For the public program of the exhibition Vleeshal Art Prize: Femke Gerestein, Moving Through Thin Places, curator Martha Jager invited Icelandic thereminist, composer and vocalist Hekla Magnúsdóttir to give a concert at Vleeshal.

Magnúsdóttir plays the theremin, a frictionless instrument that translates frequencies into pitch and volume by the movement of hands between two antennas. The resulting sound is uniquely multilayered and ranges from eerie high-pitched spectral weeps to deep throbbing resonant bass howls. The ethereal and elusive nature of Magnúsdóttir’s compositions, which are quite literally played ‘in thin air’, touch upon themes highlighted in the exhibition Moving Through Thin Places. The concert at Vleeshal featured material from Magnúsdóttir's latest album, combined with new and unreleased work.

Magnúsdóttir’s debut album, Á, released by Phantom Limb, was written and recorded in her home studio in Berlin, at a time when she was also taking care of her newborn son. Returning to Iceland, her music career continued with the mystical EP Sprungur, a horror score themed around glaciers, that was further developed in the Xiuxiuejar album, released in 2022. One of the most active representatives of the Icelandic music scene, Magnúsdóttir regularly receives accolades for her work in films and performs locally and globally, both solo and as part of major music ensembles.