Kristín Helga Ríkharðsdóttir b. 1993
"By blending the natural with the artificial, her work invites viewers into ambiguous, semi-fictional worlds where the boundaries between the real and the staged dissolve."
Kristín Helga Ríkharðsdóttir (b. 1993) is a visual artist based between Reykjavík and New York. She graduated with a BA in Fine Art from the Iceland University of the Arts in 2016, including an exchange semester at Universität der Künste in Berlin, where she later completed a post-graduate internship. In 2022, she received her MFA in Studio Art from New York University.
Kristín Helga’s work spans video, painting, sculpture, staged photography, sound, and installation. Her practice explores themes of hyperreality and the uncanny through layered references to personal experience, science fiction, online imagery, advertising, and stock photography. By blending the natural with the artificial, her work invites viewers into ambiguous, semi-fictional worlds where the boundaries between the real and the staged dissolve.
Her work has been exhibited in Iceland and abroad, including at Hafnarborg, the Living Art Museum, MUTT Gallery, Plan-B, and 80WSE Gallery in New York. In 2024, she became the first artist selected for a residency at ISCP in New York through the Icelandic Art Center. Her video works have received awards at film festivals, and her music video for Date Me – I’m Bored was nominated for the Icelandic Music Awards in 2019.
An active member of the Icelandic art scene, Kristín Helga served on the board of the Living Art Museum (2018–2020) and has been part of the artist-run space Kling & Bang since 2020. She curated the exhibition series Calm and Romantic at Harbinger (2018–2019) and co-curated the group show Töfraheimilið at Kling & Bang in 2023. She has received numerous grants and fellowships, including support from the Leifur Eiríksson Foundation, the Scandinavian Foundation, and Landsbankinn.
