Only a six-hour flight from Washington, D.C., Iceland is as close as Seattle, yet seemingly a world apart from our own.

That's because Iceland is as far from the equator as Alaska, yet has a temperate climate, the result of the warm North Atlantic current. In midwinter, there is a period of no sunlight, called "The Polar Nights," and there is little night darkness during June and July, called the time of the "Midnight Sun."

A new exhibit at Wood Street Galleries, Downtown, dubbed "Long Are The Days, Short Are The Nights" by curator Murray Horne, features the works of nine Icelandic artists, who each have responded to the environmental conditions unique to their homeland.

For example, the first piece visitors will come to is Hekla Dogg Jonsdottir's video "Crack" (2007). A large video projection, it features the artist and a friend wading naked through a cavernous thermal pool.

"Iceland has a lot of thermal pools," Horne says. "So, this video sets the scene for the show. They are swimming in a thermal pool, and when they go into the darkness you don't see them and they don't come out again."

Turn around, and another piece by Jonsdottir and fellow artist Kolbeinn Hugi Hoskuldsson, "The Return to Innocence," references the Icelandic landscape again in the form of five geometrically shaped objects made of neon tubes arranged on the floor. Each object has at its core a sonic-resonance monitor that responds to the room's ambient sound by adjusting the intensity of the lit-neon tubes. And believe me, on this floor, there is a lot of sound. The gallery contains works by five artists, and nearly each contains a video with a sound component. Together they reach waves of cacophonous disturbance that might grate on some, but will surely get the attention of all.

Among them, the real standouts are the quieter pieces, such as Snorri Asmundsson's "Video Portraits" (2008-11), a continuously looping video that features a multitude of two-minute video portraits of the artist's friends and associates. "After the first minute, people (in the video) sort of relax and start to get very comfortable in front of the camera. But, usually for the first minute, people are totally self-conscious," Horne says.

With more than 100 video portraits contained within the piece, one can spend an entire afternoon just staring at it.

Just as enthralling and equally simple in concept is Egill Saebjornsson's "Three Bottles" (2008). The quietest piece among the bunch, it's a sublime arrangement of three bottles through which the artist projects alternating beams of light that slowly climb the opposite wall.

Horne says it's a reference to the low light of a Polar Night. But it also makes reference to something more. In fact, Horne says, "the gallery is divided into two floors that represents two landscapes."

"This floor here is the Internet landscape, which is, I would argue, the universal landscape now -- the digital universal landscape. That's why there's all of this spillover of noise."

The second half of the exhibit, located on the third floor of the building, is quite a bit more serene. In fact, there is very little noise, save for the sound of a piano emanating from Bryndis Hronn Ragnarsdottir's video "Near Building" (2009).

An edited version of 60 hours of live-recorded material projected in continuation, it is a "recorded experiment" by the artist of herself learning to play the piano by ear.

"The piece she is playing is Bach's Goldberg variations," Horne says. "Bach originally composed it for Count Kaiserling who suffered insomnia and requested that the composer write a piece that could be played through sleepless nights, a piece that would capture his mind and bring him joy."

Horne says this piece is particularly telling because, among Icelandic artists, "there's a complete interface between music and visual arts. There is no separation. The musicians are visual artists and visual artists are musicians like I've never known before. Over there, this type of creative overlap is everywhere."

The works on the third floor represent the literal landscape of Iceland, particularly the two pieces that flank Ragnarsdottir's video.

Darri Lorenzen's "Converge" (2008) is basically a self-contained room that only has one door through which to enter and exit, and one lightbulb. Enter the room and close the door, and you'll find that it will lock behind you. The door remains locked for five minutes. At first, the room is well lit by that one lightbulb. But it slowly dims until the room reaches complete darkness. A few seconds go by and, voila, the bulb comes on and burns brighter than ever. And finally, upon hearing a buzzer sound, the door is unlocked.

The piece gives one the sense of what it's like to live with dissipating light and bright light all once. Add to that the feeling of desolation, being alone in a locked room, and this simple-yet-elegant installation piece speaks volumes of what it's like to live under the extreme environmental conditions of Iceland.

The other installation, which is by Finnbogi Petursson, also makes reference to the lowlight conditions that all Icelanders are familiar with. Titled "Flame" (2011), it's simply comprised of a candle burning in the middle of the room around which is placed four magnifying glasses that magnify the light emanating from the candle and projects a soft glow onto the walls.

The show culminates with an installation piece -- "Path" by Elin Hansdottir -- that is not located on site. It is several blocks away, at 943 Liberty Ave., in a small storefront just opposite the August Wilson Center.

To enter it, you must remove your shoes, then walk through a darkened maze of sorts. The zigzag path is lit only by slivers of light, which will likely bring to mind the work of American artist James Turrell. And, as with Turrell's work, it takes quite a bit of time for your eyes to adjust to the darkness and allow the minimal light provided to lead the way.

It's a bit jarring, to say the least. But the piece underscores the challenges of daily life in Iceland, especially during the Polar Nights. It's well worth seeking out to get the full spectrum of the kind of work presented in this exhibit -- work that not only represents artists from a certain country, but in essence, the country itself.

Additional Information:

'Long Are The Days, Short Are The Nights'

What: A survey exhibition of videos, installations and photographs that characterize the contemporary art scene in Iceland

When: Through Sept. 11. Hours: 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Wednesdays-Thursdays; 11 a.m.-8 p.m. Fridays-Saturdays; 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Sundays

Admission: Free

Where: Wood Street Galleries, 601 Wood St., Downtown

Details: 412-471-5605 or website

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