, A survey of younger international contemporary artists, author Francesca Gavin, Laurence King, London, 2011.
Acknowledging knowledge, LA Museum, Hveragerdi, Iceland, 2010.
Icelandic Art Today, Hatje Cantz, Ostfildern, Germany, 2009
The Apostles’ Clubhouse, Reykjavik Art Museum, Reykjavik, Iceland, 2006
P.s Postilla - A parallel study on Apostels, Reykjavik Art Museum, Iceland, 2008
Tivoli, LA Museum, Hveragerdi, Iceland, 2005
All to the boats, Skaftfell and The Living Art Museum, Reykjavik, Iceland, 2002
Uncertainty principle, Kling & Bang gallery, Reykjavik, Iceland, 2008.
Skaftfell a faeri, Roth-Verlag, Mosfellsbae, Iceland, 2002