Art studies: The sensory knowledge

See English below

Researchers are increasingly focusing on artists and how they approach their subjects. The intuition and creative thinking that artistic creation requires has proven to be a successful complement to the standard methods of science. Artists are curious individuals who apply critical and interdisciplinary thinking to solutions to complex problems. Often that skill has been developed from a young age. Art studies therefore have a value far beyond the obvious aesthetic aspects.

Despite this, there seems to be a lack of understanding and dialogue with the research environment. The purpose of Hugarflugi 2024 is to find out what lies behind it. Need a common language? Are the research methods of artists too different from the traditional ways to be taken seriously? Could the results of art research be communicated in a different way than is done, or is the quality sometimes simply lacking?

We open the discussion with the aim of answering the above questions. Iceland Academy of the Arts is calling for proposals of any kind, presentations of research that is ongoing or has been carried out by our staff, students and/or partners. In this way, we hope to produce a "screen shot" of our research culture that can be discussed among ourselves and no less with representatives of today's broad research environment. The discerning eye of the visitor is a valuable contribution to the development of research within the Iceland Academy of the Arts for the future.

Brainstorming 2024 will be held in Hamri, Stakkahlíð 1, LHÍ building on September 13th. 

Brainstorming Committee 2024

Ása Helga Hjörleifsdóttir
Carl Boutard
Ingimar Ólafsson Waage
Katrín Ólína Pétursdóttir
Pétur Jónasson
Sahar Ghaderi
Elín Þórhallsdóttir

Artistic Research: The Tacit Knowledge  

The creative insight of artists is increasingly attracting the attention of the wider research arena. Artists' divergent thinking (ie imaginative, open ended) has been shown to add a new, beneficial dimension to problem solving which hitherto has mostly been in the hands of convergent thinkers (ie logical, analytical). But the artist's mind is also an investigative mind. It is a modern, cross-disciplinary mindset, geared towards working on highly complex tasks through skills which have often been developed from a very young age. Needless to say, there is thus great value in artistic research, beyond the simple aesthetic value of art works which is more generally and easily recognized. 

Still, there seems to be a lack of understanding between these different research communities. The overarching question Hugarflug 2024 seeks to answer is: why? Is it a lack of common terminology? Are the methods of investigation used by artists too different from the more traditional ways of performing research to be taken seriously? Are artists' means of dissemination not clear enough, or is it even a simple question of quality? 

In order to answer the above questions, we want to open the field to wide discussion. The Iceland University of the Arts calls for research proposals of any kind being performed¾or having been performed¾by our staff, students and collaborators. The aim is to provide a snapshot of our research output and to sit down and talk, not only among ourselves but not least with representatives of the wider research community who will be invited to the discussion, providing a valuable "guest's eye". It is thus a truly open call.

Brainstorming  

The brainstorming research conference of the Iceland University of the Arts will be held on February 9 and 10.  

The theme of this year's conference is: Multiple futures, where the challenges we face and will shape the future will be considered.  

Among the participants are the keynote speaker philosopher Philip Kitcher, who discusses the role of art in enrich human experience and make it easier for us to throw anger at ourselves, our world and life. 

Other participants come from all over and represent diverse arts and disciplines who offer interdisciplinary seminars, workshops, lectures and video installations. Papers cover artificial intelligence in art creation, diverse communication methods in art education, the home office from the perspective of architecture, employee research in music and interesting round table discussions where we can dream together about the future, but the discussions are moderated by people aged 13-18.

The conference is held on Friday, February 10 at LHÍ, Laugarnesvegi 91, 105 Reykjavík. The program starts at 9:00 and lasts until 17:00, admission is open to all and free.

The opening ceremony of Hugarflug will be at 17:00-18:00 on Thursday, February 9 at Y Gallerí in Hamraborg 12, 200 Kópavogur, where a group of contemporary dancers shake us up with Februar Idea Dump and we listen to a talk about Hamraborg Deammachine, which explores the future and past of this urban landscape in a dreamlike way . The event is open to all and free.

We are at the tipping point of the various challenges of climate change, the pandemic, the fight for rights and also the war disaster in Europe with the Russian invasion of Ukraine. These are truly exciting times, but we strive to analyze the situation and what the future holds. What we face is the urgent need to nurture our communities, to nurture the basic values ​​that matter most in the life of the whole and of each individual. How do we best ensure solidarity against tyranny and for peace and justice? What are the values, how do we move forward, together, into the future we don't know what it is; nature and the species that together create the ecosystem we live in? How do we create together, how do we dream together, a world that takes care of everyone?     

