The US Embassy in Iceland provided significant support to the Reykjavík Art Museum, Iceland University of the Arts, and the Icelandic Art Center for the collaborative project Talk Series. Michelle Yerkin, Chargé D´Affaires a.i., Ólöf Kristín Sigurðardóttir (Director of Reykjavík Art Museum), Auður Jörundsdóttir (Director of the Icelandic Art Center), and Margrét Elísabet Ólafsdóttir (professor at the Iceland Academy of the Arts) signed the agreement at Hafnarhús on October 20, 2021. Michelle Yerkin stated: “The U.S. Embassy is proud to sponsor the Talk Series. Art is an international language, and we hope this program will strengthen the ties between Iceland and the U.S. in art and art education.”
Talk Series is a collaborative project between The Icelandic Art Center, Iceland University of the Arts, and the Reykjavík Art Museum. Since 2012, twenty-two individuals, internationally recognized in the art world, have been invited to Iceland to participate in the series since its founding. Guests include artists, scholars, and curators brought here with the aim to strengthen international connections and dialogues in contemporary art. Guests get to know the Icelandic art scene first-hand, through studio visits and visits to museums and galleries. They take on guest teaching roles at Iceland University of the Arts and hold open lectures focused on their work at Reykjavík Art Museum.
American art critic Gregory Volk, who writes about art on the international platform Hyperallergic, will be participating in the Talk Series on October 21, 2021.
In 2022 Gregory Sholette (art critic and professor at CUNY Queens College), Krist Gruijthuijsen (director of the renowned KW Institute for Contemporary Art in Berlin), and American-Taiwanese artist and filmmaker Shu Lea Cheang have been booked.
This collaborative agreement continues to enrich the Icelandic art scene through visits from some of the main thinkers and artists of the American and international art scene. Members of the Talk Series project are most grateful to the US Embassy in Iceland for their invaluable support.
