About Art Without Borders 2014
The Festival
The eleventh anniversary of Art Without Borders will open on April 11th at 5:30 p.m. at Reykjavík City Hall. His Honour Mayor Jón Gnarr will officially open the event, at which a myriad of artists will introduce and exhibit their work.
Through to May 25th, a diverse programme will take place throughout Iceland, with one project director located in every quarter of the country organizing events in partnership with local people.
Art Without Borders is a festival for all who want to be included, either as participants or spectators. The festival was first held in 2003 during the European Year of People with Disabilities. Its aim has been to improve accessibility, diversity and equality in cultural life and to tear down barriers between disabled and non-disabled artists. Art Without Borders is a celebration of diversity in a rich society. The festival is not an organization but rather a grassroots movement.
The 2014 Festival Artist
This year’s Festival Artist is Sigrún Huld Hrafnsdóttir, painter and former Olympic swimming champion. Sigrún Huld began studying art in earnest in 1997, painting largely with pastels, but today uses acrylic paints and watercolours as well. She paints mainly houses, trees , mountains and animals, drawing her inspiration from her immediate visual environment. Sigrún Huld’s work will be exhibited at the Mosfellsbær Gallery (Listasal Mosfellsbæjar). In addition, her cooperative work with Sara Riel will be shown at Kjarvalsstaðir and will join an auction to support Art Without Borders.
The 2014 Programme
This year, as in past festivals, an impressive programme will be offered at which guests and passers-by can enjoy art and culture in their most varied forms.
Concoction
One of the biggest events within Art Without Borders, entitled “Concoction” (Samsuða), involves two artists’ collaboration, followed by the exhibition and auction of their work. The two artists, one disabled and the other non-disabled, will exhibit their work from April 23rd through the 27th at Kjarvalsstaðir. The auction, to support Art Without Borders, will be held on Sunday April 27th at 6:00 p.m.
The cooperating artists are:
Eggert Pétursson and Guðrún Bergsdóttir
Sigrún Huld Hrafnsdóttir and Sara Riel
Hugleikur Dagsson and Ísak Óli Sævarsson
Erling Klingenberg and Karl Guðmundsson
Audio descriptions
Special emphasis will be placed on how the blind and visually impaired can practice and enjoy art. An evening of entertainment will take place on Wednesday April 23rd at Rosenberg, where a blind woman will introduce Polish folk tunes. Bergvin Oddsson, or “Beggi Blindi” as he calls himself, will be the master of ceremonies.
We will offer art exhibitions and film screenings with audio description (also known as visual description), describing visual experiences orally for those who cannot see. A seminar will also be held on the audio description of visual experiences, where we will present different types of visual information and discuss the urgent need for audio description in Iceland – for example, in television, cinema, theatre, museums and exhibitions. At Borgarleikhús (Reykjavík City Theatre) the family play Little Hamlet will become the first Icelandic theatre production to be shown with both audio description and sign language interpretation. Headphones will be made available with audio descriptions in which actors provide shadow interpretation, with one interpreter for each actor.
The project “Painted by audio description” will be pilot tested, with artists “painting by ear”, or painting while listening to an audio description of the famous Icelandic work Summer Evening in Reykjavik by Þórarinn B. Þorláksson. The artists’ works, as well as prints of the originals and a video of the process, will move to Týsgallerí.
Painted by mouth
Artists who paint with brushes held in their mouth will hold an exhibition at the National Museum and will paint in an open studio where those who are interested can observe the technique. Derek Mundell will hold a lecture on artists who use mouth painting, and mouth painters will be on site to demonstrate the technique in practice.
Only a fraction of all the 2014 Art Without Borders events have been mentioned here, since the program as a whole consists of about 70 events with hundreds of participants.
Further details about the programme may be found on the festival website www.listin.is, or by contacting project leader Íris Stefanía Skúladóttir by e-mail at listanlandamaera@gmail.com or by calling 411-5534 or 691-8756.
Painting below by Karl Guðmundsson og Erling Klingenberg.
