Atomstar

For PQ 2019 the Icelandic curatorial team has chosen to present set and costume designer Eva Signý Berger. Eva has a distinct but diverse style and the worlds she creates are exciting visual experiences. A profound sensitivity to texture informs her compositions on both the large and small scale. By combining this with the repetitive appearance of structural and moveable elements, a symbolic relationship between text and stage emerges.

For the Icelandic exposition Eva presents the collaborative choreographic and visual artwork Atomstar (Atómstjarna).Devised during the renovation of Ásmundarsalur, an iconic building in Reykjavík, Atomstar was a multidisciplinary experience where the body and movement were central. The human being was torn apart and sewn back together in different ways, shedding light on the multiplicity, dimensions, and dreams it contains.

Built in 1933, Ásmundarsalur was the residence and studio of two Icelandic sculptors, Ásmundur Sveinsson and his wife, Gunnfríður Jónsdóttir. From 2016 to 2018 the building underwent extensive renovations, reopening as a multi-functional art space, with Atomstar as its first event.

The Atomstar collaborators began working on-site during renovation, getting to know the building’s details and history. Delving into the core of the physical structure, they developed ideas and created artworks, video installations and performances. The designs and artworks were initially inspired by these concepts and questions:
– the infinitely large and infinitely small
– the human gaze, deep into space and deep into the body
– the similarities, repetitions and unpredictabilities found between these different universes.

The original conception was transformed contemporaneously with the building, its history, and the lives and work of its former inhabitants becoming an ever-larger part of the work, fusing with the original ideas and taking them in unexpecteddirections. A small universe was created, where the past and present merged. The different spaces were connected by sound and the movement of performers through the building. Coming to Prague, this work has undergone yet another transformation; it has been dismantled and put back together for another site. The performances have become installations. The work was a universe of its own; now it is an island in a multiverse of exhibitions.

Country/Region Iceland

Presenting Organization FÍL (Icelandic Actors and Stage and Costume Designers Union) and FLB (Icelandic Guild of Set and Costume Designers)

Curator Rebekka A. Ingimundardóttir

Curatorial Team Gabriela Juhasova, Rastislav Juhas, Petr Krusha

Team Designer of PQ19 exhibition: Eva Signý Berger, Creators of Atomstar: Jóní Jónsdóttir, Steinunn Ketilsdóttir and Sveinbjörg Þórhallsdóttir, Choreographers: Steinunn Ketilsdóttir and Sveinbjörg Þórhallsdóttir, Visual artist: Jóní Jónsdóttir, Set and costume designer: Eva Signý Berger, Composer and sound designer: Áskell Harðarson, Lighting designers in original performance: Guðmundur Felixson and Kjartan Darri Kristjánsson, Film: Director: Freyr Árnason in collaboration with creators of Atomstar, Film: Camera: Baldvin Vernharðsson, Film: Lighting: Pétur Már Pétursson, Performers in film and original perfomance: Anna Kolfinna Kuran, Díana Kristinsdóttir, Erla Rut Mathiesen, Ingvar E. Sigurðsson, Jóní Jónsdóttir, Saga Sigurðardóttir, Sigurður Andrean Sigurgeirsson, Steinunn Ketilsdóttir, Sveinbjörg Þórhallsdóttir,Védís Kjartansdóttir and Sigrún Guðmundsdóttir Costume assistant: Alexía Rós Gylfadóttir