Fischersund: Faux Flora

For Fischersund, Iceland is more than home; it is muse. Formed in 2017 by siblings Jónsi, Inga, Lilja, and Sigurrós, the family-run art collective draws inspiration from the country’s landscapes and the memories they create in them.

The exhibition "Faux Flora" imagines new flowering plant species through artwork that synthesizes scent, sound, and images. With each flower, this multisensory exhibition elicits emotions and evokes experience. Motifs and fragrances familiar across Iceland coalesce into a new botany.

Here forms of life intertwine. The exhibition progresses through five chapters—germination, growth, flowering, seed formation, and dispersal—mirroring the stages of human life: birth, childhood, adolescence, adulthood, and death.
See and smell these fictive flowers. Fischersund names and describes each plant in the exhibition, drawing on botanical treatises from across a span of centuries. In these scientific source materials, authors paired text with detailed illustrations to catalog and classify plant life. The artists, in turn, use contemporary and historical techniques such as video art and hand-painted photography to animate their flower species. Perfume—a primary artistic medium for the collective—provides important olfactory information for plant identification.

Listen closely to the sounds of each artificial plant, and envision the proposed flower’s growth in the Icelandic landscape. A soundscape composed for the exhibition marks the culmination of this linear, time-bound journey.

Curated Programs:
Scented Concerts on November 8 and 10, 2024: Jónsi, Kjartan Holm, and Sin Fang--the Fischersund Music Collective--performed live with the Fischersund Art Collective.

Artists in Conversation on November 9, 2024

Lecture with Dr. Pawel Wasowicz (Icelandic Institute of Natural History) on November 14, 2024: Dr. Wasowicz discussed the history and impact of plant immigration in Iceland.

Lecture with Dr. Venkatesh Murthy (Harvard University) on December 5, 2024: Dr. Murthy discussed scientific understanding of the relationship between scent, memory, and emotion. Artist Lilja Birgisdottir joined Dr. Murthy for a conversation.

Scent and Sound Baths with Fischersund Music and Art Collective on February 19, 2025