Podcast · Arts & Books

Icelandic Art Center — Out There

by Icelandic Art Center · English · Arts & Books

Created and produced by the Icelandic Art Centre, recorded in 101 Studio in Reykjavík, Out There explores what is out there/is out and about in the contemporary art (scene) in Iceland, between artists, curators and creative professionals, with conversations led by Becky Forsythe and Þórhildur Tinna

New episodes: Monthly
Typical length: 1 hr 2 min
Latest: 3 Jul 2025
Language: English

Latest episode

3 Jul 2025 · 56 min

Snaebjornsdottir/Wilson: Human Relations, Socially Engaged Art & R.A.F.

In this episode, co-host Becky Forsythe @bforsythe and Þorhildur Tinna Sigurðardottir @tindilfaetta meet with collaborative art partnership Bryndis Snæbjörnsdottir and Mark Wilson @markwilson9539, or Snæbjörnsdottir/Wilson, whose 20-year interdisciplinary art practice explores and tests human and more-than-human relational behaviours within specific locations, in a context of environmental change. _ I þessum þætti eiga Becky Forsythe og Þorhildur Tinna i samtali við Bryndisi Snæbjörnsdottur og Mark Wilson. Þau, Bryndis og Mark, einnig þekkt undir listamannsnafninu Snæbjörnsdottir/Wilson, eru…

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Earlier episodes 25 most recent

