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.

Thursday, 11. september, 2025 - 13:40 - 15:10

3x20 min Presentation + 3x10 min Discussion

Moderator: Ragna Bjarnadóttir

Room:

Resonant Instabilities: Textiles, Sound, and the Dynamics of Interdisciplinary Research

This presentation explores how instability in textiles and sound can serve as both method and metaphor for navigating unpredictability in interdisciplinary artistic research.

This instability is not seen as a flaw, but as a generative force that makes textile audible and sound touchable.

This approach extends into interdisciplinary collaboration. Different epistemologies and working methods intersect, often producing friction, misalignment, or the need for renegotiation. Here too, instability becomes a method—highlighting the unpredictable, process-based nature of artistic research.

Unexpected events—technical failure, methodological impasses, or shifts in personnel—are not disruptions to be avoided but moments of reorientation. They invite listening, adaptation, and redefinition. Research is not a linear path but an evolving practice. Instability, rather than being corrected, is a site of insight, transformation, and shared exploration.

Hugarflug annual conference on artistic research

11. - 12. September 2025

Iceland University of the Arts

Interference in Textiles and Unforeseen Events in Research

Mag.art. Gertrud Fischbacher

Mag.art. Gertrud Fischbacher
Visual Artist and Senior Artist at the University Mozarteum, Institute for Open Arts

Gertrud Fischbacher is a visual artist interested in questioning the photographic possibilities of a nature image that is relevant today. She is a Senior Artist at the University Mozarteum, at the Institute for Open Arts. As a researcher, she works in an interdisciplinary manner in collaboration with other artists.

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