This is Rúf English Radio with Darin Adam, daily English language radio from Iceland's national broadcaster Rúf.Rúf English Radio, welcome back to Joe Keyes. Hello there. Good to talk to you again Joe, it's been a couple of years I think. Yes, exactly, yeah, since 24. 24 we think, we can look back.Now you are one of six artists exhibiting here as part of Margins. Tell me what you think the exhibition in total is about and what it intends to do.I can start by saying that the curators, Katrin Björk and Ulf Ebrei, they invited me to participate in this exhibition.And it's an exhibition.It's an exhibition in a very specific museum with a very specific architecture and that's their beginning point, that's their interest in their curation.And so they wanted artists to use the space, use the spaces that aren't necessarily always used or utilised.So you'll see in here that it is quite a minimal display of objects, but it's because the artists have chosen to work with them.They've chosen to use it in places that aren't typically used.I think it's the first thing that really strikes you is the space, because I've been in here with exhibitions that have really filled the space quite deliberatelythis goes the other way.Yes, exactly.When I heard about the concept, I was wondering which artists are they going to choose and then eventually I get a message to say that I'm in.And I was like okay, great, it's because I've worked in this way in the past.ástuilega hættu, eller hægt nást, ástuilega íkjörn,og þetta er næst eitthvað auðvitað strálagt emni,tvæmdegar að koska einhverju á trafsalega og á theimog hvort þetta er viðstæðsugtilega á þessu fólks ¿nástuilega?Það er eitthvað í þessu consigli sem ég líkt að sama með.Þegar þú ástuilegar, hefði það skokkstofnum, og að hættu�það var kannst svo definitust, það var verið eitthvað smálhættu,we have something that has found an echo here I think.Yes, exactly, I think that I remember you hitting the nail on the headacheswhen you were looking at the drawings and you were talking abouthow they appear to you as you come closer, almost like a cloud or a staryou are getting more as you appear.And I think, in a way, this is the opposite that you walk awayand you start to see the bigger picture of the composition.Let's move to some of your works then here in this exhibition. This is yours here. It's an assortment of, well, it's a bit like a trip to IKEA, isn't it, in a way?Because you've got items that could be pieces of furniture, but they're actually more abstract than that.Pieces of wood and plastic arranged in a way that, as I say, hints at a sort of IKEA bedroom display, but not quite.I think that's fairly accurate in that some of this stuff has probably come from old IKEA furniture.Yeah, so a lot of this material I've gathered over years of working with sculptures and a lot of it could be said that it's leftovers from other work.I'm a framer, it's my day job, and so, you know, you do just get leftovers at the end of the day, the end of a project.And it's about sort of almost active tidying or figuring.Figuring out what to do with this stuff.But also, in the grandest sense of the art, it's just a tool for the composition.It's a tool for the gathering or the assembly, and assembly is the title of these two.But that's the placement, to go back to what you were saying earlier about finding spaces that aren't quite so well used.The placement of this is important because it's right at the top of two parts of the structure of the building.So you've got to look up.This is not an eye level, this is a couple of meters at least above that.Yeah, I think artists that come into this space, there's many factors to think about.In a traditional exhibition, you're thinking about the walls.If you've got a sculpture, you're thinking about plinths, so you're thinking about the floor.But here, we were prompted to think about those spaces that aren't used.And these walls that I'm using as plinths, they are often moved around.They're turned on their side, in some cases, to make a smaller platform.And I just thought, you know, it's so simple to turn a wall into a plinth.And that's what I did.And I suppose once they're up there, you've got to be happy with the placement.Yeah, there was a lot of editing.In the beginning, I put so much up there, and then I had a skylift, and I was going up and down.And I would just come back, and I think it was about a week and a half, the installation process.And I just began to take things away.And that's something that you can do with sculpture in a way that you don't necessarily do with drawing.You know, of course, you can use an eraser or something.But there is something about the changing possibilities of a