This exhibition features contemporary works in various media that can be classified as an art genre called still life. The subject matter of these works is everyday things, which serve as a reminder of the beauty and transience of life. This branch of art history has existed alongside humanity for centuries, but gained and lost popularity and recognition according to the zeitgeist of each era. The first still life paintings are believed to be ancient Egyptian, from around the 15th century BC. They were painted on the walls of tombs, depicting meat, fish, and grain, believed to be useful to the deceased in the afterlife. During the golden age of Dutch painting in the 16th and 17th centuries, still life paintings became commonplace. Originally, as a means of artistic training in the catching of shadow and light, as well as aesthetics and composition. As time went on, such works were often used for the benefit of the church and were loaded with meaningful symbols intended to evoke the fear of God and remind us of the transience and futility of earthly existence. To this day, still life paintings have developed within all movements of art, impressionism, expressionism, cubism, futurism, dadaism, as well as surrealism, and helped open up the possibilities toward abstraction. Media such as photography and video have been part of still life's discourse, but no matter the medium, these works have remained a strong source of information about everyday life and the parts of history rarely depicted. Commissariat : Ingibjörg Jónsdóttir

Still Life, exposition collective, commissariat: Ingibjörg Jónsdóttir, Berg Contemporary, 06.06-09.08.2025

Artistes participant.e.s:
Dieter Roth
Haraldur Jónsson
Hákon Bragasonbr
Katrín Elvarsdóttir
Páll Haukur
Rósa Gísladóttir
Steina & Woody Vasulka

Vues d'exposition: courtesy de BERG Contemporary, photographe Vigfús Birgisson