At the 2022 Hugarflug of the Iceland Academy of the Arts, we want to talk about how each person is part of a whole, sometimes many wholes. How each experience and action is tied to a larger context. How we flow, instead of being stuck; how we connect as a whole, rather than standing alone; how we face the possibility that none of us can come up with a solution, but that it lies in the collective power, now and in the future.    

No one is an island (collective care) is the theme of Hugarflug 2022.  

The keynote speaker of the conference is Sonya Lindfors
Black room: 14:00-15:00,  

The title of her talk is:  Attempting the impossible – decolonial dreaming practices
How to dream of futures that we don't know yet how to dream of? Well, as Afrofuturist Sun Ra once said: "The possible has been tried and failed." Now it is time to try the impossible." 

Radical dreaming can be a powerful tool to reimagine intersectional feminist and decolonial futures – as well as presents. In her mini talk choreographer Sonya Lindfors talks about the power of speculation, dreams, responsibilities and the decolonial dreaming project We Should All Be Dreaming. 

Sonya Lindfors is a choreographer from Cameroon and Finland and has made a name for himself both in the Nordic countries and beyond for his dance works and writing, but also as the artistic director of UrbanApa, an anti-racist and integrated feminist art institution in Helsinki. Her work centers questions about the politics of the black body, manifestations and power structures, possible futures and deconstructive decolonial dream practices / creating spaces that allow people to dream new ways of living.. 

THE THEME IS: TURNING POINT

Hugarflug is a forum for open, professional and critical discussion about arts, design and architecture; about knowledge creation in the broad field of art and its overlap with other fields of study, with an emphasis on the diversity that characterizes the approaches, methods, materials, communication and research used there.

We are at a turning point in history that requires us to reflect on the role and importance of the arts in the regeneration of societies following major world events such as the one we are currently experiencing. Challenging challenges lie ahead in climate and environmental issues, the circular economy, democratization and social structure. How can we respond to these challenges and provocations at the level of art? How do we begin to understand and respond to the profound changes in our environment that we face? How do we use the ideological renewal that is an important part of artistic creation, for the good of our environment and society? How have the arts responded to such challenges in history?

One of the main goals of the conference is to offer a safe space for peers where it is safe to ask open questions, perform experiments and present projects in progress. Staff, students and part-time teachers of the University of the Arts, and other working artists, designers, architects and academics are encouraged to submit proposals.

Since the conference will be electronic, we encourage participants to use a variety of methods, media and approaches to find the appropriate framework and form for their contribution digitally. A contribution could, for example, take a physical or visual form (exhibition, installation, graphic media), be staged (performance, performance, intervention) or presented verbally (lecture, Pecha Kucha, self-interview/conversational form, roundtable discussion, seminar, workshop). Apart from talks and seminars that will be sent out by LHÍ, only completed proposals such as videos, audio, photographs, text and/or other presentations of art research, art creation, design and architecture will be accepted.

Conference Committee: 
Hanna Styrmisdóttir (chairperson)
Atli Ingolfsson
Ásgerður Roberts Gunnarsdóttir
Gunndis Yr Finnbogadóttir
Hildigunnur Sverrisdóttir
Magnea Einarsdóttir
Karólína Stefánsdóttir (project manager)

The conference will take place electronically on the 8th-14th. February 2021

//

Brainstorming 2021:
The theme is: Turning point – Turning Point

The conference is a platform for an open, informed and critical dialogue on the arts, architecture and design; on knowledge production in the expanded field of the arts as well as their intersections with other fields. Emphasis is placed on the diversity of the approaches, methods, content, dissemination, and research that characterizes the field.
We stand at a turning point in history which requires that we critically reflect on the role and value of the arts in rebuilding societies and communities in the wake of current major world events. Ahead of us are demanding challenges in relation to the climate and the environment, the circular economy, democratic empowerment and the social structure. How can we respond to these challenges and provocations from within the field of the arts? How do we begin to understand and respond to the profound changes we face in our environment? How can we make use of ideological renewal, which is a fundamental driving force in the arts, for the benefit of our environment and society? How have the arts so far responded to such challenges?

One of the main objectives of the conference is to offer a safe space for peers to ask open questions, perform experiments and present works in progress. Staff, students, and part-time lecturers at the Iceland University of the Arts (IUA), as well as other practicing artists, designers, architects and scholars are encouraged to respond to the call.

