Hildur Elísa Jónsdóttir (she/her)
b. 1993 in Iceland
hildurelisa@gmail.com
Based in Reykjavík and Amsterdam
b. 1993 in Iceland
hildurelisa@gmail.com
Based in Reykjavík and Amsterdam
Hildur Elísa (1993) is an Icelandic artist, musician and composer interested in storytelling and creating engulfing experiences within spaces, often inspired by the mundanity of everyday life. In her works, she uses relational aesthetics and methods of institutional critique to interrupt and criticise normative narrative and show her subjects from a new angle.
Through a variety of media - performance, moving image, installation and music - Hildur Elísa employs normalised human behaviours and experiences in a critical way, displacing them into an artistic context. By placing these mundane, everyday happenings in unconventional and absurd scenes, she aims to challenge our understanding of our heavily constructed social reality, reflecting on our own ability to create new meaning and to forge our own reality - always asking ‘why’ and ‘what if’.
Hildur Elísa’s creative process is a balance between caprice and compulsive research. She is particularly interested in how we experience everything that happens around us, what of those experiences we have in common and where we differ and strives to create works that force the viewer to create their own meaning.
Through a variety of media - performance, moving image, installation and music - Hildur Elísa employs normalised human behaviours and experiences in a critical way, displacing them into an artistic context. By placing these mundane, everyday happenings in unconventional and absurd scenes, she aims to challenge our understanding of our heavily constructed social reality, reflecting on our own ability to create new meaning and to forge our own reality - always asking ‘why’ and ‘what if’.
Hildur Elísa’s creative process is a balance between caprice and compulsive research. She is particularly interested in how we experience everything that happens around us, what of those experiences we have in common and where we differ and strives to create works that force the viewer to create their own meaning.
Hildur Elísa holds a soloist exam on classical clarinet from the Reykjavík College of Music, a bachelor’s degree in Fine Arts from the Iceland University of the Arts, and a master’s degree in operatic performances from Sandberg Instituut. Her works have been exhibited and performed in Arti et Amificitiae (NL), Ásmundarsalur (IS), Kjarvalsstaðir (IS), Nordatlantens Brygge (DK), Outvert Art Space (IS), POST (NL), SIGN (NL) and Y Gallery (IS), as well as at Gaudeamus Muziekweek (NL), Grachtenfestival (NL), Nordic Music Days (UK), November Music (NL), O. Festival for Opera. Music. Theatre (NL), Opera Forward Festival (NL), Platform Nord (NO), Rewire (NL), Sounds of Music (NL), Tokyo Biennale (JP) and Ung Nordisk Musik, and been performed by, among others, Antti Tolvi, Bryndís Guðjónsdóttir, Juho Myllylä, Jónas Ásgeir Ásgeirsson and K!ART Ensemble, and with Sinfonia Nord and Scotland’s National Orchestra. Besides making her own work, she has served as a board member of the Association of Icelandic Artists and is currently vice chair of Ung Nordisk Musik Iceland. Together with artists Ástríður Jónsdóttir and Joe Keys, Hildur Elísa founded and runs Associate Gallery in Reykjavík, Iceland.
Photo by Bon Alog
Photo by Bon Alog