Gulp! Gallery

Gulp! Gallery was a portable and multiplace gallery. It was in fact a small paper box in which, or out of which, the artists placed their work. It was entirely up to the artist to define what constituted 'art', an 'artist', a 'gallery' and 'space'.
In the "Gulpian" perspective art took on a new, ever changing meaning.

Gulp! was founded on the 31st of January 1995 in Reykjavik, Iceland. For five years it was an exceptionally active gallery, travelling the world and spreading art and fresh ideas where ever it went. Early in the year 2000 it closed down and now it only remains as a memory and a proof to what can be done if ideas are allowed to flourish and blossom.

One of the curators' main reasons for founding Gulp! was to have fun. The winters in Iceland can be long, dark and dreary and people have to be very inventive to survive the boredom.
Besides the fun there were the politics. From its conception Gulp! openly challenged the Iceland's existing galleries' policies of only allowing exhibits in exchange for large sums of money, leaving art students and young artists in the cold.

Gulp! was not the first travelling gallery in the world and most certainly not the last. There have been many kinds of travelling galleries throughout the art history. One of the first ones was made by Marchell Duchamp when he prepared miniatures of his work and placed them in a suitcase, ready to be shown at any time.

The word "Gulp!" was taken from comics where "gulp!" is an expression used when someone is extremely surprised. The name seemed to fit the gallery perfectly from the start because Gulp! Gallery was often capable of taking people by surprise. Whether it was when the artist took an art exhibition out of his/her bag during the lunch break at work or when a total stranger walked up to you at a café and wanted to show you an exhibition right there!

Gulp! could be anywhere in the world. It traveled a great deal throughout Europe, USA and Australia as well as crossing oceans and mountains on its way from Iceland to Tunis and from Hungary to Mexico. Gulp! visited 5 continents as well as being displayed on the Internet.

A thing like Gulp! created a new and open space in the artworld, a space where artists could express and communicate their ideas in a free and unusual way. Gulp! exhibitions were completely the artists' creation. Artists exhibiting in Gulp! were free to choose where and how they wanted to exhibit. Gulp! laid down no rules regarding the location of the exhibitions nor what constituted an art event.
Gulp's! curators provided a paper box if possible and if requested. This was merely to hold onto a tradition. Exhibitors in Gulp! were not required to use a box.

The rules of Gulp! were few and simple:

1. Those who neglected their "Gulpian!" duty to exhibit ran the risk of being socially abandoned by their friends and family... and especially by the Gulp! curators.
2. Your Karma died if you neglected Gulp!
3. Those who did not treat Gulp! with the proper respect got the 'red card'.
4. Gulp! Artists had to document their exhibition for the Gulp! Guestbook.
5. Gulp! never charged artist for exhibiting.
6. Everything else was up to the Gulp! Artist.

Because of the total freedom Gulp! provided, the results of Gulp! exhibitions were extremely different from each other. There was an exhibition where the gallery was lit on fire. A Gulp!-artist has been arrested while exhibiting. Gulp-spectators have had to go on a trip with the metro to be able to see the artwork. A Gulp!-artwork has melted down. Once everybody got a autographed hotdog (see photo above). There has even been an exhibition where nobody was allowed to see the artwork itself! We can go on like that for a pretty long time because none of the exhibitions have been the same and there were more than 300 of them!

For more examples of Gulp! exhibitions click here.

Gallery Gulp! was a non-profit gallery and was open to everyone. There were no operational costs and no charges for exhibiting. It was run solely for pleasure.
A big part of the reason why Gulp! was founded was that most galleries in Iceland (Gulp's! birthplace) charged a great deal of money for their exhibiting spaces. Therefore, it was one of the galleries curators' top priorities not to involve money in Gulp!

Gulp! was the perfect venue for people who wanted to do something different, something new and daring. It allowed artists to explore the concept of art and art exhibitions in a totally new manner. Gulp! gave people an ideal opportunity to finally let their ideas become reality under circumstances that were entirely up to them and no one else.

Last but not least, by exhibiting in Gulp! artists were increasing their chances substantially of receiving the Documenta-Gulp!-prize which was the ultimate supreme prize given to the best Gulp!-exhibitor of each year. Three Documenta Gulp! events have become reality and the plans for Documenta Gulp! IV and V are big.

Gallery Gulp! was run by two Icelandic artists, Hlín Gylfadóttir and Særún Stefánsdóttir. When Gulp! was founded they both studied art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Craft, Reykjavik, Iceland.

Gulp! mail:
gulpgallery@hotmail.com