As the conference will take place as an online event, we encourage participants to use various methods, media, and approaches to find the appropriate form for their digital contributions. As an example, a contribution could take on a material or visual form (exhibition, installation, graphic dissemination), a staged form (performance, intervention), or a verbal form (paper presentation, Pecha Kucha, auto-interview, panel discussion, seminar, workshop). Apart from paper presentations and seminars, which will be streamed by the IUA, we will only accept fully developed contributions containing video, audio, photography, text and/or other forms of dissemination of artistic research, artistic practice and design.

The conference will take place online 8.-14. February, 2021.

Conference Committee:
Hanna Styrmisdóttir (chair)
Atli Ingolfsson
Ásgerður Roberts Gunnarsdóttir
Gunndis Yr Finnbogadóttir
Hildigunnur Sverrisdóttir
Magnea Einarsdóttir
Karólína Stefánsdóttir (project manager)

Brainstorming on February 13 and 14, 2020

Hugarflug, the annual conference of the University of the Arts, is now taking place for the ninth time, and this time there was a call for papers on the subject. narratives.

The conference is a forum for staff, students and others engaged in creativity and research in the academic fields of art or in close proximity to them to meet and ask questions, experiment and present their projects. The intention is to facilitate the possibility of collaboration across different fields and to pave the way for new connections and dialogues.

The conference committee received many good suggestions, and we were particularly pleased to receive many good suggestions from artists and academics working outside the University of the Arts, as dialogue outside the university is an essential part of the work that takes place here.

As can be seen in the program of the conference, the seminars are characterized by diverse perspectives on the nature and mission of narratives in history and the present. Among the topics covered are the arrival of polar bears in the country and the history of Icelandic jazz music, the support system of the market, equality and diversity in the field of university work, to name just a few.

The conference's key speakers are Hildur Guðnadóttir and Egill Sæbjörnsson, who have each attracted a lot of attention for their use of the narrative potential of art. The special guest of the conference is God, Guðmundur Oddur Magnússon, a research professor at the Iceland Academy of the Arts who is currently putting the finishing touches on an extensive study of the visual storytelling heritage of the Icelandic nation.

There is obviously a lot to take in and we encourage visitors to familiarize themselves with the program as we warmly welcome you to Hugarflug 2020.

Sincerely, Conference Committee,

Martin Sindri Jónsson
Chairman of the committee and assistant professor in the department of design and architecture
Ásgerður G. Gunnarsdóttir
Lecturer and subject manager in the performing arts department
Ingimar Ólafsson Waage
Lecturer and subject manager in the art education department
Jesper Pedersen
Adjunct in the Department of Music
Páll Haukur Björnsson
Adjunct in the Faculty of Fine Arts
Ólöf Hugrún Valdimarsdóttir
Hugarflug project manager

The conference will take place in the premises of the University of the Arts at Laugarnesvegi 91 on Thursday 13 and Friday 14 February 2020.

Registration is not required and everyone is welcome.

KEYNOTE SPEAKERS

Hildur Guðnadóttir

Egill Sæbjörnsson

SPECIAL GUEST / SPECIAL GUEST

Guðmundur Oddur Magnússon - God

Brainstorming 15 – 16 February 2019

Brainstorming 8 – 9 February 2018

(English below)

Hugarflug is the annual conference of the University of the Arts and will now be held for the fifth time. The goal of the conference is to create a platform for professional and critical discussion about knowledge creation with an emphasis on artistic research and the diversity that characterizes the approach, methods, materials and communication in the field.

Hugarflug offers opportunities for networking in the academic context of the creative disciplines and brings together school staff, students, part-time teachers and working artists, designers, curators, artistic directors and academics in the fields of culture, art and education.

This year's program is particularly auspicious, with 18 seminars, performances, workshops and joint discussions taking place on Friday 19 February. On Thursday, February 18, we invite you to start with an interesting talk by Rolf Hughes, professor at the University of the Arts in Stockholm, together with a panel discussion with Friða Björk Ingvarsdóttir, rector of the University of the Arts.

The conference will take place in the premises of the Department of Art Education and the Department of Visual Arts, Laugarnesvegi 91.

