Hanna Styrmisdóttir

Hanna Styrmisdóttir is a curator based in Iceland and Professor of the MA in Curatorial Practice (from 2020) at the Iceland University of the Arts. Hanna holds a Postgraduate Certificate in Critical Studies from Malmö Art Academy / Lund University; an MA in Fine Art: Sculpture from Chelsea College of Art / University of the Arts London; and a BFA in Fine Arts from Parsons School of Design / The New School. She was Artistic Director of the Reykjavík Arts Festival from 2012 through 2016, curating four editions of the then annual festival, in collaboration with thirty key arts institutions and festivals in Iceland and internationally every year. During her appointment she emphasized new collaborative work and commissions with a focus on the works of women artists (over two consecutive editions), censorship and rights struggle in the arts in general, inclusivity, the reimagining of public spaces, artistic processes and audiences’ experiences. In addition to the Iceland University of the Arts and the Reykjavík Arts Festival, Hanna has held positions at the Reykjavík Art Museum and the Nordic House in Iceland,and directed and co-managed large-scale projects such as the Icelandic Visual Arts Awards (Akureyri Art Museum and RÚV / INBS 2006) and the Northern Lights Festival (1998-2000), a collaboration of the three Nordic European Cities of Culture 2000 (Bergen, Helsinki, Reykjavík). In 2007, Hanna was the curator of Steingrímur Eyfjörd’s The Golden Plover Has Arrived for the Icelandic Pavilion at the 54th Venice Biennale.