Mind Games

A quadrangled story about shades and variations in co-dependence and sovereignty, inspired by a musician (John Lennon), a theorist (Henry Lefebre), an author (Halldor Laxness) and a demnted ruler of Rome (Caligula). Mindgames is constituted by four parts – ordered in alternating sequence – to form thirteen chapters in total. Each of the four sections holds a biographical account of its subject: Caligula, Henri Lefebvre, John Lennon and Halldór Laxness. The chapters can be read separately, as they have been conceived to be independent wholes, forming biographies that present portraits of associations rather than particular statements about individual lives. The text, however, is constructed to alternate rhythmically between the main motives. The motives in turn produce variations on particular themes as they modulate into different parts within the totality of the work as a whole. Mindgames was conceived as a way to enjoy information in the tradition of autodidacts of the past – but in a style which is commingled with a reverence towards traditional modes of archiving the world. The author will give a talk about the ideas behind the work and selected chapters will be read.

Geirþrúður Finnbogadóttir Hjörvar was born in 1977. She received her MFA from the Malmö Art Academy in 2005 and her BFA from the Iceland Academy of the Arts in 2002. She attended the Rijksakadamie residency program in 2007-2008 in Amsterdam. She works with sculpture, text, performance, painting and installations.