Inside Out: Collecting on the Peripheries
Nordic House March 14 2024
The symposium was intended as an independent continuation of a conference held by the Icelandic Folk and Outsider Art Museum in 2018 at the National Museum entitled From Periphery to Centre. The emphasis in that meeting was on the development and status of folk and outsider art. Following that discussion, it became clear that there is a need to promote discourse related to the artistic creation of marginalized groups and artists who fall outside “big art history”. There was also a need to discover whether, and in what way, the collection policies of museums in Iceland uphold ideals of participation, diversity, equality and equal autonomy among artists. This symposium aims to pick up these threads and focus on collection policies pertaining to contemporary peripheral works.
If it was true in 2018 that the periphery of art was a relatively well-defined entity, which was approaching the centre stage to some extent, then we can say that today these ideas have become more nuanced. It is harder to spot where the centre stage of art merges with the periphery, or if these concepts are even still applicable. Today, there is a strong demand that the methods of collecting and programming take better account of the needs of different groups. This symposium set out to create a dialogue that looks at contemporary complexities, with a particular focus on the opportunities and challenges faced by small museums with specific collection policies and the environment provided for them.
The symposium is a collaboration between The Icelandic Folk and Outsider Art Museum, The Living Art Museum and The Nordic House.
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Speakers
Margrét M. Norðdahl Founder of Listvinnzlan, board member of Art Without Borders and former board member of the Icelandic Folk and Outsider Art Museum
Sigríður Regína Sigurþórsdóttir Collections Manager of the Living Art Museum
Elísabet Gunnarsdóttir Chairwoman of the Board of the Icelandic Art Centre and Director of the ASÍ Art Museum
Oddný Eir Ævarsdóttir Philosopher, writer and broadcaster
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Panel
Auður Jörundsdóttir Director of the Icelandic Art Centre
Helga Lára þorsteinsdóttir Head of Archives at RÚV, the Icelandic National Broadcasting Service and member of the Museum Council of Iceland
Sigurjón Baldvin Hafsteinsson Professor of Museum Studies, University of Iceland
Ingibjörg Jóhannsdótttir Director of the National Gallery of Iceland
Jóhanna Ásgeirsdóttir Artistic Director of Art Without Borders
Moderators are Sunna Ástþórsdóttir, former director of the Living Art Museum and Unnar Örn Jónsson, artist and board member at the Icelandic Folk and Outsider Art Museum.
