Hoppa yfir valmynd

Ræða eða grein fyrrum ráðherra

11. nóvember 2001 MatvælaráðuneytiðGuðni Ágústsson, landbúnaðarráðherra 1999-2007

Ræða á ensku, flutt við opnun sýningar Listasafns Íslands í Bandaríkjunum í október 2001.

10.10.01

Mr. GUÐNI ÁGÚSTSSON
Confronting Nature
Icelandic Art of the 20ieth Century
Corcoran Gallery of Art
Washington, D.C.
October 13 – November 26,2001
Your excellencies
Distinguished guests
Ladies and Gentlemen

This exhibition at the renowned Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. is the largest ever specifically devoted to Icelandic visual Art in the U.S.A. It is therefore a major Icelandic cultural event which we take pride in sharing with an American audience.

For me it is a distinct honor to have this opportunity to represent the Government of Iceland at the formal opening of this exhibition of Icelandic 20ieth century art under the heading: Confronting Nature

You may of course wonder why the Minister of Agriculture – rather than the Minister of Culture, is representing the Government. But when you come to think about it everything that has to do with Nature, falls under the domain of the Minister of Agriculture – also the cultivation of the mind and senses through the unique landscapes of Iceland and the magic of its Nature.

This exhibition was originally planned to be a part of the highly successful Millennium program of the L.E.M.C. in America in the year 2000. That program was designed to celebrate with Americans the 1000-year Anniversary of the Viking discovery of America with the arrival in the New World of Leif Eiríksson, the Icelandic explorer and navigator.

In the year 2000 another distinguished cultural institution in this city, the Smithsonian, opened its doors to a major exhibition: Vikings – the North Atlantic Saga. And a direct descendant of Leif Eiríksson, a young Icelandic shipwright and navigator, built and sailed a replica of Leif's ship some 4000 miles in the wake of the ancient mariner. This was a human adventure story that caught the imagination of many Americans.

Many distinguished persons have been involved in the preparation of this exhibition – in addition to the artists themselves. Allow me to offer special thanks to the Director of the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Mr. David C. Levy, and chief curator Jacquelyn Days Serwer for their unfailing cooperation and to the staff of the Corcoran. Thanks are also due to Mrs. Martica Sawin, the Corcoran's consultant on this exhibition, for her rewarding cooperation.

We gratefully acknowledge financial support received from the L.E.M.C. and the enthusiastic support of its executive director, Ambassador Einar Benediktsson. We would also like to extend our thanks to other financial sponsors, to the Icelandic Steamship Company Ltd., to Iceland Naturally, Icelandair and Icelandair Cargo.

Ladies and Gentlemen.

In her inspiring essay published in the Corcoran catalogue Martica Sawin reflects the spirit of this exhibition in the following words:

"Since 1900 when Thórarinn B. Thorláksson, presented his work in Reykjavík's first art exhibition, Icelandic artists have carried on a dialogue with European and later with American art, into which they have inserted the experience that is uniquely theirs; that of living on the planet's youngest and most geologically active land mass. It is symbolic that this large island sits astride the divide between the North-American and European plates, indeed was formed by the magma flowing up from this rift; for it looks both east and west, to the old world whose dependency it has been and to the new world which its adventurous seafarers were the first to discover.

Ladies and Gentlemen

This microcosmos of Icelandic 20ieth century art is now for you to discover.

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