The Living Art Museum

Profil

THE LIVING ART MUSEUM

The Living Art Museum (Nylo) is an internationally acclaimed venue for contemporary visual art in Iceland. This reputation is founded upon our commitment to the presentation of innovative work by Icelandic and international artists. The very distinctive character and history of Nylo have cemented it's reputation as a unique place to produce and experience contemporary art.

The Living Art Museum was founded by a group of twenty artists in 1978 and was the first non-profit artist-run organization in Iceland. Through the last 30 years it has stayed true to its original goals; to create a platform for progressive exhibitions and critical discussions on experimental art practice. The museum has given equal weight to work by international and Icelandic artists.

The Living Art Museum focuses on contemporary art with the aim of providing a base for artistic creativity and experimentation. Each year Nylo produces 6 to 8 exhibitions in the gallery space, but we also promote artistic expressions in various forms such as performances, screenings, and workshops to increase program variability. In this way, we opt to question and reflect on our current direction and activities at all times.

The Living Art Museum does not represent single artists, but it has throughout the years had an indisputable importance in promoting artists through a sympathetic and non-hierarchical relationship. Nylo is a small institution and that provides an important flexibility; we can constantly revise existing ideas and experiment with new solutions to try to find out ideal circumstances for the artists working with us.

In 2008 the Living Art Museum will celebrate its 30th anniversary. The anniversary program is constructed to reflect, reconsider and reinvent Nylo's history with the aim of shaping the vision for the future. The museum will be transformed into a creative classroom with extensive programs featuring lectures, research, and discussions. This year we will make the Museum's collection and historical archive accessible for the first time and by doing that we hope to strengthen the profile of Nylo within the international art community. There will be a pause in the regular exhibition program to create a void that will hopefully serve as a place where members and guests can research, reflect and rediscover what has been achieved over the past 30 years in Nylo.

Over the years the Living Art Museum has collaborated with a great number of art organizations (e.g. British Council, Mondriaan Foundation, Nifca, IASPIS, former DCA), as well as numerous museums and galleries. Nylo is supported and funded by the members of the Living Art Museum, The Ministry of Education, Science and Culture, Reykjavik City Council, Glitnir Bank and private sponsors.

The Living Art Museum (Nylo) is an non-profit artist-run organization that was founded in 1978 when two local artists, Níels Hafstein and Magnús Pálsson called for an open meeting of artists to discuss the current situation in Icelandic cultural politics. The founders of Nylo were a diverse group of artists at various stages of their carriers; some had been members of the SÚM movement and some were still art students.

In Icelandic, the museum is called Nýlistasafnið which can refer to either the museum being new or it being a venue for a new kind of art. This was a direct parody of the National Gallery of Iceland that was the only museum collecting and exhibiting art in Reykjavík at the time.

The Living Art Museum was founded as a non-political institution, but with a pronounced engagement in issues concerning society and cultural politics. The main purpose of founding a new contemporary art museum in Reykjavik at the time was to establish and introduce contemporary art within the local culture scene.

The Living Art Museum has functioned as a forum of possibilities for both art and reflections on society. The intention has been to explore various modes of production and display in order to create different forms of encounter between audiences and art. Nylo has over the last 30 years offered a varied program that has extended beyond art exhibitions, including performances, film and video screenings, live music, lectures and symposiums, poetry readings, and theatre.

Since it's foundation the Living Art Museum has been an important forum in the Icelandic art community for introducing, reflecting, and debating the role of contemporary art.