The advisory panel started its work within Skaftfell at the beginning of 2017. Its key role is to define the artistic approach and premises for Skaftfell’s gallery, residency and education programs. It consists of three members, appointed for two years by the Association of Icelandic Artists, the Iceland Academy of the Arts and the Association of Art History and Theory in Iceland.
The advisory panel succeeds the honorary position of artistic director, which had been in place since 2009. The first appointed artistic director was Björn Roth (2009-2011), followed by Christoph Büchel (2011-2013), Ráðhildur Ingadóttir (2013-2015) and Gavin Morrison (2015-2017).
The advisory panel has been implemented for two main reasons: to strengthen the dialogue and collaboration with the professional art sector and ever-changing art field in Iceland and abroad, and to fulfill one of the terms of Skaftfell’s primary funding contract with the East Iceland Association of Local Authorities and Seyðisfjörður Municipality, signed in June 2015 and in 2020, which is valid for 5 years.
Advisory panel 2019 / 2020: Ólöf Gerður Sigfúsdóttir, Magnús Helgason, Karina Hanney Marrero
Ólöf Gerður Sigfúsdóttir hefur bakgrunn í mannfræði og stundar nú doktorsnám í safnafræði við Háskóla Íslands, með fókus á rannsóknarstarf og þekkingarsköpun opinberra safna. Ólöf Gerður vinnur á mörkum mannfræði, efnismenningarfræði og safnafræði, og kannar leiðir til að beita sýningarstjórnun sem rannsóknaraðferð. Meðal sýninga sem hún hefur unnið má nefna Að þekkjast þekkinguna (Listasafn Árnesinga 2010) og Í bili (Hafnarborg 2011). Þá hefur hún skrifað um listamenn með áherslu á rannsóknarferli og rannsóknaraðferðir, s.s. Seeing Beyond Science: Art as Epistemic Practice (The Green Box 2020), Ég hef misst sjónar af þér (Safnaðarheimili Neskirkju 2019), Myndlist á mörkunum: rannsóknarleiðangur listamanna (Listasafn Reykjavíkur 2017). Ólöf Gerður hefur verið virk í opinberri umræðu um myndlist, söfn og rannóknarpólitík, bæði hér á landi sem á erlendum vettvangi.
Karina Hanney Marrero er verkefnastjóri, listfræðingur og heilari. Hún er með mastergráðu í Samtímalistfræðum frá Goldsmiths háskólanum í London og hefur síðan bætt við sig jógakennararéttum, Reikiheilun og Landvarðarréttindum. Karina hefur efnt til og unnið að ólíkum verkefnum, listrannsóknum og útgáfum hér á landi í London og í Winnipeg. Á meðal áhuga- og rannsóknarsviða hennar eru; hliðarsögur, efnismenning, náttúruvernd, matarpólitík, heilsa og heildarhyggja og birtingarmyndir á misbeitingu valds í nær- og heimssamfélaginu. Karina býr í Reykjavík og vinnur sjálfstætt sem listfræðingur og heilari og sinnir landvörslu á sumrin.
Advisory panel 2017 / 2018: Bjarki Bragason, Karlotta Blöndal, Oddný Daníelsdóttir
Bjarki Bragason has for the past years been active in the professional art field in Iceland and abroad, and has some curating experience. He is a committed art researcher with some experience in teaching at a academic level and art management. Bjarki graduated with a masters from California Institute of the Arts, CalArts in Los Angeles and a bachelor´s degree from the Iceland Academy of the Arts, in 2005 he studied in Universität der Künste in Berlín. Currently Bjarki holds the position of assistant professor and programme director at the fine art department in the Iceland Academy of the Arts.
Karlotta Blöndal works in a variety of media, ranging from drawings, paintings, publications, environmental installations and performances. By emphasising aesthetics Blöndal investigates the dynamics of a given medium, site or situation, including the manipulation based on our assumptions of what it means to us. Her work sometime deal with found documents and the question of how they can be presented and re-presented. Thus the question of value of the art object, the repetitive aspect vs. uniqueness is present throughout her practice. Karlotta Blöndal received her BA from Icelandic College of Art and Crafts and her MFA from Malmö Art Academy in Sweden. She has been involved in numerous artist run initiatives, such as the Living Art Museum and Signal gallery Malmö and was co-editor and publisher of Sjonauki Art Magazine. She is part of a long term interdisciplinary collaboration project called the Journey to the Magic Mountain, 2013-2020. www.karlottablondal.net
Oddný Björk Daníelsdóttir is born 1986 in Reykjavík. She graduated from the Commercial College of Iceland in the year 2006. In the spring 2011 she graduated with B.A. degree in art history and theory with literature in minor from the University of Iceland. Thereof she was an exchange student in Utrecht University in Holland. Oddny started in the art history and theory master’s program in the University of Iceland but took a break from studying and has only left her thesis to graduate. When she took the break she had already started to study the curatorial culture of the art life in Iceland. Oddný is one of the founders of Artíma Gallerí, gallery of art history and theory students and was runned from curators point of view. Oddný was a board member there 2012-2013 where she took care of the organization of exhibitions and funding among other things. She also curator more than a dozen exhibitions. In the fall of 2013 Oddný moved to Seydisfjordur and has since worked for Skaftfell on occasional projects; working on exhibitions, the accounting etc. Last years Oddný has been working in the office of Hótel Aldan but is now a sales manager for Skálanes Nature and Heritage Centre.