OCEAN GLORY | Video work by Hulda Rós Gudnadóttir presented by Accelerator

On Saturday, May 8, Accelerator presented the video work Ocean Glory by Icelandic artist Hulda Rós Gudnadóttir as part of a program of performances, screenings, roundtables, and workshops entitled Invocations, within the exhibition The Long Term You Cannot Afford. On the Distribution of the Toxic.

Ocean Glory is a 25-minute iteration created from research clips and experiments filmed about the environment, commissioned by Antonia Alampi from Savvy Contemporary Berlin.

Hulda Rós Gudnadóttir is a visual artist and film director. Although her artistic discourse brings up global themes, she always remains connected to personal experiences with an emphasis on her Icelandic origins as well as her nomadic lifestyle.

The artist’s works are the results of a long-term process based on in-depth research, interdisciplinary collaborations, and social engagement, through which Gudnadóttir traces the interconnections between current philosophical ideas, social systems, and perception of the environment. All this reaches the public in the form of large-scale documentaries and installations – poetic, but also humorous, experimental, and critical – or through more spontaneous mediums: single-channel video, performance, intervention, sculpture, and digital photography.

Artista Hulda Rós Gudnadóttir
Photo credit: Rut Sigurðardóttir

Ocean Glory is one such video work, part of a series of works born out of a long-term research project entitled S-I-L-I-C-A. Through different means of artistic expression, Gudnadóttir investigates the semiconductor manufacturing process for photovoltaic cells, which takes place on three different continents and involves mining, extraction, monoculture, coal burning, drilling for energy production, carbon dioxide release, and fossil fuel consumption in shipping.

Hulda Rós Gudnadóttir is currently enjoying a residency at the International Studio and Curatorial Program in New York with this project and is working on a feature film and a multi-channel video installation with the support of the Icelandic Film Fund and the Icelandic Art Fund. The launch is scheduled for 2024/25. Also, the next solo exhibition of new works from the S-I-L-I-C-A project will take place at Gallery Gudmundsdottir in Berlin in 2023.

Icelandic artist Hulda Rós Gudnadóttir has had solo exhibitions in institutions such as Berlinische Galerie, Reykjavik Art Museum, and Künstlerhaus Bethanien. She obtained residencies at the International Studio and Curatorial Program in New York (2023) and Künstlerhaus Bethanien (2018). Gudnadóttir has won multiple prestigious awards, such as the Gudmundu Award (2019) and the Skjaldborg Award (2016), and has been nominated for dozens of other international awards.

Screening is part of the Accelerator program. Mentoring and production for emerging artists, implemented by the Eastwards Prospectus Cultural Association, in partnership with Gaep Gallery from Bucharest and i8 Gallery from Reykjavik in Iceland, as an international partner.

Cover photo: Ocean Glory, 2019 HD single-channel video 25 min. © Hulda Rós Gudnadóttir. Courtesy of the artist.

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