A Turning Point for Reykjavík’s Art Scene

In Reykjavík the visual arts scene has a long-earned reputation for vibrancy, experimentation and an eclectic mix of artists supporting each other despite the small art market. From the tightly woven streets where i8 Gallery, The Living Art Museum, the National Gallery of Iceland and Reykjavík Art Museum stage international exhibitions, to the bustling artists’ studios expanding the limits of Icelandic contemporary practice, the city is a cauldron of artistic ambition. Yet, this seemingly fertile creative ecosystem is at a turning point.

Recent statistics underscore the fragility beneath Reykjavík’s energetic surface. Employment in cultural institutions has dropped 15.2 percent over two years, shrinking opportunities even as their overall income grows. Operating revenues rose from 6.2 to 6.9 billion króna (£41.9 million) between 2023 and 2024, but this has not translated into sustainable livelihoods. Instead, it has intensified competition for limited funding, exhibition opportunities and institutional support. For artists, this contradiction is felt in everyday terms: many are forced to piece together multiple part-time jobs, rely on short-term grants or work outside their field entirely. Sustaining a practice solely through gallery representation has become increasingly rare, and competition for limited opportunities carries a significant emotional toll. Long praised for its vibrancy, the scene has reached an inflection point, with too few viable pathways for artists to maintain sustainable long-term careers.

Mapping the Territory

Commercial galleries in Reykjavík function as important nodes linking the local art scene to the global one, with spaces like i8 Gallery, Þula and BERG Contemporary offering connections to international collectors and audiences. While these institutions can provide pathways to visibility, access often remains concentrated to selected artist rosters and immediate networks, leaving many artists at the margins. That said, international exposure is not solely accredited to galleries; it is also driven by artists themselves, who despite limited structural support actively initiate their own networks and opportunities beyond Iceland.

The small market enables close-knit connections but restricts reach and sustainability. Market dynamics further intensify these conditions. New research by Dr Emilia Telese for SÍM, the Icelandic Artists’ Association, shows that although commercial galleries play a role in visibility and sales, few artists achieve financial stability through representation alone. Conversations with local gallerists point to declining sales in recent years, echoing a broader cooling in the global art market. Reykjavík’s challenges are not only locally rooted but also shaped by wider international economic conditions, which artists must increasingly navigate using their own initiative.

Á milli, Reykjavík. Photo: Vikram Pradhan © Á Milli

Beyond commercial galleries, non-profit artist-run spaces, such as The Living Art Museum and Kling & Bang, are crucial to cultivating the scene. But there are huge obstacles in Reykjavík when it comes to creating new spaces that foster experimentation, community and risk-taking, filling the gaps left by larger, publicly funded institutions. Emerging practitioners are growing in number but spaces to support them remain limited. Some, including OPEN, Gallery Kannski, Garg bookstore, Bókumbók and Á milli, persist despite the harsh economic conditions, though such volunteer-run DIY operations have limited reach and sustainability.

Public institutions and the Icelandic Art Center (IAC) could help to counter these bottlenecks. Beyond exhibiting works and promoting Icelandic art abroad, they could serve as incubators for experimentation, unconventional practices and independent curators. Yet programmes remain, for the most part, fragmented, conservative and risk-averse. Awards are few, fellowships fewer, and artists compete for overlapping institutional opportunities and exhibition slots, which often circulate within a small insular pool of artists and curators. Better coordination between galleries, museums, non-profits and the IAC could expand creative possibilities through joint residencies, visiting programmes for early-career curators and alternative pathways for artists lacking commercial backing.

Curators are central to Reykjavík’s visual art ecosystem, but they also have to navigate a fragmented landscape, balance international ambitions with local constraints, introduce foreign artists to Iceland, connect Icelandic artists abroad and act as essential network builders. Independent curators, like artists, often work in precarious, project-based positions and have to compete for limited opportunities and deal with unclear expectations of their role within an institution. As KOK, the curatorial collective of which I am a member, has recently noted, the word for curator in Icelandic, sýningarstjóri, is closer to “exhibition manager”, leaving much of the curatorial labour invisible, especially within institutions. The lack of a coherent framework for curatorial inclusion has hindered both domestic and international visibility for Reykjavík’s artists. Structured support through fellowships, international programmes, commissions or awards could enable curators to contribute more effectively to expanding the international reach of Icelandic art. 

Promoting Systemic Change

Economic data reinforces the argument for investment in Icelandic visual arts. A 2024 governmental report indicates that every króna invested in the creative industries generates approximately three in return, with the sector contributing between 3.5 and 4.5 percent of Iceland’s GDP – comparable to the fishing industry – and generates tax revenue approaching the level of public funding. On paper, the case for supporting the arts is clear, yet this logic rarely translates into the daily reality of artists.

Reykjavík has a wealth of artistic talent, yet conditions remain uneven, unsustainable and often unprofessional, even institutionally. The challenge is not a lack of potential or production; rather, it is a misalignment between economic rhetoric and lived reality, between institutional capacity and artistic need, and between the perceived and actual value of artistic labour.

Kamilė Pikelytė, Woman in a Snake Garment Walking Her Exoskeleton bones, snake shed, cicada exoskeleton, date unknown (installation view, Bókumbók). Photo: Kristín Karólína Helgadóttir and Tara Njála Ingvarsdóttir © the artist and Bókumbók. Courtesy Bókumbók, Iceland

Unprofessionalism remains a significant barrier, but it is also a symptom of a broader structural hesitation within the field. The pace and volume of artistic production are not the problem; the system’s capacity to support it is. Across the ecosystem, from artists and curators to gallerists and institutional actors, there persists a reluctance to disrupt existing structures, to demand more, and to risk “rocking the boat.” Without collective pressure, the structural conditions constraining the scene will remain intact.

The IAC and public museums hold key institutional levers for addressing these challenges and driving professionalisation forward. The IAC administers one of the few public funding streams dedicated to the development and sustainability of visual art, yet its impact could be amplified through a more assertive mediating role between government ministries, commercial galleries, municipal museums and international networks, offering not only exposure but guidance, mentorship and professional continuity. Similarly, public museums must be reimagined as active agents: institutions that drive artistic innovation, incubate experimentation, and create space for less conventional practices to develop.

Museum directors, in particular, are uniquely positioned to enact structural change within the institutions they lead, setting standards for a sustained commitment to professionalisation. Equally important is their capacity to advocate for systemic reform, influence funding priorities and shift governmental perceptions of the value of visual art. Yet institutional change alone is insufficient. What is required is a collective movement across the entire field: artist-run spaces, commercial galleries, public institutions and independent practitioners working in alignment rather than in silos. Only through such coordinated action can increased funding be justified and effectively directed towards organisations operating on the ground.

Reykjavík’s visual arts ecosystem is fragile but enduring. Its small scale sustains intimacy and collaboration but also reinforces bottlenecks, restricts access to opportunities and centralises power within a limited circle of institutional actors. Ultimately, Reykjavík’s art scene stands at a critical juncture. With thoughtful, strategic public investment in artists and art, strengthened curatorial roles, the establishment of fellowship and commissioning programmes and more coordinated institutional support contemporary art could not only survive but thrive.

Þórhildur Tinna Sigurðardóttir is an art historian, writer and curator. She is one of three founding members of KOK curatorial collective, based in Iceland.