Catalogue published on the occasion of an exhibition at Hafnarborg in Hafnarfjörður, Iceland:
“Looking at our connection to the world as a community of sentient beings will allow us to open various paths of investigation, whether it be the relationship between human and nature, human and culture, or human and human. The term sentient being allows us to abandon historically charged definitions, to think of personhood and humans more broadly. At the core of the concept, is an interrogation of the historical and social usage of a category of human, which concerns whom and what we consider part of a community. Hafnarborg and its history also provide an interesting context for such investigation, as changing the function from a pharmacy and chemist laboratory can be seen as a symbolic shift from healing practices based on science, namely chemistry, towards the spiritual and cultural agency of art.
This calls into question the tension between art and science, as approaching art as a cognitive capacity may allow us to comprehend that which cannot be captured by scientific reason – connections between worlds known and unknown. Extending our perception, the exhibition invites guests to sense a place or presence, pondering the importance of memories and different modes of communication, such as those mediated by technology, and bringing to mind the changes in Icelandic society, which is becoming more and more diverse. This diversity brings connection with other places, other traditions and different spiritual practices. Each newcomer arrives with embodied knowledge, a memory, which is a basis to encounter new, unknown land. Thinking of art as a vehicle to understand the invisible, to listen to undercurrents and reflect on them may then allow us to engage with various dimensions of what we perceive as a sentient being.”
With contributions by Agata Mickiewicz, Agnieszka Sosnowska, Andrea Ágústa Aðalsteinsdóttir, angela rawlings, Anna Wojtyńska, Dans Afríka Iceland, Freyja Eilíf, Gígja Jónsdóttir, Hildur Ása Henrýsdóttir, Hubert Gromny, Kathy Clark, Katrín Inga Jónsdóttir Hjördísardóttir, Melanie Ubaldo, Michelle Sáenz Burrola, Nermine El Ansari, Pétur Magnússon, Rúnar Örn Jóhönnu Marinósson, Styrmir Örn Guðmundsson, Ufuoma Overo-Tarimo and Wiola Ujazdowska.
With two texts by curators Gromny and Ujazdowska in English and Icelandic.
Japanese binding in soft cover, 19 x 15 cm, 152 pages, Hafnarfjörður 2021
