Background
She was born in Reykjavik, Iceland.
She was born in Reykjavik, Iceland.
She received a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the San Francisco Art Institute and her Master of Fine Arts from the Mason Gross School of the Arts, Rutgers University, where she produced her first miniature as her she creates complex structures built to be viewed in exhibition settings but not used as functional architecture. She came to the United States to study at the San Francisco Institute of Art, from which she received a Bachelor of Fine Arts, and then later settled in New York City.
Conceptually, her work reflects issues of intimacy and memory in built spaces, historical recreations, and disorienting shifts in scale. Her work has appeared at the 2013 Icelandic Pavilion of the 55th Venice Biennale, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Sculpture Center, and PS1 Contemporary Art Center. Sigurdardóttir grew up in Reykjavík in a two-story rowhouse built by her family.
She holds a unique position among Icelandic artists, particularly in terms of her diverse sculptures and installations that are based on a strong conceptual foundation.” Her piece "Foundation" featured prominently in Iceland"s pavilion at the Venice Biennale.
lieutenant has since been exhibited at many venues, including New York"s SculptureCenter. Karen Rosenberg, in the New York Times, writes, "With "Foundation," Mississippi
Sigurdardottir is also moving deeper into the decorative arts — abandoning the all-white set pieces exemplified by her 2010 set of installations in the Metropolitan Museum’s period rooms. Instead of building ghostly models that riff on existing architecture, she is making something that looks historically authentic (at least to the casual observer) and is steeped in artisanal labor." 2011 Ateliers des Arques, Les Arques, France.