Academy of the Senses - AS - a non-profit artist organization www.academyofthesenses.is
Projects
2008 - 2021 2008 Academy of the Senses is founded
2008 HOME, a group exhibition in Start Art Gallery owned and run by AS
2008 - 2016 Art exchange with the artist run gallery Art on Armitage in Chicago, USA
2008 Litexpo, Artfair, Vilnius, Lithuania. Representation of Start Art Gallery and selected artists.
2009 The Washerwoman´s road / Laugavegurinn, A group exhibition in Start Art Galllery and on the streets downtown Reykjavik with performance participation of the public
2012 Exhibition in Cooperation with Arka Gallery, Vilnius,
2013 Exhibition in Cooperation Panevezys Civic Art Gallery. Lithaen
2013 Exhibition in Cooperation Galeria Miejeska bwa Bydgoszcz in Polland 2014 Performance festival. The cleaning project. Galeria Miejeska bwa Bydgoszcz in Polland
2015- 2016 Harrington Mill Studios, Nottingham , UK
2017 Hverfing / Shapeshifting, exhibiton of 7 Icelandic artist and 9 artists from the United States held in an old Herring Factory in Hjalteyri – north of Iceland.
2017 Center of Contemporary Art, Torun, Poland. Performance festival-Vistula river.
2017 Arka Gallery, Vilnius, Lithuania, Participation in the Textile Biennale.
2017 No 1 Around in Sauðárkrókur, North of Iceland with 14 participating artists.
2018 No 2 Around in Egilsstaðir, East of Iceland with 37 participating artists.
2019 No 3 Around in Snæfellsnes Peninsula, West of Iceland with 71 artists.
2020 Com´on SIM Gallery, Hafnarstræti, Reykjavík Arts Festival, Iceland
2020 On Common Ground, SIM gallery, Korpúlfsstaðir, Reykjavik Arts Festival, Reykjavik, Iceland Upcoming projects
2021-2023 Common Ground, European funded cooperation project with Polish and Lithuanian Artist.
2022 No 4 Around in Westfjords, Strandir and Dalir with 127 artists.
2022 Dandelions, European funded cooperation project with two small cities in Portugal, Evora and Sardoal.
2023 The Dove House, European funded cooperation project with Cetate Arts Danube in Romania.
Publishing activities:
Academy of the Senses and its founders have been involved in the publishing of various art books and a number of smaller leaflets in connections to exhibitions. List of books and catalogues: 2020 On Common Ground, Acaademy of the senses, publishing, 2020 Com´on, Academy of the Senses publishing 2019 Nr. 3 Umhverfing, Academy of the Senses publishing 2018 Nr. 2 Umhverfing, AS publishing 2018 Góður hattur, Precious Hat, AS publishing 2018 Náð til jarðar/ Touching Earth, AS publishing 2017 Hverfing / Shapeshifting, AS publishing 2017 Nr. 1 Umhverfing, 2017 - Tara publishing Leiðir/ Paths 2012, Tara publishing Laugavegurinn, 2009 - Start Art publishing Mega vott, 2007 - Tara publishing Academy of the Senses Skerplugata 7 101 Reykjavík Iceland More informations The Academy of the Senses/ Akademía skynjunarinnar, is a non-profit artist organization located in Reykjavik, Iceland. It was founded in 2008 by few artists and scientists. Artists, Ragnhildur Stefánsdóttir, Anna Eyjólfs and Þórdís Alda Sigurðardóttir are representing Academy of the Senses today and are representative partner of this project. The philosopher Sigríður Þorgeirsdóttir is also one of its founder and is now one of the Academies three consultant. The other two consultants are the artist Rúri and Pari Stave, who is an Art historian and director at the Contemporary department of Metropolitan Museum in new York, USA. Description of selected projects. Start Art Gallery: When Academy of the Senses was founded in 2008 its founders had already been involved in cooperative art activities. One was the founding and organizing the non- profit artist run gallery Start Art in 2007 that merged with the Academy when it was founded. The gallery was operating until the end of 2009. During this period the gallery hosted around 100 exhibitions, of both Icelandic and foreign artists, in its two floor premises, which was located downtown Reykjavik. The Washerwoman´s road / Laugavegurinn, 2009. The project took place both in Start art gallery and outdoors where it stretched along the road Laugavegurinn, often referred to as the spine of Reykjavík, all the way from the hot spring in Laugardalur to the location of the gallery. The exhibition utilized not only the