Celebrity Street-Map 101
Reykjavik, Reykjavik, 1998.
In 1998 Thorsteinsson, in cooperation with the artist Joni Jons, set up an exhibition entitled Celebrity Street-Map 101 Reykjavik, referring to the postcode for the city centre. The exhibition involved a map showing where various well-known or famous people lived and photographs, furtively shot with zoom lenses from behind bushes or fences, of their homes. On the surface, the exhibition highlighted the intrusion of the media into people’s private lives and the reciprocal dependence of public figures on the exposure that the media provides, as well as casting the audience in the role of the voyeur. But on closer consideration the work can be seen to challenge the purpose of the artist and of art itself. If we accept the tabloid approach to celebrity as part of our culture, does it then not become a valid subject for art? And if it does, then how do we distinguish between art and the tabloids?
read the artists official text
