The Department of Fine Arts’ main research and collaborative projects
The Iceland Academy of the Arts´ Department of Fine Arts takes active part in international collaboration. The Department has made a bilateral agreement with 37 academies and universities in Europe as part of the Erasmus/Socrates educational programme in addition to interacting with arts schools in the US through the Fulbright grants system. Within Nordplus, the Department of Fine Arts participates in KUNO, a collaborative network of 16 Nordic – Baltic fine arts academies. The collaboration is based on the exchange of students and teachers in addition to other collaborative projects. The Department of Fine Arts has also initiated several collaborative projects with other universities and arts institutions in this country. The Department of Fine Arts has collaborated with the University of Iceland’s Department of Art Theory with regard to the theoretical part of the Department’s Programme and held courses on interactive new media art in collaboration with the IAA Department of Music and the University of Reykjavík.
Workshop Seyðisfjörður
A collaborative project with the Skaftfell Center for Visual Arts in Seyðisfjörður, the Dieter Roth Academy and the Technical Museum of East Iceland. This has taken place annually for the last 10 years. Emphasis is placed on students being able to make use of the unique surroundings which the town and its area offer. The workshop results in students´ public exhibition in the Skaftfell Center for Visual Arts.
Narratives at Work
A collaboration between the Iceland Academy of the Arts´ Department of Fine Arts and École Supérieure des Beaux-Artes de Nantes. The project is a platform for development of independent works of students and teachers from Iceland and France based on research and discussion on the role of narratives in the work of contemporary artists. The project’s first communal workshop took place at Arnarstapi and in Reykjavík last March. The next one takes place in Nantes in September 2012.
Icelandic contemporary art theory
The Iceland Academy of the Arts´ Department of Fine Arts formed and began the research project Icelandic contemporary art theory in the spring of 2011 in collaboration with the National Gallery of Iceland, the Reykjavík Art Museum, the University of Iceland, the Living Art Museum and the Icelandic Association of Art History and Aesthetics. The writings of academics and critics on the Icelandic fine art scene through the past decades are researched in addition to the writings of the artists themselves. Long-term goal of the research project is that an explicit comprehensive overview be created on Icelandic contemporary fine arts.
Vocabulary for the fine arts
The Department of Fine Arts participates in the research project Vocabulary for the fine arts in collaboration with the Icelandic Language Institute, the National Gallery of Iceland, Kópavogur Art Gallery – Gerðarsafn and the University of Iceland Art Collection. The project has been ongoing since 2003.
Nordic Panoramic Interchange
A collaboration between the Iceland Academy of the Arts´ Department of Fine Arts, the Academy of Art and Design in Bergen and in Vilnius and the Royal Institute of Art in Stockholm. The project revolves around ideas on the landscape of the North with a view to the concept panorama. A communal exhibition and conference was held by the Royal Institute of Art in Stockholm in September 2010 and a publication, Horizon, is planned around the project in Spring 2012.
Threads of discussion
Threads of discussion is a collaboration between the Reykjavík Art Museum, Icelandic Art Center and the Iceland Academy of the Arts´ Department of Fine Arts which began in 2011. The plan is to create a platform in this country for international connections and discussion with foreign guests emanating from lectures, introduction of artists and teaching in the Department of Fine Arts. Guests are distinguished curators, academics and artists with established international careers.
Friction
Thirteen visual artists and students in the Academy of the Arts´ Department of Fine Arts engage with ideas linked to the cityscape. Emphasis is placed on utilising the particular surroundings that the city offers by forming collaborations with various institutions, businesses and individuals who can support the implementation or development of the ideas. The project will be disseminated at different stages of development and in various forms but the first exhibition is held at the ASÍ Art Museum on 14 April to 12 May 2012.
The Museum of Living Art – research project on book art and on performance art in Iceland
Students of the Department of Fine Arts work under the guidance of a tutor on two research projects with the Museum of Living Art in Reykjavík, one on book works by Icelandic visual artists and the other on the archive of performance art in Iceland.
Raflost
The Department of Fine Arts has in previous years organised workshops for students in collaboration with the electronic art festival Raflost.
700IS Reindeer Country
The Department of Fine Arts has participated in the international film and video festival Reindeer Country which has been held in Egilsstaðir and Eiðar in recent years. Students have the opportunity to attend a course and work on a piece for participation at the festival.
Sequences, festival of fine arts
Collaboration between the Iceland Academy of the Arts´ Department of Fine Arts and the Sequences Art Festival. Students have the opportunity to assist in the setting up of exhibitions and events for the festival and observe the work processes and approaches of different artists.