HILDIGUNNUR BIRGISDÓTTIR

Born in 1980 in Reykjavík (IS)
Lives and works in Reykjavík (IS)

Hildigunnur Birgisdóttir brings together collected fragments, in an almost archeological dig of personal archives. Her practice magnifies absurd and often useless everyday items of mass consumption, presenting them in new mediums and scales in a sublimation of the banal. Continually questioning the relationship between perception and reality, the artist transforms small objects and plays with the notion of familiarity.

Hildigunnur Birgisdóttir graduated in 2003 from the Icelandic Academy of the Arts and from the Kuvataideakatemia in Helsinki. In 2021, she was included in shows at Iceland’s Reykjavik Art Museum; the GES-2 House of Culture, the V-A-C Foundation, Moscow, Russia and H2H, Athens, Greece. Her work is included in the permanent collections of the National Gallery of Iceland, the Reykjavík Art Museum, and The Living Art Museum in Reykjavik, among others. Birgisdóttir currently represents the Icelandic Pavilion at the 60th Venice Art Biennale in Italy.

COLLECTIONS

National Gallery of Iceland, Reykjavík (IS)

Reykjavík Art Museum (IS)

The Living Art Museum, Reykjavík (IS)

SOLO SHOWS

2024

That’s a Very Large Number – A Commerzbau, Icelandic Pavillion at the 60th Venice Biennale (IT)

2022

Peace, i8 Gallery, Reykjavík (IS)

2019

UNIVERSAL SUGAR, ASÍ Art Museum, Westaman Islands and Garðabær (IS)

2018

10 pieces for local nails, Staðir / Places Biannual, Westfjords (IS)

2017

TIME PASSES: Camera accidentally taking video instead of still pictures, Stairway, Vesturgata 7, Sequences Art Festival, Reykjavík (IS)

a, b, c, d, e & f, i8 Gallery, Reykjavík (IS)

2015

Presenting papers, ANNAELLEGALLERY, Stockholm (SE)

2014

Matinée, Sirka 1715, Reykjavík (IS)

[carpet], 002 Gallerí, Hafnafjörður (IS)

Selfsame (with Bjarki Bragason and Claudia Hausfeld), Hverfisgallerí, Reykjavík (IS)

2013

Nacho Cheese (with Anna Hrund Másdóttir), Kling & Bang, Reykjavík (IS)

2011

Nebula, Reykjavik Art Museum, Reykjavík (IS)

ASÍ Art Museum, Reykjavík (IS)

2010

Plenty, Mosfellsbær Artspace, Mosfellsbær (IS)

2008

Branch Collection, Reykjavik Art Festival, Safnasafn, Svalbarðsströnd (IS)

On the pointlessness of all things, Nýlistasafnið – The Living Art Museum, Reykjavík (IS)

2005

Round and Round II, Skotgallerí, Reykjavík (IS)

2004

Round and Round, Gallery Vesturveggur, Skaftfell, Seyðisfjörður (IS)

GROUP SHOWS

2024

more overall, Irène Laub gallery, Brussels (BE)

2023

Hildigunnur Birgisdóttir and works from the collection, Akureyri Art Museum, Akureyri (IS)

Kaleidoscpoe: Icelandic 21st Century Art, Reykjavík Art Musuem, Reykjavik (IS)

hvað var – hvað er  – hvað verður? ARS LONGA, Djúpivogur (IS)

Outside looking in, inside looking out, Singing Fish Circus Art and Literature Festival, New York (USA)

2022

Internal Clocks, Culterim Gallery, Berlin (DE)

2021

To Moscow! To Moscow! To Moscow!, GES-2 House of Culture, V-A-C Foundation, Moscow (RU)

PS:, H2HAthens (GR)

Abrakadabra, Reykjavik Art Museum (IS)

u’s, Badlands Art Department, Alberta (CA)

Góðir Gestir – group show with Icelandic artists, Cecilia Hillström Gallery (SE)

Iðavöllur: Icelandic Art in the 21st Century, Reykjavik Art Museum (IS)

2020

After all, Gerðarsafn, Kópavogur Art Museum (IS)

2019

Amy’s Donation, Listasafn Íslands – The National Gallery of Iceland, Reykjavik (IS)

2018

BÆKLINGAR, Open, Reykjavik (IS)

2016

(In)visible dreams and streams, Norden Office, Vilnius (LT)

Experiment – Clay and more, Hafnarborg Centre of Culture and Fine Art, Hafnafjörður (IS)

Infinite Next, Nýlistasafnið – The Living Art Museum, Reykjavík (IS)

2014

The Palace of the Summerland, Ragnar Kjartansson and friends, TBA21, Vienna (AT)

2013

Civilization – Monumental Materialism, The Colony, PS1 MoMA, New York (USA)

Works on paper, i8 gallery, Reykjavik (IS)

2012

Tómið; horfin verk Kristins Péturssonar, Listasafn Árnesinga, Hveragerði (IS)

2011

In Between, Hafnarborg Centre of Culture and Fine Art, Hafnafjörður (IS)

Somewhere along those lines, Reykjanesbær Art Museum, Keflavik (IS)

2010

Listveisla 1, Safnasafn, Svalbarðsströnd (IS)

2009

Fokhelt, exhibition in an unfinished “inflation” house, Breiðakur 17-19, Garðabær (IS)

Remains, Natural History Museum of Kópavogur, Kópavogur (IS)

2008

Drummsolo, Gallerí Kling og Bang, Reykjavík (IS)

Hills and valleys, outdoor exhibition, Skarðsströnd (IS)

2006

Færópró, Gjógv (FO)

2005

Nornir og föðurmorð, The Nordic House, Reykjavík (IS)

Cute, Nýlistasafnið- The Living Art Museum, Reykjavík (IS)

Cute, Lýsuhóll, Snæfellsnes (IS)