In the lecture, Dr. Eldborg will focus on ideas and issues relating to queer curatorship and making space for queer art and artists in Iceland in a theoretical, historical, social and cultural context. The lecture will be held in English.
Ynda Eldborg (she/her – they/them) is an art historian and museologist based in Reykjavík. She/They holds a PhD in Art Theory and Art Philosophy from the University of Leicester (2010), focusing on the production of cultural values in progressive commercial contemporary art galleries in Copenhagen, London and Reykjavík. She/they also holds an MA in Museology (University of Leicester, 2002), an MA in Art Theory (De Montfort University, 2000) and a BA in History (UI, 1997).
Having completed the PhD Eldborg’s research turned to the omission of and discrimination against queer art and artists in international artworlds. The research indicated that queer art was near invisible in contemporary artworlds at the time (2010s), and that its historical significance and contemporary impact was hardly, if at all, acknowledged within the cis heteronormative and queer phobic, hegemonic structures of contemporary art.
In recent years, Eldborg has focused on researching the history and context of queer art and artists in Iceland; has lectured on queer art both publicly and at the UI, IUA and the Reykjavík School of Visual Art, and practiced inclusive curating, presenting queer art in public exhibition spaces.
Eldborg has taught and lectured on Art Theory, Art History and History of Mankind at the University of Leicester, University of Iceland and Iceland University of the Arts (2005-2017) and curated exhibitions such as Masks, an exhibition of the work of Kjetil Berge and Gøran Ohldieck at the Nordic House in Reykjavík (2023); On Display: Queer Above Others co-curated with Viktoría Guðnadóttir, Living Art Museum (2022); Rainbow Boulevard: 1200 Years of Hidden History, part of the 2019 Pride Programme, Neskirkja (2019); The Mountain Moved Tonight, solo show by Magnea Ásmundsdóttir, Mokka (2019); Out of the Paranthesis: Art and Samtökin ´78, Grófarhús (2019) in collaboration with Reykjavík Muncipal Archives, Reykjavík City Library and Samtökin ´78 (the National Queer Organisation of Iceland); and A Rainbow Thread (a queer guide through the National Museum of Iceland), with Ásta Kristín Benediktsdóttir and Íris Ellenberger, National Museum of Iceland (2018).
Ynda Eldborg was curator of Gallery 78 for queer art and artists (2015-2020). She/they was the Chair of The Art Theory Association of Iceland (2017-2019) and appointed by the Association to the Jury of the Icelandic Visual Art Award in 2018.
The event is a part of the fall 2023 lecture series held by the Department of Fine Art and takes place in the Laugarnes Lecture Hall (L193) at Laugarnesvegi 91, 105 Reykjavík.
For further information on the lecture series click HERE.
