Anniversary celebration of the Faculty of Performing Arts: Forum on the future of performing arts education
This fall, it has been 25 years since the acting program in Iceland rose to university level when the Icelandic Drama School was closed down and the acting program was founded at LHÍ in 2000, in addition to the 20th anniversary of the establishment of the stage master's program and the diploma program in contemporary dance at LHÍ in 2005.
It is clear that the establishment of these tracks, and later the international contemporary dance program for a bachelor's degree, has had an unspeakable impact on Icelandic performing arts and has strengthened both the professional scene and the academic community to an equal extent On the occasion of this turning point, the performing arts department of the Iceland Academy of the Arts invites you to a birthday party and seminar on Saturday, September 13.
Bjarni Jónsson, playwright and stage artist, gives a festival address and the performing arts group 16 lovers steps on the deck, as well as guests are invited to sit and participate in seminars about the future of performing arts studies. This will of course be a cake!
The seminar will take place in the premises of the Iceland Academy of the Arts at Laugarnesvegi 91, 105 Reykjavík. Enter above the house, from the gravel parking lot.
Admission is free, but guests are kindly requested to register in the form below.
Program
11:30-12:00 - House opens.
12:00-12:15 - Una Þorleifsdóttir, dean of the Faculty of Performing Arts, welcomes visitors.
12:15-13:00 - Bjarni Jónsson gives a celebratory address: Some things that change.
13:00-13:30 - 16 lovers: Can someone help me ?
13:30-14:00 - Coffee, cake and birthday song.
14:00-16:00 - Three parallel seminars on the future of performing arts studies: Acting studies, stage writer studies, and contemporary dance studies.
This winter, there is a review of all study paths in the BA program at the Faculty of Performing Arts, so we want to use this birthday celebration to invite the professional forum to a conversation about the future of performing arts studies in Iceland.
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Acting studies - Looking to the future
- room L141The director of the acting course, Agnar Jón Egilsson, leads the seminar.
Seminar participants: Birna Pétursdóttir, Halldóra Geirhardsdóttir, Stefán Jónsson & Þorvaldur Davíð Kristjánsson.
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Screenwriter Program - Looking to the future
- Salon L223The professional director of the stage writer's course, Gréta Kristín Ómarsdóttir, leads the seminar.
Seminar participants: Egill Heiðar Anton Pálsson, Eva Rún Snorradóttir, Karl Ágúst Þorbergsson & Kolbrún Björt Sigfúsdóttir.
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Contemporary dance studies - Looking to the future
- Salon L143The professional director of the international contemporary dance program, Katrín Gunnarsdóttir, leads the seminar.
Seminar participants: Aðalheiður Halldórsdóttir, Brogan Davison, Felix Urbina & María Kristín Jóhannsdóttir.
About Bjarna Jónsson: Bjarni completed his magisterial degree in theater studies from the Ludwig Maximillians Universität in Munich in 1992 and since 1994 has worked independently as a playwright, dramaturg and translator. He is the author of a number of plays and plays for theater and radio, was twice nominated for the Nordic Playwrights Award („Kaffi“ 1998 and „Ohapp!“ 2008), won the Nordic Radio Award in 2004 for „The Sleep Wheel“, which he collaborated with the band Múm og Grímuna in 2018 for his play of Jón Kalman Stefánsson's trilogy, „Heaven and Hell“.
Bjarni is one of the founders of the theater group Kriðpleir and has been one of his main drivers as co-author and director of the works „Blokkin“„ (2012), “Little call„ (2013), “Late research„ (2014) “Crisis meeting„ (2015), “Somebody's biography„ (2016), “The Bonus Tour„ (2018), “Little Christmas„ (2019), “Spring debts„ (2021) and “The Shopping Bag" (2025).
Bjarni has also worked as an author and dramaturg with the Dublin-based theatre group The Brokentalkers („Have I No Mouth“, „Frequency 783“, „This Beach“, Woman Undone, “The Boy Who Never Was„, “Bellow„) and as a dramaturg in the works of Erna Ómarsdóttir; “Sacrifice„, “Tomorrow Is Another Day Of Wants And Needs„, “Orpheus+Eurydike„, “The Juliet Duet„ and “The Rings of Orpheus„ He was one of the founders of Lókal, an international drama festival in Reykjavík in 2007 and in charge of the festival until 2018
About 16 lovers: The performing arts group is a collaboration of artists from different sectors, drama, art, music, dance and performance art. 16 lovers put on shows where the boundaries of traditional theater performances are met and thus put to the test in the midst of reality and performances. In their content, 16 lovers strive to test and stretch current discourse and invite the audience to a „experimental studio“, where their own society, ideals and values are dissected, where the audience and actors examine the composition of society together.
16 lovers have shown their work at the Art Festival in Reykjavík and at the international theater festival Lókal, in addition to which the group has participated in collaboration with the National Theater, the National Culture House and most recently the Institute of Social Sciences of the University of Iceland. 16 lovers were nominated for two Mask Awards in 2012; playwright of the year and wand of the year, for the play Exhibition of the year, and won the prize for wand of the year.
The methodology of 16 lovers is based on the idea of direct democracy, and the works are always done in an interdisciplinary workshop without the actual director or author involved.
