Casta diva – Sigrún Hjálmtýsdóttir

This month‘s Midday Concert can unfortunately not take place, due to current circumstances, despite the new guidelines for the ban on public gatherings that took effect yesterday. Then there will still be some disruption to our schedule here at Hafnarborg, mainly in regards to concerts and other big events.

Instead, we will continue to share things with you online, both music and art, and now we would like to share with you a wonderful musical piece, as renowned soprano Diddú, Sigrún Hjálmtýsdóttir, performs the aria “Casta diva” from the opera Norma by Bellini, accompanied by Antonía Hevesi, the artistic director of the Hafnarborg Midday Concert Series, on piano.

We look forward to sharing more art with you, both here on social media and in the real world, but the museum has now finally reopened its doors to guests.

Hafnarfjörður – Online Exhibition and Video Tour

In this video tour, Ágústa Kristófersdóttir talks about select works from the Hafnarborg Collection, all of which depict the town of Hafnarfjörður, though each in its own way. There, we see the town through the eyes of artists – including some of the leading artists of our nation – working in different times and in different media, such as painting, drawing, print and photography.

The works featured here are by Jón Hróbjartsson, Hörður Ágústsson, Nína Tryggvadóttir, Gunnlaugur Scheving, Greta Björnsson, Eggert F. Guðmundsson, Gunnar Hjaltason, Pétur Friðrik Sigurðsson, Jón Þorleifsson, Erla Stefánsdóttir, Árni B. Elfar, Spessi and Astrid Kruse Jensen.

In addition to this video tour, we have opened a special online exhibition on the website of Sarpur (only accessible in Icelandic, at this moment), where you can learn more about these works, as well as find information on other works in the Hafnarborg Collection.

Captions available in English and Icelandic.

De’ miei bollenti spiriti – Gissur Páll Gissurarson

On the occasion of the First Day of Summer, we share with you a little song, in the hopes of lifting up your spirits.

Here, Gissur Páll Gissurarson, tenor, sings the passionate aria “De’ miei bollenti spiriti” from La traviata by Verdi, with Antonía Hevesi, the artistic director of the Hafnarborg Midday Concert Series, playing the piano.

We wish all the friends of Hafnarborg a very happy summer and we look forward to seeing you at our museum in the coming months.

Silent Spring – Online Exhibition Tour

Ágústa Kristófersdóttir, Director of Hafnarborg, talks about the exhibition Silent Spring, by artists Hertta Kiiski, Katrín Elvarsdóttir and Lilja Birgisdóttir. The exhibition opened last January as a part of The Icelandic Photography Festival 2020 and the curator is Daría Sól Andrews.

In the exhibition, Lilja, Hertta and Katrín invoke a tender warmth towards nature, while calling attention to the effects of our wasteful practices on the earth. Working in the face of climate change, they then employ the photographic medium and a sculptural, sensory focus to environments which call for a nurturing attention.

The exhibition was extended until mid-May, given current circumstances, but since the museum is currently closed, we hope you will enjoy the exhibition here instead.

Captions available in English and Icelandic.

Una furtiva lagrima – Gissur Páll Gissurarson

Unfortunately, this month‘s Midday Concert cannot go on, due to the ban on public gatherings, but we wish to share with you a song instead, to brighten up your day, so shortly before Easter.

Here, Gissur Páll Gissurarson, tenor, and Antonía Hevesi, pianist and artistic director of the Hafnarborg Midday Concert Series, perform the aria “Una furtiva lagrima” from the opera L’elisir d’amore by Donizetti.

We are looking forward to seeing you again at our Midday Concerts in the near future – when this too shall pass.

Far – End of Exhibition and Online Tour

The exhibition Far opened as a part of The Icelandic Photo Festival at the beginning of the year, but ended last week due to a stricter ban on public gatherings. For that reason, we have taken down the exhibition, to be able to use the time and the space to focus on the inner workings of the museum, reviewing and reorganizing the art collection of Hafnarborg.

At the exhibition, works by artist Þórdís Jóhannesdóttir entered into dialogue with works by Ralph Hannam, an amateur photographer who was active in Iceland in the mid-twentieth century. Even though the exhibition may be over, you now get a chance to experience it online, through this tour, where Ágústa Kristófersdóttir, Director of Hafnarborg, talks about its foundation, the artistic process and select works in the exhibition.

