FEINART Symposium on Socially Engaged Art

(Note: changes had to be made to the original programme due to the pandemic.)

The University of Iceland welcomes you to a full-day conference of the international research network FEINART. The conference is dedicated to contemporary challenges in socially engaged art practice. The conference is in English and is open to the general public. (Click here to watch live stream from the conference). 

The aforementioned challenges will be considered from the viewpoints of art and political philosophy, curatorial studies and art management, art and cultural theory, confronting questions on democracy, social and cultural policy as well as new forms of artistic and curatorial practice.

Keynote speaker is Fatin Fahrat, founding director of Palestine Observatory of Cultural Policy, and other lecturers include Mirwan Andan and Ajeng N Aini, members of art collective ruangrupa and curators of documenta 15, art theorist Margrét Elísabet Ólafsdóttir, and artist and designer Thomas Pausz.

The University of Iceland is among the beneficiaries of the FEINART network (The Future of Independent European Art Spaces in a Period of Socially Engaged Art). The network is committed to providing high quality training for 11 Early Stage Researchers (ESRs) to complete PhDs in the area of art and social engagement.

Morning Session

Moderator: Jón Ólafsson

• 10:00-10:15     Opening and Welcome by Jón Atli Benediktsson, Rector of the University of Iceland
• 10:15-11:15     Keynote speaker Fatin Farhat, “The rise to visibility of Syrian art, unleashed by the Syrian Revolution”
• 11:15-12:15     Margrét Elísabet Ólafsdóttir, “Space of action”
• 12:15-13:30     Lunch break

Afternoon Session

Moderator: Benedikt Hjartarson

• 13:30-14:30     Mirwan Andan and Ajeng N Aini, members of ruangrupa,
  “Hanging-out: Sharing Resources”
• 14:30-15:30     Thomas Pausz, “Collective Ecologies”
• 15:30-16:00     Coffee and refreshments
• 16:00-17:00     Panel discussion moderated by Æsa Sigurjónsdóttir
• 17:00-18:30     Reception for symposium attendees

About the speakers:

Fatin Farhat · Founding Director, Palestine Observatory for Cultural Policy

Margrét Elísabet Ólafsdóttir · Professor of Art Theory at Iceland University of the Arts

Fatin Farhat · Founding Director, Palestine Observatory for Cultural Policy

Mirwan Andan and Ajeng N Aini · Artists from artist collective ruangrupa and curators of documenta 15

Thomas Pausz · Artist and designer, Programme Director for MA Design at Iceland University of the Arts

Æsa Sigurjónsdóttir · Curator and Associate Professor of Art Theory and Curatorial Studies at the University of Iceland

Jón Ólafsson · Professor of Cultural Studies and Russian Studies at the University of Iceland

Benedikt Hjartarson · Professor of Comparative Literature at the University of Iceland