3 Jul 2025 · 1 hr 17 min
HK Rannversson on Out There podcast
In this podcast episode, Becky and Tinna speak with art historian and curator Heiðar Kári Rannversson about his work locally and internationally, and recently opened exhibitions Sóley Ragnarsdóttir, Queen of Hearts, and Þór Vigfússon, Numbers, places in Gerðarsafn. Heiðar Kári most recently he held a position at the Nordatlantens Brygge in Copenhagen from 2018 to 2022. He has curated multiple shows across Iceland; The Living Art Museum, the National Gallery, and for the Icelandic Art Center. He is the current chairman of the Association of Art History and Theory in Iceland.
14 Jun 2024 · 1 hr 11 min
The Icelandic Folk and Outsider Museum: Summer exhibition & rethinking art outside of the cultural mainstream
In this episode of Icelandic Art Center’s Out there podcast we speak with artists Gunnhildur Hauksdóttir and Unnar Örn, who are board members at Safnasafnið, The Icelandic Folk and Outsider Art Museum. The Icelandic Folk and Outsider Art Museum was founded in 1995 by Níels Hafstein and Magnhildur Sigurðardóttir in Svalbardseyri, in north Iceland. For 30 years the founders and board of the museum have focused their attention on collecting work, and often extensive bodies of works, by artists whose contributions to art have existed outside the cultural mainstream and collections, and have been…
30 Apr 2024 · 1 hr 23 min
HK Rannversson: Queen of Hearts, Numbers, Places and Art Theory in Iceland
In this episode of Icelandic Art Center’s Out there podcast we spoke to the curator Heiðar Kári Rannversson who has been keeping busy with a few exhibitions recently opened locally in Iceland. We discuss the exhibition spring that has sprung in Iceland with a couple of exciting solo exhibitions having opened in Kling & Bang; Andri Björgvinsson and Tara & Silla and the National Gallery; Anna Rún Tryggvadóttir, Þóra Sigurðardóttir and the new iteration of Steina Vasulka’s Borealis Installation from 1993 now on display. Heiðar Kári @hkrannversson is an independent curator, art historian and…
27 Mar 2024 · 1 hr 31 min
Amanda Riffo: On Elastic Stress, House of Purkinje, Chromatography & Rather Expansive
Artist Amanda Riffo joins us to discuss newly receiving the 2024 Icelandic Art Prize Artist of the Year award, exhibitions, projects, residencies and creative coincidences. Amanda received the award based on her exhibition House of Purkinje , her first major solo show, which was exhibited in The Living Art Museum in 2023 and curated by Sunna Ástþórsdóttir. Amanda’s natural storytelling takes us through various works and exhibitions, art encounters, soundtracks, some of her personal history and the ways she approaches thinking about and creating art. Amanda Riffo (b.1977) is a French-Chilean…
31 Jan 2024 · 1 hr
Egill Sæbjörnsson: On Magma, Mankind, Object Species, his Infinite Friends of the Universe and current solo exhibit at the National Gallery of Iceland.
Artist Egill Sæbjörnsson joins Becky & Tinna to discuss his solo exhibit at the National Gallery of Iceland titled Egill Sæbjörnsson and Infinite Friends of the Universe. In the exhibition, Egill invites an infinite number of friends to join in an instance of togetherness in the endless playroom of art. On view until February 25th 2024, so make sure you make the visit whilst you can! This is the first episode of the year and Becky & Tinna think about a few exhibitions as they look back on 2023. Like most years, the art scene and exhibition-making circuit was productive in various ways and…
29 Nov 2023 · 1 hr 12 min
Null Island: Artist Hekla Dögg Jónsdóttir on her art in current mid-career retrospective at Kjarvalsstaðir, Reykjavík Art Museum
In this episode we meet artist Hekla Dögg Jónsdóttir @hekladoggjonsdottir to discuss her current mid-career retrospective at Reykjavík Art Museum – Kjarvalsstaðir @reykjavikartmuseum, an ongoing series of exhibitions that aims to draw attention to and celebrate the various contributions made by artists in Iceland. Hekla Dögg Jónsdóttir is an artist who supports other artists, whether through inviting them into her work, actively participating in the artist-led scene or as an educator who aims to contribute to a living, shifting and expanding communal arts scene. Heklas is an active member of…
25 Oct 2023 · 1 hr 58 min
Sequences live programme with Tereza Eyrún Hofová
In this episode of Icelandic Art Center’s podcast “Out There” Tereza Eyrún Hofová does a take over of the podcast and talks to Teo Ala-Ruona, Johhan Rosenberg and Netti Nüganen. Tera was assisting Sequences Art Festival production being a part of an internship programme run by the festival and the Icelandic Art Center. Young Boy Dancing Group's performance is the art work of the month, with their latest performance being made at the final day of the Sequences XI - Can't See festivities at the Reykjavík Art Museum - Hafnarhús. In the episode Tera interviews some of the performance artists…
26 Sep 2023 · 1 hr 19 min
Art, the world and power with artist Ragnar Kjartansson
Artist Ragnar Kjartansson joins us in this episode and we travel along the spectrum of emotions including love and understanding, fear satire and fakery. Ragnar shares stories about art for theater, the role of fiction, feminism and pushing things to the end in his works, exhibitions, radical meetings and collaborations. As one of the most recognized and well-loved contemporary artists of our time, Ragnar’s works spark something human, are sometimes misunderstood, but most often adored. He has exhibited across the world and realized a number of meaningful collaborations with artists,…
29 Aug 2023 · 1 hr 14 min
For Those Who Couldn’t Cross the Sea: Curator Elham Fakouri and Sabina Westerholm, Director at the Nordic House.
