Samtal - exhibition of projects

Samtal (Icelandic for conversation) is an annual inter-departmental course at the Iceland Academy of the Arts, bringing together students and instructors from various fields within the Arts. The course’s focus is to enhance and develop dialogue across disciplines and encourage student collaborations in and outside the arts.

With conversation as its theme this year, the course is hosted by the visual arts department, conceptualized by instructors from across the academy together with Berlin based visual artist Stine-Marie Jacobsen who has constructed a series of exercises for participants in the course.

The course is split into two working periods: an intensive first week of lectures and exchanges culminating in exercises, and a second week of independent work and presentations of independently developed conversation method and work.

For the past two weeks a 120 second year BA students from all departments of the Iceland Academy of the Arts have participated in the interdisciplinary course Samtal (Icelandic for ‘conversation’. An an annual course at the IAA, the course’s role is to enhance collaboration across departments and disciplines. This year, the course looked at conversation as its basic subject, and students researched conversation from multiple perspectives. Berlin-based Danish artist Stine-Marie Jacobsen directed the course’s artistic approach this year together with a team of faculty members; Bjarki Bragason, Anna María Bogadóttir, Karl Ágúst Þorbergsson, Erik DeLuca, Berglind María Tómasdóttir, Alexander Graham Roberts, Dainius Bendikas, Thomas Pausz and Bryndís Björgvinsdóttir. The main idea behind conversation as a subject was so delve into discourse about the potential of the arts as veihicles and methods to disseminate the world and the politics latent in daily life.

Subjects of the course involved art as a social practice, conversation as artistic material, synaesthesia, the relationship between colour and sound, research practices based on conversations, myths, legends and social media communication and memes, and the evolution of narratives through oral history. During the two weeks Stine-Marie Jacobsen held a lecture titledTell Me More, investigative journalist Jóhannes Kr. Kristjánsson discussed his practice which has led him to a vast area including uncovering major societal events such as the Panama Papers, artist and film maker Johan Grimonprez screened his latest work, Shadow World, and held a seminar with students. Finally, veterinarian and horse rider, Begga Rist held a lecture on her work with horses and communication between horses and humans.

The course was attended by a 120 students, who have realized 25 independent projects stemming from the last two weeks of discourse. The projects take place throughout the fine arts department, this year’s host of the course.

All are welcome to join us, Friday 20.01 from 16:00-17:00 for a viewing of the projects!