We would like to thank everyone who visited Hafnarborg for the exhibition, while it was on view, and hope that everyone will enjoy seeing it here – both those of you who are seeing it for the first time and those who have seen it before. We would also like to urge you to draw inspiration from the artists’ approach and look for interesting angles in your surroundings, in your daily life.

Captions available in English and Icelandic.

Sarpur – Making Images of the Collection Available

Hafnarborg and The Icelandic Visual Art Copyright Association have now signed a contract regarding the digital publication of images of the museum collection in electronic databases.

This allows Hafnarborg to publish images of all registered pieces in the collection through the museum collection database Sarpur, granting the public more access to information on the Hafnarborg Collection.

Accordingly, we are working on making the images of the Hafnarborg Collection, which have until now not been accessible to the public, available through Sarpur.

Grants Awarded for the Year 2020

The grants awarded from The Museum Fund (safnasjóður) and The Visual Arts Fund (myndlistarsjóður), have been made known for the year 2020. Hafnarborg expresses its gratitude for the grants awarded to projects at the museum. From The Museum Fund, Hafnarborg received a grant for two projects: Hafnarborg and The Health Town (1,500,000 ISK) and Images in Open Access – a Contract with The Icelandic Visual Art Copyright Association (800,000 ISK). Work on both projects is already in progress.

In cooperation with The Hafnarfjörður Museum and others, Hafnarborg was also awarded with a special grant (öndvegisstyrkur) for one project: Collaboration on Museum Education – Policy and Implementation (12,000,000 ISK, over four years).

From The Visual Arts Fund, Hafnarborg received grants for two exhibition projects: Exhibition of Urban Soundscapes by Davíð Brynjar Franzson, Composer, Curated by Þráinn Hjálmarsson (300,000 ISK) and Catalogue for an Exhibition of Works by Þorvaldur Þorsteinsson, in Collaboration with The Akureyri Art Museum (500,000 ISK).

Moreover, the curators of the 2020 autumn exhibition, Becky Forsythe and Penelope Smart, were awarded a grant of 800,000 ISK for production of the exhibition The Wildflower, which will focus a futuristic lens on our human desire to know nature.

Grants, such as these, serve an important role in enabling the programme of Hafnarborg to thrive and have a positive impact on the community, with noteworthy projects, as well as providing a space for creative thought and expression to prosper.

Music Workshops – Tónagull po polsku in Hafnarborg

Hafnarborg and the town of Hafnarfjörður have lent their support to the project Tónagull po polsku (Tónagull in Polish), which will offer weekly music workshops for Polish-speaking children and their parents in Hafnarborg, beginning on Sunday March 8th. The project is also supported by the Polish Embassy in Iceland.

Tónagull is a research-based music workshop method developed by prof. Helga Rut Guðmundsdóttir, designed to fit the needs of infants, 0-3 years old, and their parents. The first Tónagull workshop was held in 2004 and they have been organized continuously since then, attracting hundreds of Icelandic families every year. The workshops take place once a week and have a playful formula, engaging musically both the toddlers and the adult participants. From the beginning, the material has mostly been based on Icelandic folk songs and nursery rhymes, i.e. the native language of the participants.

In 2019, the first Polish language version of Tónagull was launched. Preserving the methodic framework of the Icelandic original workshops and some of the original songs with translated lyrics, the workshops incorporate traditional Polish children’s songs, popular folk melodies and nursery rhymes. Tónagull po polsku immediately gained high popularity among members of the Polish community in Iceland.

More information on the music workshops, dates and time, registration and more, can be found here in Polish.

Please note that the workshops are temporarily off, in light of present circumstances.

      

Hafnarborg Receives The Icelandic Music Award 2020

On March 11th, Hafnarborg received The Icelandic Music Award 2020 for The Music Event of the Year (Single Event), in the field of classic and contemporary music, for the opening concert of the exhibition Phonemes, which was a part of the programme of Dark Music Days.

Hafnarborg would like to thank percussionist Jennifer Torrence, for an unforgettable interpretation of the works of Tom Johnson and Bergrún Snæbjörnsdóttir, and curator Þráinn Hjálmarsson, for his exceptional work. We also thank all the artists who took part in the exhibition and participated in the event programme connected with it.

It is not every day that an art museum receives a music award, but music has been an important part of the Hafnarborg programme since the early years. This award is an incentive for us to continue on this path.

Thank you all!