The Academy of the Senses
The Academy of the Senses was founded in 2007 by visual artists Ragnhildur Stefánsdóttir, Þórdís Alda Sigurðardóttir and Anna Eyjólfsdóttir together with philosopher Sigríður Þorgeirsdóttir. The Academy’s objectives include organizing exhibitions, promoting contemporary art, collaborating with Icelandic and international artists and art institutions, and publishing projects related to art events.
The Academy of the Senses is run by its founders together with art historian Pari Stave and visual artist Rúrí. Margrét Helga Weisshappel is a graphic designer and Academy’s promotion manager. The Academy of the Senses operates as a non-profit organization.
Anna Eyjólfs , artist
Anna is at present chairman of the board of the the Association of Icelandic Artists SÍM. She was chairman of the board of the Association of Reykjavík Sculptors 1995 - 2002 and launched and organized the large scale outdoor exhibition project The Shore Line 1998-2001, in collaboration with The Reykjavík Arts Festival 1998 and the Reykjavík European Culture City 2000, with 28 site specific outdoor sculptures and installations.
She has served on numerous art committees in Iceland.
Rúrí, artist
Cofounder of Nýlistasafnið / the Living Art Museum, in Iceland 1978, founder of the multinational (Nordic) artist movement Experimental Environment, 1978, cofounder of the artist run Galerie Lóa in the Netherlands 1976.
Rúrí is at present a member of the Advisory board of Ljósmyndaskólinn / The School of Photography, Iceland, and she has served as chairman of the board of the Association of Reykjavík Sculptors 1987-1988, of Nýlistasafnið /the Living Art Museum 1983-1984, and on the board 1978-1981. She has served on numerous art committees such as; The Nordic (Scandinavian) Art Committee 1994-2000, Reykavík Arts Festival council 1993-1994, The board of Listakreytingasjóður/ The Public Art Fund, Iceland, the board of the Federation of Icelandic Artists etc.
She was one of the four core artists of the Experimental Environment movement from 1978-1995 which organized ten outdoor exhibitions with large scale site specific artworks, in five countries.
Margrét Helga Weisshappel, graphic designer, promotion manager
Margrét has designed, among other publications, all books associated with the Umhverfing exhibition series.
Ragnhildur Stefánsdóttir, artist
She was chairman of the board of the Association of Reykjavík Sculptors 1988-1989. And was on the board 1990 – 1994 and 2012 – 2014. She was on the board of The Living Art Museum from 1992 – 1996, and on the board of the Association of Icelandic Artists SÍM.
She has served on various committees, Listamannalaun/ The Artist Stipendium comittee, Listskreytingasjóður/The Public Art Fund, Nordic Art funds.
She has made several large sculptures that are permanently placed outdoors in Iceland.
Sigríður Þorgeirsdóttir, professor of philosophy
Sigríður Þorgeirsdottir is professor of philosophy at the University of Iceland. She studied philosophy in Boston and Berlin, and has also taught philosophy in Germany and Finland, most recently as Jane and Aatos Erkko professor at the University of Helsinki.
As a specialist in German philosophy, she has especially written extensively on the philosophy of Nietzsche and is on the scientific board of the Nietzsche Studien . She has done pioneering work on questions of Nietzsche and gender, as well as research into the reception of Nietzsche’s philosophy in the philosophies of Beauvoir, Arendt, Irigaray and Butler. She has also published on women in the history of philosophy, hence participating in efforts of introducing “forgotten” women philosophers to the philosophical canon and curricula.
As a native of Iceland, she is interested in the philosophy of nature, has periodically been active in the environmental movement and written on issues of environmental concern. Presently she is writing a book on the philosophy of the body, displaying how the body has been a missing link in Western philosophy.
Þórdís Alda Sigurðardóttir, artist
She has served on board of the Association of Reykjavík Sculptors 1988-1989, and been involved in the organising of various symposiums and panels in Iceland.
She was on the board of Nordisk Kunstner Forbund/ Nordic Artists Association in 1994-5 and took part in organising the Nordic Artists Association 50 years anniversary exhibition Brunnar / Wells, at the Nordic House, in Reykjavík.
She organised an outdoor exhibition in the neighbourhood of Reykjavík in Dalland in 1984. In 2007 she organised the exhibition The Provincialists in Kópavogur Art Museum, and a symposium with the same title in The Raykjavík Academy. The exhibition travelled later that year to Kunstbanken, in Hamar, Norway. She has edited several art books such as Strandlengjan / The Shore Line, published 1998.
Pari Stave
Curator Pari Stave studied art history at New York University's Institute of Fine Arts.
A curator for more than 30 years, some of her most recent exhibitions include Other Hats: Icelandic Printmaking; Hverfing/Shapeshifting (co-curated with the Academy of the Senses); Iceland: Artists Respond to Nature; Magnetic North: Artists and the Arctic Circle; Munch|Warhol and the Multiple Image; and New Wave Finland; Contemporary Photography from the Helsinki School.
Pari is the former Senior Manager in the Department of Modern and Contemporary Art at the Metropolitan Museum. From 2022-23, she was director of the Skaftfell Art Center in Seyðisfjörður, Presently, she is the Head curator for Exhibitions at the National Gallery of Iceland.