gallery space but also several empty shopping spaces along this busy street. An important part was a performance procession from the hot spring to Start Art gallery with the participation of the public. It also included a workshop and the publication of a book which documented all the events with photographs and articles. Home / Heima, 2008, a group exhibition held in Start Art Gallery in Reykjavík. The theme of the exhibition was to raise question and thoughts of what is the meaning of “home”? The concept of Home has followed us and now the academy is preparing and working on a project called Common Ground. Common Ground 2021 – 2023 is a cooperative project of 3 countries, Poland, Lithuania and Iceland with pariscipation of both artists and scientists. The project will take place in the three countries with the first exhibition in Iceland in December 2021. The project addresses the question of Where is my home. Common Ground is is a political-, cultural, ecological, anthropological and geographical question in a global world, where the world seems to shrink fast due to the increasing flow of information and increasing the flow of people between regions. Included in the term is also a debate on refugees and the homeless and inequality of capital, natural resources and quality of life. The world evolves rapidly towards trans nationality. Around / Umhverfing, 2017 - 2022 Around is an ongoing project aimed at bringing contemporary art to districts of Iceland that have had a limited access to art. It also aims at reconnecting artists that trace their roots to the selected district to the area.The first exhibition NR1 Umhverfing took place in Skagafjordur in the summer 2017, hosting the works of thirteen artists. The second exhibition NR2 Umhverfing took place in Egilstaðir / Fljótsdalshérað in the summer 2018 with thirty-seven participating artists. The third exhibition Nr 3 Academy of the Senses Skerplugata 7 101 Reykjavík Iceland Umhverfing is taking place this summer 2019 with 71 artist spread around the wole Snæfellsnes peninsula. The project will continue and next stops will be in the Westfjords and Dalir. The project might go few different rounds around Iceland before the end. A book is published with every exhibition that will be combined in one book at the end of the project. Hverfing / Shapeshifting, 2017, exhibiton of 7 Icelandic artist and 9 artists from the United States held in an old Herring Factory in Hjalteyri – north of Iceland. The title is appropriate for an exhibition that brings together artists who explore the subject of change in their work in profound ways. Some take up the disappearance of landscape and species, while others breathe new life into obsolete or discarded objects. The exhibition theme is inspired in part by the exhibition space itself: a former herring-oil processing plant situated on the edge of a deep fjord in the north of Iceland that, in recent years, has been repurposed as a vibrant arts center. There, art is presented not in a pristine white cube but within the particularity of a place of industrial production. Cooperation over Geographical Borders: The Academy has networking connections with other artist organizations abroad – with participation of Icelandic artist in art exhibitions abroad. The cooperation with these institutions and organizations is an ongoing process of the Academy. Publishing activities: The Academy and the founders have been involved in the publishing of various art books and a number of smaller leaflets in connections to exhibitions. The founding artists of the Academy of the Senses have been active in art organizing and various projects: Before founding the Academia of the Senses, the artists Thordis Alda, Anna Eyjólfs and Ragnhildur Stefansdottir, organized various projects. Among these is an exhibition of a large installation Mega vott, which was shown in all the premises of Hafnarborg, Centre of Culture and Fine Art, in Iceland, in the year 2006. Among the artists was the US artist Jessica Stockholder. In relation to the exhibition the artists published the book Mega vott in the year 2007. Thordis Alda, Ragnhildur and Anna Eyjólfs are all members of the Living art Museum, The Association of Reykjavik Sculptors and the Association of Icelandic artists.