Brauðrist, listavél

Sunnan sanda Ívar Ölmu Hlynsson BA thesis in fine arts - report BA thesis supervisors: Carl Boutard, Hekla Dögg Jónsdóttir and Sirra Sigrún Sigurðardóttir Report supervisor: Ólafur Gíslason Iceland University of the Arts Department of Fine Arts Spring semester 2024 This report briefly discusses a 16-credit final project for a BA degree in visual arts at the Iceland University of the Arts. It is prohibited to copy the report in any way without the author's permission. 1 Sunnan sanda The journey of the sun sorts and separates salt from the sea, and life from that which never lived. Energy radiates outward, travels between substances, leaving traces in friction, in heat. The wave strikes, turns, and retreats. In the tidal zone, it leaves behind remnants of itself. Veins, salt, and sand gather in piles, heaps, and mounds. A glimmer beneath the shore. Figure 1. South of the sand, overview of the insertion. My final project in fine arts for a BA degree. The work consists of four sculptures. Two of them have kinetic properties that transfer energy to the other two. All the works are made of concrete. I have long wanted to explore and examine the properties of concrete and finally seized the opportunity in this project. I wanted to mix the concrete myself, bought cement but stole sand from the beaches of Reykjavík. I set myself the task of altering the properties of concrete in one way or another by casting the works in context with different materials and placing the concrete in different contexts. The first of these four sculptures was composed of two cast slabs that Figure 2. South of the sand, section. 2 springs from an old mattress connected together. I found the movement very interesting and somewhat foolish, how the upper slab bounced and shook at the slightest touch. After this first test, I decided to try to move further in the direction of the foolish. I called the second sculpture "the beehive" because of its appearance. It was a lump of concrete on three wooden legs. Inside the lump was a motor that stuck up out of it and turned a cast inverted pyramid in circles. Later I built mounts for iron straps on the spring sculpture; the straps then scraped against the pyramid so the springs began to vibrate. Later I noticed that gradually the iron strap cut grooves into the pyramid and sprinkled sand on the floor below. I thus began to view these two interacting sculptures as a metaphor for natural forces, like the sea that cuts through the rocks or a kind of clock, an hourglass. I continued to think about these poles: time, nature, and the destruction of the man-made. I thought about the endless cycle we all live in. By chance, two interacting sculptures came into being. The first was originally meant to rock back and forth but due to its weight it did not budge. I made it with a simple negative wooden mold, and therefore it became brutal and thick with sharp corners. In its middle is a narrow cavity Image 3. South of the sand, part. which was meant to be a joint for the upper part of the sculpture that was never made. It was not until I started tinkering and then splashed water over it that I realized it was supposed to be a pond, a kind of sea, and it occurred to me that it would thus move without moving. I eventually poured it into a new mold that became the fourth sculpture. Its shape and appearance were made solely so that it could maintain balance against the movement of a motor that was on top of it. On the motor I tied a fishing rod which, instead of a line and hook, carried 3 cord and light bulb. The motor swung the fishing rod back and forth in a half-circle and moved the pond where shadows and light played upon it. The movement of the rod reminded me of a metronome, it counted the moments at the exhibition where the pearl rose and settled over the sea in the pond. The interplay of these four sculptures created melancholic characters. The rod swung foolishly fast. The pyramid rotated in the same way and shook the springs as well. The only stillness in the work was the pond, but the light played upon it in a rather chaotic manner. It surprised me how easily foolishness becomes dramatic and somehow more honest drama than drama itself. Something that is meant to be funny, strange, or silly, but is not, is so much sadder than something that is sad and meant to be so. When I felt the work was finished, I followed the advice of Sindri Leifsson and did not close the work process immediately. I allowed myself to enjoy the work and add to it if I felt it was the right decision. I took many walks down to the shore and gathered Image 5. South of the sand, close-up. there both further inspiration and objects to add to the work. I found a beautiful stone that I felt was missing from the pond and crafted a mount for it above the water. To the spring sculpture, I added two pearls. These two Image 4. South of the sand, close-up. In the work, I set the breaker as opposites to the concrete, the machines, and the industrial thinking in the work. The stone and the pearls then become a kind of magic, something inexplicable that is fun to find in the work. 4 In setting up the exhibition, I found it very important that there was enough space between the sculptures so that visitors could move among them, within the installation, and experience themselves as part of the whole of the sculptures. Ívar Ölmu Hlynsson Toaster, art machine Final Project for BA Degree Iceland University of the Arts Department of Fine Arts January 2024 Ívar Ölmu Hlynsson Toaster, art machine Final project for BA degree in visual arts Supervisor: Ólafur S. Gíslason Visual Arts Department of Visual Arts January 2024 This thesis is a 4 ECTS final project for a BA degree in Fine Arts at the Iceland University of the Arts. Copying the thesis in any way is prohibited without the author's permission. Abstract In this thesis, I trace a thread through my kinetic sculptures. Since my first semester at the Iceland University of the Arts, I have been fascinated by artworks that move and have worked extensively on their dynamics. At the beginning of the thesis, I discuss my work process, how an idea emerges from an experiment that expands and becomes more complex through the process that eventually becomes a work. Usually, the idea is not fully formed until the works are finished. I discuss how I work best when I can jump between my smaller projects, or media, work in different stages of a work, and therefore find it good to work simultaneously in as many fields within the arts at the same time, which often ends in a work that is a blend of multiple disciplines. Thereafter, I describe my works and compare them through a common focal point between them. I discuss politics in my works, compare them and connect them to political problems in the world and what impact they have on society. I compare articles and ideas of artists in relation to my own art-historical ideas and reflections. Finally, I present ideas about what I will do after school ends, about how I want to work on my own art while working with and for others on something artistic so that I can continue this coexistence of gaining knowledge from others and at the same time giving of myself.