Steina Vasulka (b. 1940, Reykjavik, Island; lives and works in Santa Fe, USA)

Geomania (1986)

Steina Vasulka is a trailblazing video artist who has been producing work since the 1960s. She founded The Kitchen in 1971 with her husband, Woody Vasulka, and has since explored the range of possibilities in video art and electronic media. Geomania (1986) is a multi-monitor installation that depicts landscape imagery and recordings of natural phenomena in Iceland and New Mexico. Presented here in its largest version — 21 monitors, her striking video ensemble in a ziggurat formation, often referred to as the “Vasulka Effect,” shows wild, untamed and distinctly geological scenes. Considered one of Vasulka’s Land Art works, the pacing induces a contemplative mood, and the layered editing offers a sculptural approach to the landscape. Materials of the earth are transformed through the video signal, a pioneering element of Steina Vasulka’s work.

Select institutional solo exhibitions include Haus der Kunst, Munich (2026); the National Gallery of Iceland and the Reykjavík Art Museum (2025); Buffalo AKG Art Museum, New York (2025); and MIT List Visual Arts Center, Massachusetts (2025). Select group exhibitions include Thoma Foundation, New Mexico (2025); Tate Modern, London (2024); Whitney Museum of American Art, New York (2018); and MOMA PS1, New York (2011). Her works are held in collections including The Museum of Modern Art, New York; The Centre Pompidou, Paris; and the Tate Modern, London, among others.

BERG Contemporary aims to provide a diversified forum for contemporary art by representing emerging and established artists, and by seeking the resonant tone of the present through a programme of innovative exhibitions. The gallery is located in an old glass factory in Reykjavík, and consists of a large scale multimedia space, gallery showrooms, as well as professional residency and research facilities. The artist roster spans a variety of both Icelandic and international artists, all relevant in today’s contemporary artistic landscape.