sculptural presentation.And the way that it's placed, you get to do something that might not always be......possible with a conventionally placed sculpture, which is to walk around it while looking up.And you get, again, different perspectives that you might not see as you walk around these pieces......had they been at eye level conventionally.Exactly, yeah.And like I said earlier, it's interesting to me that I have this personal one-to-one relationship with the making.And I know the nuances of these sculptures.But presented here, they can become a blur of......of wood and plastic and paint and all sorts.Yeah, it's nice to describe this on the radio.I think people will be imagining what we're looking at, which is very beautiful.I think you're conveying the picture pretty well, because I can see it.And so I can check against what you're saying. It seems to be working.It's all one piece, essentially.But you see there's two walls, and then there's a box up in the height of the ceiling.And I've put some green......billiard cloth, snooker felt, up there, just as a slight, sort of like a rhythmic choice, because of the green in the work on the walls, on the plinths.This green I've become obsessed with in recent years.And I went on a sort of mission around Reykjavík to find leftover billiard cloth.And I went on a sort of mission around Reykjavík to find leftover billiard cloth.And I went on a sort of mission around Reykjavík to find leftover billiard cloth.And I went on a sort of mission around Reykjavík to find leftover billiard cloth.And I went on a sort of mission around Reykjavík to find leftover billiard cloth.From the pool, the snooker and pool places.And eventually I found some, and some generous people gave me cut-offs.In decent enough condition, it hadn't been hacked to pieces by terrible players?Well, perhaps, but I wouldn't mind that so much. It's a little bit of character.But yes, and also from the distance you can't see anything on there, so you just see this colour green.But it does frame and reference the main pieces, doesn't it?Yes, exactly.Now, as we walk around...Now, as we walk around the rest of the exhibition, you're the only artist here, so we won't speak for any other artists.But you can maybe hear some singing taking place.And there are five telephones, old-fashioned we would say now, sort of landline telephones,hanging from the walls in different places.And this is a piece by Hildur Elisa Jonsdóttir, voicemail number one for five voices.And as I say, without speaking for Hildur's art, what happens when we pick up one of these phones?And so there's a sung dialogue going on between the five telephones.Yeah, I think this is a really interesting work and Hildur Elisa is a good friend of mine and a colleague.And when we found out we were both in this exhibition, we were talking about these spaces that we were going to use.And I said, oh, maybe I'll use the walls as plinths.And Hildur said...I think I'm going to use the waiting line on the museum phone.I was like, that's just perfect.What a wonderful thought of that space.And she's often working with performative ideas.And, you know, for instance, one of her wonderful work of hers is where she performed silence in an orchestra.And so she sat there with her score, which was silence, as the band played the rest of the...The orchestra played the rest of the...The orchestra played the rest of the...So she's very interested in this musical space and this performative space.I mean, an obvious reference there to John Cage.But when I heard these telephones sort of quietly singing away, if that's what they're doing, I was put in mind of Laurie Anderson.Yes, yeah.I'm sure they are reference points or touchstones for her.But yeah, fantastic work.But there's all sorts of pieces in this exhibition that are just quietly working away.At conceptual spaces as well, such as Daniel August's work as well, that reacts with the light from the circular window.This is the large mirrored shard on the floor.Yes, exactly.Well, the exhibition is called Margins.It's on here until November.I'll put a link up on the page accompanying the show from Rúði English Radio.But again, fascinating to see this space so empty in many ways, isn't it?Yeah, exactly.So, Joe, good to talk to you again.Let's not leave it two years till next time.Sounds good.Thank you.This is Rúði English Radio.My name is Darren Adam and you can get in touch anytime we are English at ruv.is.There is more from Rúði English with all the news from Iceland in English at ruv.is slash English.Rúði English Radio is a daily English language radio from Iceland's national broadcaster, Rúð.Rúði English.Hugging from Ireland.Hugging from Ireland.Hugging from Ireland.
