The Living Art Museum

The Living Art Museum (Nýlistasafnið) is a non-profit, artist-run museum and association, venue for events, exhibitions, performances, discussions and research. The museum was founded in 1978 in reaction to Icelandic art authorities disregard for contemporary art practices. The 27 founders, who met at an open meeting to discuss the then current situation in Icelandic cultural politics, were a diverse group at various stages of their artistic careers; some had been members of the SÚM movement, while others were still art students in the academy.

The Living Art Museum aims to: •promote critical discourse and progressive practice in the field of visual art •encourage and support emerging artists •collect and preserve work by artists who are part of the museum’s history •collect and preserve documents and data related to the museum’s history and collection •collect and preserve documents relating to the parallel history of visual art, focusing on artist-run initiatives and performance art in Iceland •continuously review its own institutional direction