“We need more nonsense”

“We need more nonsense”

 

The world needs more nonsense according to Reykjavik based artist and musician Steinunn Eldflaug Harðardóttir.

The 30-year-old had a show in gallery cafe Bismut when we interviewed her in June last year.

“I’ve been making music, I’ve been in a rock band, a punk band and electronic band and I’ve been doing my art on the side. Now I’ve just had an exhibition in Bismut I’m coming into the art scene again, I’ve not been there in a few years.”

“I think it’s really important for artists and musicians to make their own scene and make things happen.”

Steinunn has been incorporating art such as images and sculptures into her concerts and in the past has helped co-found an artist run space in Reykjavik.

“If you wait until something happens then nothing is going to happen, you have to make your own opportunities.”

“I don’t feel part of the art scene, I feel I can do what I like, I’m not really thinking about what it means deeply.”

She told us that for her art does not have to be too serious.

“My art is not important, it’s just something to do, something I like, something beautiful, something to make you think, not political but more to get out of the mess.”

“Art does something new that has not been in the world, it makes the world a bigger place.”

“We need more nonsense, more things that don’t matter, not always to do things we can see the point of.”

She continued that in her view art is valued in Iceland but thinks some people are intimidated by exhibitions.

“I think people are interested and a little bit afraid of the art work or they don’t understand and feel they should go to school to understand, I don’t know how to fix that.”

Words by Beth Cherryman