NORTHERN LIGHTS

Final words: Icelandic Arts Festival

The summer is the season of social gatherings. Fun, festivities and festivals. Beside the fun (and the fest) — festivals are one of the most important tools of any given art market. Folks have a chance to get an overview; explore and enjoy contemporary art.

Most of my favorites festivals are held away from the noisy city. Close to nature — where creative people meets — miracles can happen. Scandinavians are also known to enjoy an especially close relationship to nature. Drinking a flat beer from a bottle, sleeping on a sopping ground — singing along with old popular songs. A necessary part of an overall bulletproof program.

The life does´t get any better.

Northern lights, Jökulsárlón

These two alternative art festivals highlights the beauty of Icelandic nature and national spirit.

Æringur (Rif, Snæfellsnes)

Æringur is an international, artists run festival that is held in a different location every year and focuses on the smaller communities dotting the Icelandic coastline. The festival allows artists to experience the atmosphere outside the capital region and invites them into a space that is not necessarily intended for art exhibitions. It is conceived as a site specific project, that deals with the society and the environment it is held in. Therefore the artists, taking part in the project, stay for a number of days on site before the opening, to develop and work on their projects.

More Northern lights, Snæfellsnes

LungA (Seyðisfjörður)

LungA Art festival is a yearly event held on the east coast of Iceland, in Seydisfjördur. Seyðisfjordur is a small town, decorated with old, well maintained houses and surrounded by an extraordinary views over the mountains and fjords. The festival creates a space were electric vibes from various art forms melt together when artist from all over the world unites at one place through their creativity

Even more Northern lights, Iceland

Photographs taken from google image

.The life is now. Live a little!

MARSHMALLOWS IN MAY

Flavor of the month: Art festivals

May is a good month when it comes to art.

Work by Hanna Frostell (Konstfack exhibition 2011)

In Stockholm, students from Konstfack, Mejan, Beckmans and Berghs will all be presenting their graduation work — new ideas, trends, perspectives — which is really something looking forward to. One of our “artist talk” artist, Erla Silfá, is releasing her final project, Can’t hear my eyes, at Bio Rio the 21st — which I am personally very excited to hear — and Galleri Fotfolket just opened last friday, as the first mobile art gallery in the city.

From the opening of Galleri Fotfolket 11th of May 2012

In Reykjavík, we’ve already been at the graduation exhibition at LHÍ and in a week from now, one of the oldest and most respected arts festivals in Northern Europe, Reykjavík Art Festival, is opening — bringing together 29 artist-collectives with the collaboration of over 100 participants.

Konsthopp will (of course) be on the spot, reporting ‘the créme de la créme’ from the festival!

Art in Translation is another kind of biennial, a 3-day conference event that aims to create an interdisciplinary forum to explore connections between language and various art forms, this year emphasising on creative writing. At last we should also mention MESSA Vision, a small-scale teaser for MESSA 2013 – an ambitious project that claims to be “the first international visual art fair to be held in Iceland”.

Work by Assa Kauppi (Galleri Andersson/Sandström) – Art Copenhagen 2011

Photographs by Konsthopp

Beside what’s mentioned above, many of the art galleries are opening their last exhibition this month, before summer-closing.

We’ll try our best to keep you updated — so be sure you follow! And please let us know about other art festivals / happenings in your city!

Happy Sunday everyone!