Otherworldly voices within the Reykjavik Museum
by Ava Palermo
Last month I had the opportunity to visit the beautiful and roaring landscape of Iceland, a faraway place shrouded in mysticism. Upon my visit to this magical country, I found myself within the hallowed halls of the Reykjavik Art Museum. Located in a striking former warehouse by the harbor, the Reykjavik Art Museum is Iceland’s premier cultural hub. The building itself straddles the past and present with its stark clean lines and industrial atmosphere.
Figure 1. Jónsi, FLÓÐ, 2023, audio-visual installation, Reykjavik Art Museum. Image courtesy of the Seattle National Nordic Museum.
One artwork there struck the chords of my heart and has remained within my subconscious since my departure from Iceland. Created by Icelandic post-punk musician Jón Þór "Jónsi" Birgisson, who is best known for playing his electric guitar with a cello bow, FLÓÐ (Icelandic for ‘flood’) is an experimental sound installation addressing the themes of rising seas and the relentless forces of nature. I was transported upon my first entrance into the exhibition, pulling back of a large black curtain and taking a tentative step into a dark room. The immersive artwork is accompanied by the hanging mist of lavender and sea breeze, the sound of water, wind, and human voices reverberating through the space. As the soundscape began to grow in its intensity, I was pulled deeper and deeper into a mesmerizing and unsettling rhythm, a homage to the delicate balance between the natural world and humanity. The sound originating from nature, digital processing, and human voice escalated all around me, flooding my body in waves, right down to the bottom of my stomach. I watched above me as a streak of light created a vertical movement across the length of the ceiling, illuminating the dark space of the room. In the light I could see other observers stand in awe of the exhibition that had now entered their reality forcefully. It was an escapist experience, as if the outside world ceased to exist while we were in this new time bending reality.
A view from Reykjavik, from the water. A reflection of the natural world and its forces as presented through the FLOD experience by the author.
As I took a place on the floor, the artist’s message began to stir within me. The gravitational forces of the sun and moon cause the periodic rise and fall of the ocean, a tidal rhythm that has been a steady force, unchanging for millennia. Yet today we experience an immense change in sea levels, a terrifying reality of the effect of our humanity on the natural world. Jónsi's FLÓÐ is meant to invoke a sense of human, primal emotion, hopefully stimulating movement in people’s actions towards the environment, and working more positively to impact the effects of climate change, as though these otherworldly voices present in the exhibition were speaking to us more than we may realise.
FLÓÐ fits particularly well within the setting of the Hafnarhus Reykjavik Art Museum. Located in a former warehouse, situated by the harbor, this site is a hub for contemporary artworks that aim to push the boundaries of pressing social, cultural, and environmental issues. The building itself with its industrial, hollow, eerie feel is the perfect backdrop for Jónsi's ethereal and thought-provoking installation.
Figure 3. One of the main rooms and exhibition spaces within the museum.
This installation of Jónsi's FLÓÐ is a stunning and impactful reminder of art’s ability to provoke thought, and shake us to our very core, hopefully resulting in the igniting of change. This was an unforgettable experience for me and is one that has lingered long after leaving Reykjavik Art Museum and the country of Iceland itself. It urged in me a new sense of meaning, of our connectionto nature and our collective responsibility to ensure its ability to thrive and flourish. The Reykjavik Art Museum is a place that challenges boundaries and inspires people in a way that transcends the ordinary.