In-person

Artists in Conversation: Fischersund Art Collective

2655 NW Market Street, Seattle, WA 98107

206.789.5707

Established in 2017, Fischersund is a family-run art collective and perfumery based in Reykjavik, Iceland. Founded by four siblings, Fischersund serves as a creative platform using scent, visual arts, and music. The collective creates immersive experiences that include unique perfumes, scented concerts, and visual arts to facilitate their storytelling.

To celebrate the opening of the special exhibition Faux Flora, members of the Fischersund art collective (Jónsi, Inga, Lilja, and Sigurrós) will discuss their complementary and collaborative practice and multisensory artmaking with National Nordic Museum Chief Curator Leslie Anne Anderson.

Speakers

Jónsi

Jónsi is a visual artist, musician, and self-taught perfumer known for making immersive and meditative sound and sculptural artwork that explore themes of nature and the human condition. Since the 1990s, world-renowned interdisciplinary artist Jónsi has produced ethereal sounds through an astute aesthetic that combines the minimal, classical, and progressive.
Bio

Jónsi

Jónsi is a visual artist, musician, and self-taught perfumer known for making immersive and meditative sound and sculptural artwork that explore themes of nature and the human condition. Since the 1990s, world-renowned interdisciplinary artist Jónsi has produced ethereal sounds through an astute aesthetic that combines the minimal, classical, and progressive.

Jónsi initially gained international recognition as the lead vocalist for the Icelandic experimental rock band Sigur Rós. Jónsi has collaborated with musicians, visual artists, and filmmakers to create a robust body of work across disciplines. Working with such leading creative figures as Doug Aitken, Cameron Crowe, Merce Cunningham, Olafur Eliasson, and Carl Michael von Hausswolf, Jónsi’s artistic collaborations have resulted in prestigious awards and critical acclaim. Jónsi formally entered the visual art scene in 2018 and has had three solo exhibitions with Tanya Bonakdar Gallery in Los Angeles and New York City. Jónsi has also had solo exhibitions at the Museum of Old and New Art (MONA) in Tasmania; the National Nordic Museum, Seattle; the Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto; and the Reykjavík Art Museum Hafnarhús in Iceland. Born in Iceland in 1975, Jón Þór “Jónsi” Birgisson lives and works in Los Angeles.
Ingibjörg Birgisdóttir

Ingibjörg Birgisdóttir (b. 1981) graduated with a BA in fine arts from the Icelandic Academy of the Arts in 2006 and studied Computer Science at the University of Iceland from 2019-2022. She has worked in various mediums including painting, sculpture, 3d graphics, video and photography.
Bio

Ingibjörg Birgisdóttir

Ingibjörg Birgisdóttir (b. 1981) graduated with a BA in fine arts from the Icelandic Academy of the Arts in 2006 and studied Computer Science at the University of Iceland from 2019-2022. She has worked in various mediums including painting, sculpture, 3d graphics, video and photography.

Ingibjörg has exhibited her work in Iceland and abroad and most recently took part in the group exhibition Skynleikar at Hafnartorg (Reykjavík, 2022), and Hlutskipti // Fated with Þula Gallery (Reykjavík, 2024), a joint show with her sister Lilja. Ingibjörg has worked closely with the Icelandic music scene for years and made album covers and music videos for artist such as Sigur Rós, Jónsi, Múm, Sin Fang, Seabear, Sóley and Úlfur úlfur. Ingibjörg is one of the founding members of Fischersund perfumery art collective and is responsible for the ethereal creative designs featured throughout the brand. Inga lives and works in Reykjavík, Iceland.
Lilja Birgisdóttir

Lilja Birgisdóttir (b. 1983) studied photography at the Royal Academy of Arts, The Hague, Netherlands and received a BA in fine art from the Iceland Academy of the Arts in Reykjavík, Iceland in 2010. She is a member of Kling & Bang, an artist-run gallery in Reykjavík, where she takes part in selecting artists and curating exhibitions for the space.
Bio

Lilja Birgisdóttir

Lilja Birgisdóttir (b. 1983) studied photography at the Royal Academy of Arts, The Hague, Netherlands and received a BA in fine art from the Iceland Academy of the Arts in Reykjavík, Iceland in 2010. She is a member of Kling & Bang, an artist-run gallery in Reykjavík, where she takes part in selecting artists and curating exhibitions for the space.

In 2011 she founded Endemi, an art magazine about Icelandic contemporary art. Lilja has exhibited in Iceland and abroad, including solo exhibitions If your colors were like my dream at Rawson Projects (New York, 2015), The And with Jacqueline Falcone B&B (Miami, 2015), It’s Not You, It’s Me with Þula Gallery (Reykjavík, 2022), and Hlutskipti // Fated with Þula Gallery (Reykjavík, 2024). Lilja presented artwork at NADA New York art fair in 2015. Lilja’s mixed media artwork includes photography, performance, video art, sound art, and installations. Lilja was the author of The Vessel Orchestra, the opening act for the Reykjavík Arts Festival in collaboration with the 15 captains of the Reykjavík Harbour in May 2013. Lilja’s photographic work includes images for musicians Damien Rice and Sigur Rós. Lilja is a founding member of Fischersund perfumery art collective and is the brand ambassador while heading up creative collaborations. Lilja lives and works in Reykjavík, Iceland.
Sigurrós Birgisdóttir

Sigurrós Birgisdóttir (b. 1993) is a founding member of Fischersund perfumery and art collective, where she works as a perfumer and the lead artisan. Self-taught with an endless quest for learning within the fragrance space, she hand-blends perfumes, candles, and incense and contributes to the development of new scents.
Bio

Sigurrós Birgisdóttir

Sigurrós Birgisdóttir (b. 1993) is a founding member of Fischersund perfumery and art collective, where she works as a perfumer and the lead artisan. Self-taught with an endless quest for learning within the fragrance space, she hand-blends perfumes, candles, and incense and contributes to the development of new scents.

With a deft nose and skilled approach to perfumery, Sigurrós leads the production team in the Súðarvogur workshop crafting unique fragrances for Fischersund’s shop and exhibition space in the heart of the city downtown. Sigurrós lives and works in Reykjavík, Iceland.
Leslie Anne Anderson

Leslie Anne Anderson is Chief Curator at the National Nordic Museum, a mayoral-appointed Seattle Arts Commissioner, and chair of Seattle’s Public Art Advisory Committee.
Bio

Leslie Anne Anderson

Leslie Anne Anderson is Chief Curator at the National Nordic Museum, a mayoral-appointed Seattle Arts Commissioner, and chair of Seattle’s Public Art Advisory Committee.

Prior to her arrival in the Pacific Northwest, she held curatorial positions at the Utah Museum of Fine Arts/University of Utah and Indianapolis Museum of Art. She has been an American Scandinavian-Foundation Fellow and a Fulbright scholar at the University of Copenhagen. She has organized dozens of exhibitions with collaborators like the Ateneum Art Museum/Finnish National Gallery and Sweden’s Nationalmuseum, published in numerous scholarly journals, and acquired over 1,000 works of fine and decorative art for collections in her purview. Recently, she was also the commissioning curator of Jónsi: FLÓÐ and co-curator of the traveling exhibition Nordic Utopia? African Americans in the 20th Century. Leslie is the recipient of the international Association of Art Museum Curators Award for Excellence (First Place) in 2018, the Utah Museums Association Award for Excellence in 2020, and the University of Florida Alumni Association’s “40 Gators Under 40” honor in 2023.