The South Iceland Biennale is a live-art venue for sharpening our focus on humanity’s relationship to environments at a precarious time. The goal of the South Iceland Biennale is to support progressive, critical discussion across the fields of art, design, and architecture. The focus will be on rural areas with special emphasis on South Iceland and its inland and highland areas.
Testing Grounds is where ideas for the South Iceland Biennale will be researched and developed. Themes and ideology are explored in experimental workshops. Themes emerging from the Testing Ground will inform the curatorial approach for the biennales. Themes will reflect current issues, be internationally recognized, and impact the local environment.
South Iceland Biennale
The South Iceland Biennale builds relationships. From a home base at the historic farm Stóri-Klofi in the Landsveit district, collaborations will be launched with art museums, galleries, schools, and other cultural institutions in South Iceland. Local knowledge and creative fields will be brought together for the purpose of exploring new ways of meeting the challenges of the future: environmental issues, sustainability, land conservation, innovation, food security, energy use, tourism, globalism, global warming, rapid technological development, social change, racism, and political and economic inequality.
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For enquiries send mail to:
Agnes Ársælsdóttir
agnesar96@gmail.com
Testing Grounds
UPCOMING
Þjórsá, 3-5 May 2024
PAST
Cut: Collective Thoughts, Nordic House November 2022
Stalker Walk Rome, September 2022
Testing Grounds 2.0, September 2022
Stalker Walk Iceland, August 2022
Testing Grounds - The Beginning, September 2021
Think Tank, Stóri-Klofi, September 2019
Context
The idea for the South Iceland Biennale grew out of a collaboration with the owners of the Stóri-Klofi property, where the biennial will have the use of a defunct fox-fur farm and a 100-year-old sheep-house. Stóri-Klofi, in the Landsveit district, is a point of convergence between the highland frontier, the river Þjórsá, Mount Hekla, mountainous recreational areas, popular tourist sites along Route 1 and the terrain surrounding the Búrfell Hydropower Station. Here, at the limit of the habitable world, urgent questions emerge about humanity’s relationship to its environment and its future. From this location, the biennial will promote collaboration with museums, galleries, and educational institutions in South Iceland to create a consortium. Proximity to the capital-city region offers opportunities for delving into sustainability, conservation, new technologies, and the man-made environment. The emphasis will be on local residents’ input and the use of local knowledge and experience in knowledge development.
The Founders
Ósk, Sigrún, and Garðar began collaborating in summer 2020, in the middle of a pandemic. Their motive was the window that had opened in the wake of the pandemic: Assumptions had been shattered; the world was upside-down. Unprecedented times meant a pressing need to gauge the situation and seize the opportunity that this window offered. The idea struck a chord: Artists, designers, and architects agreed on the need for a critical, creative venue. The South Iceland Biennale became the foundation for an artistic movement aimed at examining our relationship to the rest of the world and our future.
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Garðar Eyjólfsson holds an B.A (Honours) degree in Product Design from Central Saint Martins, London and a M.A (Cum Laude) Contextual Design from Design Academy Eindhoven. He mixes contextual, critical and narrative research in his work as a means to explore & translate zeitgeist topics. Utilizing a variety of mediums to manifest his voice, ranging from; artefacts, scenography, curation, fiction, video, performance, dialog and writing.
Garðar is heavily involved in academia. He was the program director of BA Product Design at the Iceland University of the Arts (2012-2017) and program director of MA Design Explorations & Translations program (2017-2020) at the same institution. In addition, Garðar also lectures and conducts workshops in various universities across the globe. Balancing academia with studio practices his work ranges from developing his own projects, curating exhibitions, advising in the public and private sector, project managing and conducting workshops. Garðar also writes in various publications and gives public talks across platforms, often in the form of lectures and dialog in conferences, symposium, and radio.
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Participants
Aðalheiður L. Guðmundsdóttir, Björk Hrafnsdóttir, Bryndís Hrönn Ragnarsdóttir, Freyja Reynisdóttir, Garðar Eyjólfsson, Giulia Fiocca, Hannes Lárusson, Hlökk Þrastardóttir, Joe Keys, Kolbeinn Hringur Bambus Einarsson, Laufey Jakobsdóttir, Lorenzo Romito, Marie Kraq, María Dalberg, Maríanna Dúfa Sævarsdóttir, Martha Lyons Haywood, Ósk Vilhjálmsdóttir, Óskar Örn Arnórsson, Pétur Eggertsson, Ragnhildur von Weisshappel, Sigrún Birgisdóttir, Sigrún Hrólfsdóttir, Silfrún Una Guðlaugsdóttir, Silja Jónsdóttir, Sólbjört Vera Ómarsdóttir, Sólveig María Gunnarsdóttir, Tara Njála Ingvarsdóttir, Tinna Gunnarsdóttir, Tinna Guðmundsdóttir, Unnar Örn, Vikram Pradhan, Vilhjálmur Yngvi Hjálmarsson, Þórunn Dís Halldórsdóttir, Þráinn Hjálmarsson
Background Art: Excersise in Anthropoesis by Garðar Eyjólfsson
Logo Design: Janosch Bela Kratz