laugavegur

installation & book on the hot springs road-Laugavegur, reykjavik, Iceland

Wash is a ink & watercolor drawing framed with plexiglass. 65x65 cm.

The book explains the origins of Reykjavík’s main thoroughfare Laugavegur (Hot Springs Road) and how it came by its name, and tells the story of the washerwomen of old Reykjavík who strode along it to the Washing Springs in Laugardalur.

In the spring of 2009 START ART gallery held a performance art installation to commemorate the washerwomen. Documentation of this extensive performance installation is also recorded in the book. Contributing authors include former President of Iceland Vigdís Finnbogadóttir, historian Margrét Guðmundsdóttir and philosophers Sigríður Þorgeirsdóttir and Aðalheiður Lilja Guðmundsdóttir. The book is lavishly illustrated with photographs of the performance and artworks contributed by contemporary Icelandic artists, as well as pictures of older times from the Washing Springs.