Please note that Hafnarborg will be closed for installation from January 3rd until January 13th. We would then like to invite you to the first opening of the year on Saturday January 13th at 2 p.m. In the museum’s upper gallery, we present the exhibition Tidemark, a retrospective of works by Jónína Guðnadóttir, and, in our lower gallery, Pointers, an exhibition of new works by Þór Sigurþórsson.

If you have business with the museum shop during this time, feel free to call us at 585 5790.

We apologise for any inconvenience caused by this and hope to see you at the opening.

This year’s Globe of Goodwill, WORLD, by Guðjón Ketilsson is now available at the museum shop. Each year, the Globe is sold as a limited edition, but in the last few years the Globe has sold out rather quickly, more often than not. All proceeds go to benefit children and young people with disabilities.

The United Nations Declaration of Human Rights covers this year’s edition of the Globe of Goodwill. The glass sphere is the scene of the human condition of grief and provocation that calls for a societal consensus to nurture a sense of humanity and its values in the face of a few but powerful forces. The Declaration of Human Rights is written in blue, intended to remind us of our globe, Earth, which is composed of 70% water, a similar amount of water to our human bodies.

The glass sphere is created as an art object now when 75 years have passed since the Declaration of Human Rights was ratified to enhance peaceful relations between the world’s nations. The Declaration stipulates human rights to which all people are entitled regardless of race, colour, sexual orientation, language, religion, opinion, nationality, origin, property, ancestry, or other circumstances. Therefore, the creation of the Globe of Goodwill has its source in common compassion, love of one’s neighbour and hope for more peaceful relations between nations.

Guðjón Ketilsson (b. 1956) is one of the most prominent and prolific artists in Iceland and the recipient of the Icelandic Art Prize in 2020. Guðjón has held over thirty solo exhibitions, including Jæja, a mid-career retrospective at Kjarvalsstaðir in 2022, and participated in group exhibitions around the world. His work can be found in all major museums in Iceland and in public spaces in Iceland and the Nordic countries. Guðjón has worked in equal measure at drawings and sculpture with an emphasis on craftsmanship. Through his work, he explores the human condition, the body and our everyday surroundings where familiar objects, forms, words or written text are brought to light in a new and often surprising context.

The Globe of Goodwill will be sold at the museum shop from December 7th until December 21st, or for as long as it remains in stock. 

For the past few weeks, Hafnarborg has been going through some renovations, as we have been installing a new lighting system in the upper gallery of the museum, as well as painting the ceiling of the gallery.

We are then delighted to invite you back to the exhibition Landscape for the Chosen Ones which will reopen to guests from today, Saturday December 2nd.

The participating artists are Arna Beth, Fritz Hendrik IV, Margrét Helga Sesseljudóttir, Sól Hansdóttir, Vikram Pradhan, Bíbí Söring and Þrándur Jóhannsson, but the exhibition also features works by Eiríkur Smith, Patrick Huse and Sigrid Valtingojer from the collection of Hafnarborg and the ASÍ Art Museum.

The curators of the exhibition are Eva Lín Vilhjálmsdóttir and Odda Júlía Snorradóttir.

The exhibition will be open until December 30th.

Free entry – everyone welcome.

The Art Council of Hafnarborg has selected the proposal submitted by Þórhildur Tinna Sigurðardóttir from those received during the museum’s open call for Hafnarborg’s next autumn exhibition, scheduled for 2024. The title of the exhibition is Unknown Benevolence, bringing together a group of women and non-binary artists who will exhibit new works alongside older works.

Unknown Benevolence is an excursion hoping to find a truth about the current moment and about art as a healing force, celestial power or even a message from beyond. The exhibition aims to create an organised yet organic whole in Hafnarborg that incites you to heal when need be and take charge when the time is right. Conveying a message of healing that sharpens the mind but softens the heart and nurtures a newfound strength to face hard facts, yet be soft and kind when need be to embrace ideas foreign to one’s own reality. All of this resonating inside you, a micro cosmos that itself aligns with the universe itself.

The exhibition hopes to conjure up healing ancient powers that have been in existence for longer than we could imagine, in order to face our shared history and challenging present circumstances. What the artists then have in common is creating works that speak to these healing forces or creating works in order to heal, which the curator herself likes to think of as presenting an unknown benevolence. The exhibition will take a closer look at this unknown benevolence, which is described by Þórhildur Tinna as being the undercurrent of reality or an energy that is ephemeral, but feels constant at the same time. Furthermore, this constitutes an expansive force in the universe, but also a subtle vibrancy that resonates within you. Always charged with the possibility of positive change and healing.

The participating artists will be announced at a later date.

