Magnús Pálsson

Magnús Pálsson (* 1929 in Austurland ) is an Icelandic conceptual artist . Magnús Pálsson is one of the most renowned Icelandic avant-garde artists.

life and work

Magnús Pálsson was born in 1929 in the east of Iceland. He studied stage design and art in the early 1950s. As one of the first visual artists, he sought contact with the emerging musicians of Icelandic punk and experimental music in the early 80s . He belongs to the Fluxus movement and made a contribution to Concrete Poetry . Magnús Pálsson made connections between the visual arts and theater , radio drama and film . He made a name for himself with three-dimensional works, as a sound poet and as a performance artist . He is one of the most influential art professors in Iceland.

"When the feeling of friendship between people disappears from art, something is lost ... All the same, we cannot rule out that there are people who isolate themselves, who can't or don't want to take part in this kind of collaboration of giving and taking ideas and creative inspiration. The best of them, however, are of course very generous, because if they create their works in isolation, they give them out very generously. But artists are too stingy with comments and praise of each other's work. "

- Magnús Pálsson

Magnús Pálsson has been working as a sculptor since the late 1960s and the early 1970s, preferably with plaster of paris to make the invisible visible. He focused on "impossible subjects" like the plaster cast of the empty space between things. The idea of ​​the opposites of a positive and a negative reality was the basis of the concept, it put phenomena with a positive value in relation to other phenomena and their surroundings with a negative value. As a sculptor , he forms negative spaces and lets ephemeral moments freeze in plaster of paris.

"Artists are doing the impossible all the time, creating things of great value without having any resources. I can say that I have created valuable things, maybe, for no money at all. I think that's the genius of the artist. "

- Magnús Pálsson

In 1977 Magnús Pálsson participated in documenta 6 in Kassel. In 1980 Magnús Pálsson represented Iceland at the 37th Venice Biennale. He exhibited in the Danish pavilion with Bjørn Nørgaard and Per Kirkeby . The seconds before the Sikorsky helicopter lands from 1976 was shown on the meadow in front of the Danish pavilion. The empty space between the landing device , the fixed, three-legged landing gear of a Sikorsky helicopter and the landing pad , seconds before landing, became a work of art.

Gradually, Magnús Pálsson withdrew from working with plaster and devoted himself to sound , action and performance.

In 1994 a retrospective was held at the Reykjavík Art Museum . The catalog published for the exhibition offers an overview of Magnús Pálsson's complete works.

Magnús Pálsson lives in Helgafell í Mosfellssveit .

performance

"The artist saw how absurd it was that a person made of marble was perceived as a sculpture but a person of flesh and blood wasn't. And maintained: I am a sculpture. When I move I am a mobile sculpture, when I make a sound I am a sound sculpture. "

- Magnús Pálsson

• Burst Eardrum, Left Side premiered at the Icelandic National Theater in 1991 .
• Cross was shown at the 1996 Roskilde Festival in Denmark .
• Threefold Magic, Giantfriendly this performance deals with the fact that things happen outside of our field of perception. The premiere took place in 2000.
• Dreams 2008 at the Crystal Ball Berlin gallery (with Rod Summers and Tom Winter)

Cooperation with Dieter Roth

• 1961: Founding of the Kùlan furniture store in Reykjavík together with Dieter Roth and Manfred Vilhjalmsson and "modellbau (with Dieter Roth)".
• 1978: Founding of the Living Art Museum (Nýló) with Dieter Roth. Inspired by the Fluxus movement, this museum offered an alternative to the classical art museum .

literature

• Dogbook, Magnús Pálsson, Stuttgart, Edition Hansjörg Mayer 1973

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ELAA European Live Art Archive: Magnús Pálsson , accessed on November 28, 2014 (English).
2. ↑ ^{a b} List 11: The Less Material, the More Noble: Magnús Pálsson: An Icelandic Pioneer and Teacher ( Memento of the original from 23 September 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. accessed on November 28, 2014 (English) 
3. ↑ Reykjavík Art Museum ( Memento from September 15, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
4. ^ Gallery Crystal Ball Berlin: Magnús Pálsson - Dreams 13/09/2008 , accessed on December 2, 2014.
5. ^ Dieter Roth Foundation 1960 to 1964 Iceland , accessed November 30, 2014.

Note: Icelanders are referred to by their first name or first and last name, but not just their surname. Further information can be found under Icelandic personal name .