traces (of the entrance, the archive, the lighting, the window, the wire, the exit), 2018
site-specific temporary tattoos
Comissioned by Nýlistasafnið/The Living Art Museum for their 40th Anniversary exhibition,
Pressure of the Deep/Djúpþrýstingur
This edition of temporary tattoos is inspired by various structures, forms and colours found within the current Nýló exhibition space. They suggest a collectively performative action, but the work also takes its form sculpturally. Rather than altering the space itself, this work offers the space to the visitors, allowing them to take a piece of Nýló away (if they choose to).
The action of putting on the temporary tattoos is both personal and collective. Though their presentation is minimal in scale, this piece spans as far as the audience does. If the tattoo is saved, it never fully becomes anything. If it’s used, it lasts on the body temporarily then is gone forever.
This work was first made for
Hvolfspegill at the Sigurjóns Ólafsson Museum.