In this episode we critically unpack For Those Who Couldn’t Cross the Sea with curator Elham Fakouri and Sabina Westerholm, Director of the Nordic House. We discuss exhibition themes, the unique position of the Nordic House within the Icelandic art world and some of the inner workings of curating in public institutions. This episode concludes with focus on the current exhibition at the Nordic House, MASKS by artists Kjetil Ingvar and Gøran Ohldieck. This is take two for the exhibition, which was censored and taken down when first exhibited forty years ago, in the 80s, due to homophobic and…
27 Jun 2023 · 1 hr 30 min
Sigurður Guðmundsson - From ARS LONGA contemporary art museum (est. 2021) to influential SÚM group (est. 1969)
In this episode we speak with Sigurður Guðmundsson, Artist and co-founder of the international contemporary art museum ARS LONGA, initiated with Þór Vigfússon & Ineke Guðmundsson in 2021 and based in Djúpivogur. We talk about the upcoming summer show that is to open at ARS LONGA on the 8th of July, summer 2023. Sigurður tells us stories spanning his career, plays some symphonies that resonate with different periods in his life, including legendary SÚM group initiatives back in the 70’s and unpacks some of his unique conceptual ideology, both in life and art-making. ARS LONGA strives to be a…
23 May 2023 · 50 min
Skaftfell Art Center: Imagining a Skaftfell Community with Director Pari Stave
In this episode we converse with Pari Stave, Director at Skaftfell Art Center. Pari shares her vision for fostering a connected art community in Seyðisfjörður and newly nurturing the interdependencies between the many art initiatives that can be found in the fjord. We equally discuss the unique international profile of the institution and its legacy, as well as the challenges of being geographically and metaphorically located on the periphery of Iceland. We debut the new segment “Artwork of the month” in the episode, however, you’ll have to listen until the end to know which art work it is!…
25 Apr 2023 · 1 hr 8 min
The Wheel: On the outdoor exhibition series, the most recent iteration “All is Well” and the Reykjavík Sculpture Association with curator Kristín Dagmar Jóhannesdóttir and artist Haraldur Jónsson.
The new episode of Out There features the exhibition series The Wheel I - V, represented by Kristín Dagmar Jóhannesdóttir curator of “THE WHEEL V: All is Well”, the last and final iteration of the annual series, and Haraldur Jónsson visual artist and chairman of the exhibition committee of the Reykjavík Association of Sculptors. Becky and Tinna get to know the Association’s origin story and past projects. More recently “All is Well” was selected as the Group Show of the Year at the Icelandic Art Prize. The final edition of The Wheel took place in postcodes 101, 102 and 107 in Reykjavík.…
27 Mar 2023 · 46 min
OPEN: From minding the gap to printing the internet with artists at Open Arnar Ásgeirsson and Örn Alexander Ámundason.
This episode of Out There features artist-led initiative Open, represented by two of the founding members Arnar Ásgerisson and Örn Alexander Ámundason. Open is both a shared artist studio and an artist run exhibition space. Founded and organized by artists Arnar Ágeirsson, Hildigunnur Birgisdóttir, Una Margrét Árnadóttir and Örn Alexander Ámundason, Open is the groups studio space on a daily basis, that can be tucked away and transformed into an event, performance and exhibition platform according to the schedule and needs of the space and its occupants. Based in the old fishing district and…
S2 · E7 · 21 Feb 2023 · 1 hr 2 min
Tracing Fragments: Exhibition Review with Curator Daría Sól Andrews and Brynja Sveinsdóttir, Director at Gerðarsafn
In this episode we critically unpack Tracing Fragments with curator Daría Sól Andrews and Brynja Sveinsdóttir, Director of Gerðarsafn. We discuss exhibition themes, Gerðarsafn’s unique position within the Icelandic art and museum community, and the inner workings of independent curating in public institutions. Tracing Fragments includes works by Kathy Clark, Sasha Huber, Hugo Llanes, Frida Orupabo, Inuuteq Storch and Abdullah Qureshi. Through their works, these artists provide potential tools for emancipation and possibilities for healing by revisiting notions of identity ridden with complex…
25 Jan 2023 · 57 min
Maria Alyokhina: On Pussy Riot’s exhibition Velvet Terrorism, over a decades worth of protests and consequences in Russia.
In this episode of Icelandic Art Center’s podcast “Out There” Becky and Tinna talk with Maria Alyokhina, or Masha from Pussy Riot, about the exhibition Velvet Terrorism in Kling & Bang Gallery which has generated an important response in the local and international context. The exhibition comes to a close for now this coming Sunday at the end of January 2023. This conversation covers the first presentation of Pussy Riot’s political actions in the exhibition and Putin’s war on Ukraine. Masha speaks about her own personal experiences and Pussy Riot’s efforts to raise awareness around the…
25 Dec 2022 · 1 hr 8 min
The Iceland University of the Arts: On the Fine Art and Curatorial Practice programmes with Bjarki Bragason and Hanna Styrmisdóttir
In this episode of Out There Becky and Tinna discuss what is taking place at Iceland University of the Arts, from the perspectives of artist and head of the fine art department Bjarki Bragason and curator and Professor Hanna Styrmisdóttir. Sharing their personal experience and diverse professional backgrounds, Bjarki and Hanna contribute to the progressive and expanding art university in Iceland. We discuss the Universities goals, ambitions and future, program formats and the thriving student body. Hanna Styrmisdóttir is a curator, art adviser and supervising professor of the International…
17 Nov 2022 · 47 min
Lukas Strolia: In conversation with J.L. Murtaugh and Erik Vojevodin about the artist-run space Autarkia.
In this episode of Icelandic Art Center’s podcast “Out There” Lukas Strolia (LT), who was assisting the Icelandic Art Center as a part of the Borderland Poetics exchange project between Rupert (LT) and CCA (EE), talks to his colleagues J.L. Murtaugh (US) and Erik Vojevodin (LT) about the artist-run space Autarkia , Vilnius. Autarkia is located in the former workers’ canteen at the long-gone secret Soviet military factory in Vilnius, Lithuania. The group discusses what it takes to run a self-proclaimed Artist daycare centre, which is liquid enough to act as an artwork and the creative entity…
