The Living Art Museum

The Living Art Museum (Nýló), was founded in 1978 by a group of artists to archive avant-garde trends and experimental art, which were largely overlooked by institutional authorities at the time.  Three years later in 1981, the gallery of the Living Art Museum was established. Since then, it became an accredited museum by the Museum Council of Iceland (Safnaráð), whilst remaining an artist-run institution guided by an annually elected board, establishing it as one of Europe's oldest artist-run spaces.  Nýló currently operates from two locations: Marshallhúsið - Grandagarður 20, being the gallery space with an ambitious calendar of exhibitions and events and Völvufell 13-21 in Breiðholt, which serves as its archival hub. The museum remains committed to its founding principles, of preserving and supporting ongoing experimentation and fostering critical discussion. The museum's collection, built through donations from members and benefactors, now includes over 3,000 works by both Icelandic and international artists, spanning from the mid-20th century to the present. Featuring significant works by key figures who shaped the Icelandic cultural scene. The collection is also home to the archive of Artist-Run initiatives, which documents the histories of artist-run spaces across Iceland, both active and defunct, such as Gallerí Súm, Gallerí Suðurgata 7, and Kling og Bang. This sits alongside the Performance Art Archive, which undertakes the challenging task of documenting the ephemeral nature of performance art, a field in which Nýló played a pivotal role during the 1980s. The archives at Völvufell are accessible to researchers, artists, and the general public by appointment.