Hugarflug 2025 - Unstable Systems by Sigmundur Pall Freysteinsson

Unstable Systems Instability can be a creative force in art, design, and architecture. Artists, designers, and scholars work both with and against systems that are ever-changing, fragile, or unpredictable. Whether dealing with technological systems, ecosystems, social structures, or sensory experiences, instability is often a prerequisite for creation. Instability opens pathways for new ideas and processes, reshaping how we approach and redesign the systems that shape our lives. It can also refer to the creative act itself—one that does not follow predetermined trajectories or established norms. Art, design, and architecture serve as tools to disrupt stable systems and/or shed new light on systems that appear stable but in reality, they are not. No system is truly stable, and when we resist that instability, it becomes a problem. Instability is perhaps the only certainty we can rely on. Hugarflug 2025, the annual conference on artistic research, will take place on September 11–12. It will serve as a platform for research that engages with instability across various systems—from technological advancements such as AI and interactive systems to issues related to politics, society, and the environment. We will explore how instability functions as a tool for generating new possibilities while also fueling unrest and transformation within society and academia. The Iceland University of the Arts invites proposals of all kinds, including presentations of ongoing or completed research by our faculty, students, and collaborators.

Hugarflug annual conference on artistic research

11. - 12. September 2025

Iceland University of the Arts

Andri Snær Magnason

Writer and documentary film director.

Andri Magnason is an Icelandic writer and documentary film director. He has written poetry, fiction, non fiction and science fiction. His work has been published or performed in more than 40 languages and he has won the Icelandic Literary Awards in all categories.

Andri has received international awards like the Philip K Dick honorary mention for LoveStar, the Prima Tiziano Terzani in Italy for On Time and Water and The Green Earth Book Award for his books for children.

He is the co-director of three documentary films that have premiered in international festivals like IDFA, RIFF, CPH:DOX and HOTDOCS.

Andri has been active in the fight to preserve the highlands of Iceland and raising awareness about our fast changing climate. His eulogy for the first glacier that Iceland lost to climate change, the Ok glacier was shared by millions in 2019.

Thursday, 11. september, 2025 - 12:40 - 13:30

Room: Skriða

Keynote by Andri Snær Magnason

Andri Snær Magnason

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