Íslenska teiknisetrið
Hidden Paths
20–24.11.2025
Opening, Thursday, 20–24.11..2025, 5–8 PM
Regular opening hours, Saturday, 22.10.2025, Sunday, 23.10.2025, 1–4 PM
Hafnar.haus, Tryggvagata 17, entrance a, second floor
show
Hidden Paths is a group exhibition curated by Íslenska Teiknisetrið that explores drawing in an expanded sense - with works in non-traditional media that share formal qualities of conventional drawings, such as linework, the leveraging of space, and a sense of searching. In many of the works, the drawn elements in this exhibition reveal themselves through the physicality of the materials themselves that the artists chose to work with. The exhibition includes Arisa Purkpong, Brák Jónsdóttir, Deepa R. Iyengar, Logi Leó Gunnarsson, and Boaz Yosef Friedman.
artists
Íslenska Teiknisetrið is a non-profit collective that aims to promote drawing in Iceland both historically and contemporaneously. The group works as guest curators, organizing exhibitions, organising publications, workshops, seminars and lectures. By shining a spotlight on the medium the aim is to increase visibility of practitioners, create opportunities, and also raise awareness of how drawing has been used, past and present, in Iceland. Founded in 2022, Teiknisetrið is run by Karólína Rós Ólafsdóttir, Odda Júlía Snorradóttir and Boaz Yosef Friedman.
Arisa Purkpong is a visual artist and film programmer based in Oslo. In their practice, they work with video, photography, graphics, and text, which they collage into films, installations, and publications. By juxtaposing personal memories with cultural memories, they critically examine hegemonic narrative forms. In their programming, they highlight marginalized voices to create spaces for international and intergenerational exchange. Purkpong has previously exhibited at Pachinko (NO, 2023), Trafo Kunsthall (NO, 2023), Sammlung Philara (DE, 2021/22), and organized screenings in collaboration with feminist elsewheres collective at the Academy of Fine Arts (HFBK) Hamburg (DE, 2025), Maysles Documentary Center ( US, 2025), and Arsenal, Institut für Film- und Videokunst (DE, 2023), among others.
Brák Jónsdóttir (b. 1996 in Iceland) completed her B.A. fine art studies at Iceland University of the Arts in 2021 and is currently studying M.A. fine art at Bergen Art Academy. Brák’s sculptural works embody an interplay of prehistoric themes, reimagined within a futuristic context. Through her sculptural installations, she crafts a narrative that breathes life into extinct creatures and otherworldly beings. The tension between the artificial and the organic is a prominent feature of her work, creating an initial sense of dismay that gradually gives way to feelings of tenderness, sensitivity, and even humor. She is interested in installations functioning as unique ecosystems, prompting questions about existence and encouraging the audience to reconsider their relationship with the environment.
Deepa R. Iyengar is driven to explore what we cannot see. Gaps in space, time, and understanding can be pregnant with histories and potentials, context and productive power. Deepa gives her discoveries expression by whatever means and media are most appropriate. She approaches her work in the spirit of curiosity, spirituality, and as acts of care. Deepa holds an M.A. in fine art from the Iceland University of the Arts. She is a resident of Iceland, although originally from the U.S., where she attained an S.M. (M.Sc.) in Brain and Cognitive Sciences from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and a B.A. in Physics and Astronomy from Carleton College. Deepa has participated in solo and group shows in Iceland, the US, and Lithuania. In Iceland, she has shown work in venues including the Reykjavík Art Museum - Hafnarhús, Kling&Bang gallery, Ásmundarsalur gallery (as part of the artist collective D.N.A.), the National Gallery of Iceland (as part of the artist collective KRAFS), and The Living Art Museum.
Logi Leó Gunnarsson (b. 1990) graduated with a BA in Fine Art from the Iceland Academy of the Arts in the spring of 2014. His works usually take sound as their starting point. With his sculptures and installations he often works around the idea of a moment. That includes spotting a loop in a movement, isolating it, giving it undivided attention and shedding light on both the unexpected and the mundane. Recent exhibitions include Course at The Living Art Museum (2024), Until now, we have not deciphered the signals from these sound emitters at The Reykjavík Art Museum (2023), Rolling Snowball 15 at ARS LONGA contemporary art museum in Djúpivogur (2022), Ish at Y gallery in Kópavogur (2022). He currently lives and works in Reykjavík.
Boaz Yosef Friedman (b. 1994 Guam) employs a broad and experimental research driven practice, working with painting, drawing, text, sculpture and installation. In his work he dives into questions of aesthetic conventions and explores how constructs of taste can be subverted into new emotional experiences. Boaz has exhibited and published in group and solo projects in Iceland, Germany, and the U.K. He is a graduate of the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf and Slade School of Fine Art and since 2022 has been based in Reykjavík.