Kristín Helga Ríkharðsdóttir: Data gígar / Data Craters | Þula Hafnartorg
Kristín Helga Ríkharðsdóttir completed her BA from the Department of Fine Arts at the Iceland Academy of the Arts in 2016 and her MFA in Fine Arts at New York University Steinhardt in January 2022. While Kristín was at the Icelandic Academy of the Arts, she went on an exchange program at the Universität der Künste Berlin, and later did an internship in Berlin in 2017. Since Kristín graduated from the Icelandic Academy of the Arts, she has been active in exhibiting both in Iceland and abroad. Her video works have won awards at film festivals and a music video by Kristín was nominated for the Icelandic Music Awards 2019. Kristín has participated in the work of visual artists, was on the deputy board of the Living Art Museum in 2018-2020, was among the curators for the exhibition series "Calm and Romantic" at Harbinger in 2019 and has been part of the Kling and Bang group since 2020. The exhibition Data Craters was largely created during her recidency stay at ISCP in New York in the summer of 2024 and brings us into a digital world of neon colors and earth tremors.
"When making the paintings, I use 3D software to create images that are then digitally woven and stretched onto a frame. I use acrylic resin paint to add 3D to the works, along with found textiles and objects.
I started this series of paintings in 2021 while I was doing my master's degree in New York. At that time, a volcanic eruption began in Reykjanes, and I was fascinated by watching it live and on the news. When I finally saw the eruption in person, I witnessed colorful, neon-colored lava flows erupting from the ground, forming a new mountain. The surreal feeling I experienced during this dynamic and transformative natural event inspired the paintings. The eruption reminded me of digital worlds, where constant creation and destruction take place – like lava flows rewriting the landscape.
Since then, I have been working on the series intermittently, as volcanic eruptions seem to have "part of Icelandic everyday life. The imagery of the works includes iStock images, mathematical symbols, lottery balls, references to landscape paintings and multiplicity. Small people are often seen in the images, looking at the eruption with adoring curiosity, as the eruption represents both creation and destruction."