Icelandic artist Hrafnhildur Arnardóttir of Shoplifter has cerated a hypernatural world by using thousands of colored neon hairs in the interior of a warehouse in the island of Giudecca for the 2019 Venice Art Biennale in Italy. 

The installation, named Chromo Sapiens, sits in the realm between visual arts, performance and fashion, anchored in a fascination with pop culture and mass production, combined with a keen sense of humor, joy of craft, and miraculous ability to transform synthetic materials into sculptural environments.

The theme of the 2019 Venice Art Biennale is "May You Live In Interesting Times" and curated by Ralph Rugoff. This year's theme highlights artworks whose forms function in part to call attention to what forms conceal and the multifarious purposes that they fulfil. 

At the Iceland Pavilion, artist Hrafnhildur Arnardóttir and curator Birta Guðjónsdóttir have transformed a warehouse in Giudecca into a multi-sensory, cavernous environment where colour, sound and irresistible textures that guides visitors on a journey through a new hypernatural world.

Chromo Sapiens is a visceral provocative work that evokes a desire to return to nature through a twisted tangle of multi-colored furry surfaces. Murmuring sound merges with chromatic mossy structures,gloomy earth hues, and shimmering psychedelic neon tufts. 

The artist created sn immersed experience of touch and visual stimuli erupts with a cacophonous amount of Shoplifter’s signature material synthetic hair extensions.

A commissioned musical opus by Shoplifter's contemporaries, the Icelandic cult metal band HAM plays an essential role in the installation. Dissonant compositions echo throughout the tactile walls reflecting HAM’s primal trembling dark tones and frequencies. 

A predestined collaboration, Chromo Sapiens mirrors a lifetime of shared inspiration since adolescence for Shoplifter and HAM, mutually rooted in their Icelandic heritage.

"Shoplifter has developed unique ways of working with textiles in space to critical acclaim and tremendous public appreciation," said Birta Guðjónsdóttir. 

"It is exciting to see our continuing collaboration take us to Venice where she will mount her largest installation to date, a site-specific emotive and contemplative experience. One enters the pavilion as Homo Sapiens and exits as Chromo Sapiens."

Iceland has participated in the Biennale Arte since 1960. The Icelandic Pavilion is commissioned by the Ministry of Education, Science and Culture with the Reykjavik-based Icelandic Art Center (IAC).

Björg Stefánsdóttir, Director of IAC said: "The International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia is the most prestigious and world renowned art biennial in the world and Iceland’s solid participation throughout the years represents a key opportunity to connect the abundant Icelandic art scene with the international landscape. We are thrilled to participate in this major event by commissioning Shoplifter’s new project."

Hrafnhildur Arnardóttir is an Icelandic artist based in New York. For 15 years, she has explored the symbolic nature of hair and its visual and artistic power. 

The 2019 Venice Art Biennale was opened on May 11 to the public and will be on view until Sunday November 24, 2019, at the Giardini and the Arsenale in Venice, Italy.

Top image © Ugo Carmeni

All images © Andrea Avezzù, courtesy of Biennale Arte 2019 unless otherwise stated.

> via Venice Art Biennale