19 Oct 2022 · 50 min
Sigurður Guðjónsson: Within Perpetual Motion, Multisensory Sculpture-making and the Artist's Poetic Materiality.
The episode is devoted to speaking with Sigurður Guðjónsson who is best known for his striking time-based media works that often focus on human-made machinery and technical relics, investigating their enigmatic, hidden elements, just beyond our field of vision. Becky and Tinna talked with Siggi about his contribution to La Biennale di Venezia, the multisensory sculpture Perpetual Motion. They also discussed his art practice throughout the years as well as two exhibition openings in Reykjavik, Iceland this October 'Perpetual Motion' at BERG Contemporary and 'Transits' at Reykjavik Art Museum…
15 Aug 2022 · 48 min
AIVAG: On Precarity and Adversity for Artists of Foreign Origins in Iceland, Artist Visa and CHANGE.
The second episode of the second season of Icelandic Art Center’s #podcast ‘Out There’ is out there! (link in bio) The episode includes conversation with Becky Forsythe @bforsythe and Þórhildur Tinna Sigurðardóttir @tindilfaetta and the Artist in Iceland Visa Action Group @aiv.ag members Wiola Ujazdowska @wiola.ujazdowska and Bryndís Björnsdóttir aka. Dísa @di_official_sa. AIVAG is an advocacy group working towards the possibility of greater accessibility to residency permits for artists in Iceland. Dísa and Wiola are both practicing artists themselves, or art workers as Wiola prefers to…
11 Jun 2021 · 1 hr 8 min
Andri Snær Magnason in conversation with Katie Paterson
In this episode, artist Katie Paterson and writer Andri Snær Magnason talk about the world we live in, the catastrophic consequences of the human race’s behavior, and how art can be a power of change. Katie Paterson is widely regarded as one of the leading artists of her generation. She recently exhibited in the Living Art Museum in Reykjavík with the exhibition The Earth Has Many Keys . The title of the exhibition, taken from a poem by Emily Dickinson, indicates that the earth is the basis for our knowledge of nature, time, change, the universe and ourselves. The Earth Has Many Keys mirrors…
21 Dec 2020 · 45 min
Lucky 3, Lucky Me?
Art collective Lucky 3 is composed of Darren Mark, Dýrfinna Benita Basalan and Melanie Ubaldo. From the perspective of their “collective, first-person immigrant experience” the group has recently opened up new space for conversation on diaspora, displacement, vulnerability and belonging. The collective´s Filipino-Icelandic origins informed their breakthrough exhibition Lucky Me? , held in Kling & Bang in 2019, and as an act of quiet activism, speaks volumes about identity and location, marginalization and claim, Filipino community, and locating culture from the periphery in Iceland. Created…
24 Nov 2020 · 38 min
In the studio with Guðjón Ketilsson
Guðjón Ketilsson is the current recipient of the Artist of the Year award from the Icelandic Art Prize. In this episode we meet him in the studio in downtown Reykjavík. We discuss early memories of art, his first solo exhibition, school abroad and specific works that span his over thirty-year practice. Guðjón’s experience of emerging into an art scene with the raw presence of the avant-garde gives inside perspective into a specific and vibrant time in Icelandic art. Created and produced by the Icelandic Art Centre , Out There brings host Becky Forsythe in conversation with artists, curators…
30 Oct 2020 · 39 min
In the studio with Claire Paugam
In this episode Claire Paugam , a multidisciplinary French artist based in Reykjavík, shares her practice, themes and experiences from within the studio. An active board member of the Living Art Museum and community, Claire is the current recipient of the Motivational Award of the Year. This recognition is given by the Icelandic Art Prize to an emerging artist who has contributed significantly to the local art scene through their generous practice. Created and produced by the Icelandic Art Centre , Out There brings host Becky Forsythe in conversation with artists, curators and art…
S1 · E1 · 9 Oct 2020 · 1 min
Intro
What does the Icelandic art scene look like today? What can we learn from within the artists’ studio? By getting out there into the scene, our field , the studio, the storage, the artist-led space, gallery and museum, and by looking around us? Icelandic Art Center’s podcast Out There brings these things into focus and more. It is a new reflection on a specific place and our present moment; a widened view that offers vibrant impressions of the Icelandic art scene, here and now . Join me, Becky Forsythe, in a series of ongoing conversations with artists, curators, organizers and art…
9 Oct 2020 · 51 min
Markús Þór Andrésson
Opening up our quest to get out and into the environments that define, support and circulate artists and art professionals from Iceland’s art scene, Becky Forsythe sits down with Markús Þór Andrésson, Chief Curator, Exhibitions and Public Engagement at Reykjavík Art Museum. Their conversation builds upon Markús’ own personal experience, art history, meaningful past moments and the present, and leaves us with some thoughts about a potential future art scene in Iceland.

About Icelandic Art Center — Out There

Icelandic Art Center — Out There is a English arts & books podcast from Icelandic Art Center. Melo plays each episode straight from the publisher's own feed — no ads added, no account needed — and remembers where you stopped, in this browser only.

Publisher: Icelandic Art Center
Language: English
Category: Arts & Books
New episodes: Monthly
Typical length: 1 hr 2 min
Latest episode: 3 Jul 2025
Feed: RSS — paste into any podcast app
Apple Podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1535257340
Rights: Icelandic Art Center

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