REYKJAVIK.- One of the highlights of the Reykjavik Arts Festival will be the Experiment Marathon Reykjavík, an exhibition and program of related events organized by the Reykjavík Art Museum and the Serpentine Gallery, London. Lasting from 15 May through August 17, the focus of the project is experimentation. The RAM will become a laboratory in which leading artists, architects, film-makers, and scientists will create an environment of invention through a series of installations, performances and experimental films. Additionally, previous related projects will be presented as archives within the exhibition. The exhibition and related events are curated by Hans Ulrich Obrist, Co-Director of Exhibitions and Programmes and Director of International Projects, Serpentine Gallery, London, in collaboration with artist Ólafur Elíasson.

The project will consist of a ‘Marathon’, with consecutive demonstrations of experiments and the RAM’s Hafnarhús will house a multitude of installations. Participants in the exhibition include Marina Abramovic, Brian Eno, Katrín Sigurðardóttir, Ivana Franke, Roger Hiorns, Hekla Dögg Jónsdóttir, Hreinn Friðfinnsson, Jonas Mekas, Gustav Metzger, Pedro Reyes, Darri Lorenzen, Thomas Saraceno, Matthew Ritchie and Thomas Bayrle. Together with many participants in the exhibition, renowned scientists, architects, artists and thinkers are invited to contribute to the Marathon. Among them are Israel Rosenfield, Peter Coles, Thorsteinn I. Sigfússon, Luc Steels, Fia Backström, Hilmar B. Janusson, Aurelien Froment and Abhishek Hazra. The contributors are invited to lead or present an experiment to a live audience and their themes will among others revolve around energy, genetics and memory.

The Experiment Marathon Reykjavík builds on the enormous success of the recent Serpentine Gallery Marathons which have taken place in successive Serpentine Gallery Pavilions, an annual architectural commission conceived in 2000 by Serpentine Gallery Director, Julia Peyton-Jones. In the 2007 Serpentine Gallery Experiment Marathon, which took place in the Pavilion designed by Ólafur Elíasson and Kjetil Thorsen, leading artists, writers and scientists performed a huge variety of experiments, exploring perception, artificial intelligence, the body and language. Participants included John Brockman, Steven Pinker, Marina Abramovic and John Baldessari. The event was collaboration with Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary. The Serpentine Gallery Marathon series began in 2006 with the 24-hour Interview Marathon conducted by Rem Koolhaas and Hans Ulrich Obrist. A presentation of these previous programs will be shown in the Reykjavik Experiment Marathon in a pavilion of archives designed by Ólafur Elíasson and Einar Þorsteinn. Another collection of archives will refer to Hans Ulrich Obrist’s and Barbara Vanderlinden’s exhibition, ‘Laboratorium’, from 1999.

A substantial catalogue will be published on this occasion, documenting the Experiment Marathon Reykjavík together with previous marathons and with textual contributions by Bruno Latour and others.