Saemundur Thor Helgason

Saemundur Thor Helgason is an Icelandic artist based between Reykjavik and Amsterdam. He is a co-founder of HARD-CORE, an Amsterdam based art organization, developing algorithmic curatorial methods since 2011 and Cosmos Carl - Platform Parasite, an online platform that only hosts hyperlinks provided by artists and curators. In 2017 he founded the interest group Félag Borgara (eng. Fellowship of Citizens), with the aim of lobbying for Basic Income in Iceland. He is currently an artist-in-residence at the Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten in Amsterdam.

Recent exhibitions that Helgason has taken part in include; Í alvöru / Really, Sequences Art Festival, Kling & Bang, Reykjavik, Iceland (2019), Object of Desire, ICA (Institute of Contemporary Arts), Singapore, Republic of Singapore (2019), Solar Plexus Pressure Belt™ at Unit 110, New York, United States, Fellowship of Citizens at arebyte gallery, London, A guiding dog for blind dog, Centre for Contemporary Art FUTURA, Prague, Czech Republic (2018), Silicon Dreams with HARD-CORE at Harbinger, Reykjavik, Iceland (2018), SuperFetish S/S at Goethe Institut, Beijing, China (2016), Not in the Berlin Biennale at 9th Berlin Biennale (2016), ÁVÖXTUN % | Rate of Return at Reykjavik Art Museum, Iceland (2016), CO-WORKERS – Network as Artist at Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, France (2015), Vanity Fair | Demo Mode with Leslie Kulesh at Project Native Informant, London (2015).

Since 2015, HARD-CORE teaches its own module ‘Documentation and Online Presence’ at the fine art department at the Gerrit Rietveld Academie in Amsterdam.

Solar Plexus Pressure Belt™ G2 is the second generation of a Deep Touch Pressure Technology, designed to press into the solar plexus to reduce financially induced anxiety (without pharmaceutical medications). Produced by Félag Borgara (Fellowship of Citizens), an interest group lobbying for Universal Basic Income in Iceland, the device can bridge the gap until we have a system in place which provides financial security for everyone.

The prototype of the belt was developed by the artist in 2018 in collaboration with fashion designer Agata Mickiewicz and graphic designer Gabríel Markan. The new iteration of the belt has been improved in accordance with user experience, with a new ergonomic design that follows the organic curves of the human body.