Electronic Intimacy – International Video Art on TV

Its Time for a Second Round of Night Transmissions

For a two-week period, during the typically unprogrammed hours at the end of the major local television station’s evening broadcast, video art will be shown in the sheltering environment of the Icelandic winter darkness. The first round aired in 2014 showcased a diverse range of Icelandic video art, this time there is a more international approach.

At the height of winter, from a new moon to a full moon; February 8—22, every night from approximately 1:30 am until morning, video art will be screened on Icelandic National Television. The videos chosen for the program, created by an international and intergenerational group of artists, display a diversity of approaches to investigating the intimate physical relationship between the television broadcast and the viewer.

Accentuated by the context of viewing the works within the comfort of one’s own home, and during the wee hours of the night, these works pull viewers into close proximity with images on screen.

The television monitor, a fixture within the contemporary domestic environment, can bear resemblance to another body in the room—manipulating our senses through images and sounds and engaging provocatively with surreal aspects of meaning. With the advent of smartphones, iPads, and other portable electronic devices, and their subsequent proliferation in our surroundings, the relationship between images transmitted through these personal machines and our own bodies has become increasingly direct.

Night Transmissions challenges and reinforces the role and responsibility of The National Broadcasting Service as it reaches broad audiences in their own comfort zones. Television sets and multimedia devices in nearly every home and work place in the country provide perfect settings for unique individual encounters with the videos on screen, and offer opportunities for an intimate experience of art.

With artists Dagrún Aðalsteinsdóttir, Helena Aðalsteinsdóttir, Rosa Aiello, Uri Aran, Peggy Ahwesh, Sadie Benning, Chris Burden, Xavier Cha, Keren Cytter, Zackary Drucker, Mariah Garnett, Ásdís Sif Gunnarsdóttir, Steinunn Gunnlaugsdóttir, Elín Hansdóttir, Camille Henrot, Emma Heiðarsdóttir, Katrín Inga Jónsdóttir Hjördísardóttir, Kolbeinn Hugi Höskuldsson, Loji Höskuldsson, Selma Hreggviðsdóttir, Stanya Kahn, Anna K.E., Ragnar Kjartansson, Kristján Loðmfjörð, Sara Magenheimer, Florian Meisenberg, Nicole Miller, Rosalind Nashashibi, Habby Osk, Agnieska Polska, Elizabeth Price, Laure Prouvost, Rachel Rose, Aïda Ruilova, Carolee Schneemann, Mary Simpson, Cally Spoonervand and Erika Vogt.

Night Transmissions is produced by Edda Kristín Sigurjónsdóttir and Ingibjörg Sigurjónsdóttir. Curated this year by Margot Norton, Associate Curator, New Museum, with a concept initially by Slíjm. The project is a collaboration with RÚV (Icelandic National Broadcasting Service) and Kling & Bang gallery, Reykjavík. With generous support from benefactors and The City of Reykjavík.