Þórhildur Tinna Sigurðardóttir is an art historian, theorist and curator that is employed at the Icelandic Art Center. There she takes part in the organisation of artist-run biennial Sequences and the Icelandic Pavilion at the Venice Bienniale as project manager of international projects. She is one of the main organisers of LungA Art Festival in East Iceland, which is presented annually by a group of young cultural practitioners who are equally passionate about visual art and culture. Þórhildur Tinna received her BA degree in art history and theory from the University of Iceland and then went on to finish her postgraduate studies in art and cultural management at King’s College, London, where she focused on curatorial studies and art theory.

This will be the fourteenth exhibition in Hafnarborg’s Autumn Exhibition Series, where the objective is to collaborate with different curators, who get the chance to submit their own proposals, allowing new voices be heard. The Director and Art Council of Hafnarborg then review the submissions and select the winning proposal each year.

Please note that the exhibition Landscape for the Chosen Ones, which opened in the museum’s upper gallery this autumn, will be temporarily closed during the installation of a new lighting system in the space, from Wednesday November 8th.

The exhibition will remain closed until early December, but we will post an update on the reopening of the exhibition later this month.

The exhibition VALUE, featuring select works from the Hafnarborg Collection, will however remain open during regular opening hours of the museum during this period.

We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.

Please note that a workshop that was scheduled to take place on Tuesday October 24th has been cancelled for the Women’s Strike happening that same day.

A new date for the workshop will be announced soon.

Stand with women and non-binary people and let their voices be heard.

For more information on the Women’s Strike, see www.kvennafri.is.

Please note that Hafnarborg will be closed for installation from September 4th until September 14th. We would then like to invite you to the opening of our new exhibitions on Thursday September 14th at 8 p.m. Together we will explore Landscape for the Chosen Ones, Hafnarborg’s Autumn Exhibition 2023, curated by Eva Lín Vilhjálmsdóttir and Odda Júlía Snorradóttir, but this will be the thirteenth installation in Hafnarborg’s Autumn Exhibition Series, having been selected from proposals submitted by curators during an open call last year.

At Sindri Ploder’s exhibition, If I Were a Monster, in Hafnarborg’s lower gallery, guests will then enter into the artist’s own world of striking visuals, but earlier this year Sindri was named the artist of the festival Art Without Borders 2023. The exhibition is curated by Íris Stefanía Skúladóttir, artistic director of Art Without Borders.

We apologise for any inconvenience caused by this and hope to see you at the opening.

September 1st marks the beginning of a new concert season at Hafnarborg, featuring a host of outstanding musicians, as well as promising young performers. The Afternoon Concert series enters its fourth season with a concert by Kjalar Martinsson Kollmar next Friday at 6 p.m. and in the following week we welcome you to the first Midday Concert of the autumn, but the concert series has been part of the Hafnarborg programme since 2003, under the direction of pianist Antonía Hevesi. Later this autumn, we also invite you to attend a performance of contemporary music in the concert series Phonemes, dedicated to original compositions of the 20th and 21st century.

Concerts Autumn/Winter 2023

September 1st at 6 p.m.
Afternoon Concert
Kjalar Martinsson Kollmar and Band

September 5th at 12 p.m.
Midday Concert
Ívar Helgason

October 3rd at 12 p.m.
Midday Concert
Gissur Páll Gissurarson

October 8th at 8 p.m.
Phonemes: Remembrance
Berglind María Tómasdóttir and Júlía Mogensen

October 13th at 6 p.m. (new date)
Afternoon Concert
Hrafnhildur Magnea Ingólfsdóttir and Band

November 7th at 12 p.m.
Midday Concert
Bryndís Guðjónsdóttir

November 10th at 6 p.m.
Afternoon Concert
Los Bomboneros

December 5th at 12 p.m.
Midday Concert
Diddú

December 8th at 6 p.m.
Afternoon Concert
Kristjana Stefáns and Band

Please note that Hafnarborg will be closed on Monday July 24th due to necessary work on the drainage system of the building. We apologise for the inconvenience and look forward to welcoming you at the museum when this work is finished.

The museum will be open again as usual from Wednesday July 26th.

From its inception, The Hafnarborg Songfest has offered a master class for advanced singers. This year, the class takes place from June 19th until the 22nd, filling the museum with music and song for its duration. The class is held in Hafnarborg’s main gallery, starting in the morning and ending in the afternoon, so guests of the museum will be able to enjoy the singing practice during their visit of the current exhibitions. At the end of the course, the participants will perform at a special concert on Thursday June 22nd at 8 p.m. as part of The Songfest. This time, the instructor is renowned singer Kristinn Sigmundsson, with the support of pianist Matthildur Anna Gísladóttir, who will also accompany the singers at the concert.

For more information about The Hafnarborg Songfest, please visit the offical website at www.songhatid.com.