KEYNOTE:

ROLF HUGHES: MONSTROUS RESEARCH STRATEGIES: ON CREATING AN EXPERIMENTAL FLYING CIRCUS

This presentation yokes together different research traditions to explore monstrousness as a research strategy that spans conventions of scientific and artistic research traditions to create a hybrid "transdisciplinary" (ie monstrous) research form. I will argue that such forms are risk-led and prone to failure, but also best placed to create "innovative" research. They are also most appropriately communicated through "monstrous" formats. My own artistic practice is within the field of the prose poem - itself a "monstrous" yoking together of two seemingly disparate genres - my PhD (from UEA) was similarly within "Creative and Critical Writing", and my professional practice over the past twenty years has taken place within the field of artistic research, which can also be described as a monstrous category in its collision of two distinct terms (the arts and research, which until relatively recently has been associated with the scientific).

Monsters destabilize identity, genre, discipline – ie categories that make claims on authority. Monstrousness is the site of experimentation, where certainties are torn apart and stitched together in new formations. One such site of experimentation is my current endeavor to bring together the nascent field of circus arts research with the established field of space research.

Circus arts research is a space of radical transformation, a theater of becoming, full of magic and enchantment. It subverts the tools of assessment applied to other research and demands new approaches. The scientific gaze has observed, measured, sampled and probed the conundrums of complex environments, yet has neglected the transformative space of circus arts research where there are no guarantees, only the exploration of limits. Traditional spaces such as tent, big top or street are now joined by other spaces that nurture different kinds of encounters, expressions, bodies, and new forms of existence. Space is certainly a space of and for monsters, it is just that we have failed to articulate it as such, perhaps drawn to more domestic (or colonizing) visions due to our fear of the unknown.

One such site of monstrous experimentation is starship Persephone. It takes the form of an experimental environment in which the nature of life itself is being choreographed into existence through the interactions of its bodies, spaces and the many potential relationships between them. Persephone's laboratory is a living body produced by countless prototypes and relationships between human and nonhuman agents. It seeks new questions rather than particular affirmations or definitive answers. It is an instrument of radical reinvention of a world we thought we knew. These experimental terrains encapsulate the bold explorations and inventions of circus arts research whose myriad tumbling relationships shape the character of this world.

Persephone's principal investigator, Rachel Armstrong, Professor of Experimental Architecture at Newcastle University School of Architecture, and Rolf Hughes, Head of Research at the newly created Stockholm University of the Arts, are working together to explore monstrous methodologies and materials, and how these might contribute to the creation of a third millennium experimental research laboratory. My

presentation will outline work so far and how a paradigm of monstrosity is at the core of the project's design-led research.

Rolf Hughes Bio (2015)

A prose poet and disciplinary nomad, Hughes has been actively promoting innovative forms of artistic and transdisciplinary research over the past twenty years.

Hughes is Head of Research and Professor of Artistic Research at Stockholm University of the Arts (inaugurated 2014). He has been expert advisor for artistic research at the Swedish Research Council, the Norwegian Artistic Research Programme, and the Austrian Program for Arts-based Research (PEEK); Guest Professor in Design Theory and Practice-Based Research at Konstfack University College of Arts, Crafts and Design (2006-2014); Senior Professor in Research Design at Sint-Lucas School of Architecture (KU-Leuven, Belgium), where he helped create and develop an international, design-led PhD. program (2007-2013). He has also served two terms as Vice President of the international Society for Artistic Research (elected by the SAR membership 2011-2013, unanimously re-elected 2013-2015).

Hughes holds a First Class degree in English and Related Literature (University of York), an MA (with Distinction) in Creative Writing and the first ever PhD. in Creative and Critical Writing funded by the British Academy from the University of East Anglia, UK. He is currently exploring the potential contribution of magic and the circus arts to the conception and design of a third millennium experimental research laboratory. Writing and theater remain central to his endeavor to link diverse forms of experience, expertise, and knowledge.

Conference Committee

Dr. Berglind María Tómasdóttir, assistant professor and head of department at the music department

Dr. Einar Torfi Einarsson, assistant professor at the music department

Dr. Guðbjörg R. Jóhannesdóttir, assistant professor at the Faculty of Design and Architecture and Faculty of Art Education

María Dalberg, MA art student

Ólöf Gerður Sigfúsdóttir, director of research services

Tinna Gunnarsdóttir, assistant professor at the Department of Design and Architecture

The program of Hugarflug 2015

The program of Hugarflug 2014

The program of Hugarflug 2013

Conference on the relationship between artistic creation and research

The agenda of Hugarflug 2012