The Vasulka Chamber and Media Art in Iceland

Abstract

In October 2014 the Vasulka Chamber opened at the National Gallery of Iceland in Reykjavik. The “chamber” is founded on a donation from the video art pioneers, Steina and Woody Vasulka, both Icelandic citizens that have lived and worked in the United-States since the 1960s. The main aim of the Vasulka Chamber is to conserve videos, documents and objects from the Vasulkas. Its long term project is to expand the archive and collect and document Icelandic media art, something no institution has done so fare. This paper will examine the circumstances within which the Vasulka Chamber was founded, and question its future development. It will address the sustainability of the Vasulka Chamber within the National Gallery of Iceland, and the feasibility of archiving media art within the museum.

Questioning the Vasulka Chamber’s status permits to reflect on the situation within which media art has developed in Iceland. The subject brings forward the ‘post-colonial’ position of Iceland, the institutional deficit the media art has encountered, and the context within which media art has been practiced and archived in Iceland.