Homeland

Installation/performance. 2021. Variable dimensions. Digital archive prototype, mural of the triangle symbol on the Ministry of Justice’s draft form, poem (by Melitta Urbancic), and Lyme grass. Set within field research at the National Archives of Iceland, this project uncovers Iceland’s first immigration program in its history. This program knowingly rejected Jewish asylum seekers during the Holocaust. I contextualize deadening bureaucratic symbols in contrast with a soil rejuvenating plant, using interactive sound and video to spark discussion about the politics of forgetting and immigration policy. This project was featured as an installation at Kling & Bang gallery in Reykjavík and as a performance lecture at the National Archives of Iceland for the Sequences Biennial.

Exhibition text

Review in the Reykjavík Grapevine

Review in artzine

Archive co-designer: Julius Rothlaender; English translation of Heimatrecht: Katherine Caldwell, great-granddaughter of Melitta Urbancic, with help from fellow descendants of the poet; Icelandic translation of Heimatrecht: Sölvi Björn Sigurðsson; Exhibition text: Árni Heimir Ingólfsson, Olivia Gauthier; Production assistant: Aymeric Duriez. Special thanks to the LungA School community in Seyðisfjörður, Sibyl Urbancic, Magnús H. Jóhannsson (from Landgræðslan), Þjóðskjalasafn Íslands (National Archives of Iceland), and the Jewish Center of Iceland. Installation at Kling og Bang Curated by Becky Forsythe and Ana Victoria Bruno. Performance at the National Archives for Sequences Biennial curated by Þráinn Hjálmarsson & Þóranna Björnsdóttir with production by Eyja Orradóttir. Sayed Khanoghli, Sanna Magdalena Mörtudóttir, Sema Erla Serdar, and Wiola Ujazdowska participated as discussants during the performance at the National Archives. Katharina Caldwell, Ebba Katrín Finnsdóttir, Ella Waicsek, and Milena Dörfler read their great grandmother's (Melitta Urbancic) poem during the performance at the National Archives. Unnar Ingvarsson was our contact and guide at the National Archives.