Fahrschule - Geöffnet
Örn Alexander Ámundason | Hildigunnur Birgisdóttir | Arnar Ásgeirsson | Una Margrét Árnadóttir
17.4. - 26.4.2026
Opening: Fri Apr 17 2026, 6-10 pm
Open is an artist collective and an artist-run space in Reykjavik run by the four artists currently working in HilbertRaum - an artist collective in flux. Open opened in March 2018 and has since run an ambitious international exhibition platform alongside an event- and performance program. They emphasise things that are needed now. Right now, they need to know what happened to Fahrschule Christian that used to be next door to HilbertRaum on Reuterstrasse 32. Where is it now? Why was the secretary so rude? Did people learn how to drive there? Possibly. The open collective has roamed the neighborhood of the past and present via Google Maps for a fleeting moment of inspiration. Fahrschule is reopened momentarily, navigating visitors through human existence.
Aspects that deal with the question of creative ownership, originality, the relation between high- and low art occupy Ásgeirsson’s practice. He wonders about reproduction and the differences between creating and copying.
Birgisdóttir uses human systems and interactions to create her artworks, harnessing the cultures and capabilities of manufacturers, fabricators, and commercial firms as part of her artistic process. She playfully subverts expectations of beauty, value, and utility, making clear commercial systems that are hiding in plain sight.
All these feelings and thoughts, which are existential to a certain degree, at some point suddenly, come together in an action or an object. Sometimes accidentally and sometimes after a long obsession of trying to make things fit together. Árnadottir’s work is focused, but at the same time it seems to have taken a step back to reconsider itself. There is something about this contrast between taking one’s own existence seriously at the same time as not. To admit to ourselves how little we actually know and how little we will probably continue to know but still stay curious – tempted to attempt.
Ámundason’s work often deals with the work artists have to do outside of their creative process; the CV, applying for exhibitions, installation of works and press releases. He addresses trends in the art world and unspoken things like networking with curators and museum directors.
Invited by Gunnhildur Hauksdottir