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

Fragile Grounds: Chronic Pain as an Unstable System of Perception

Sepideh Safyari Chohragh

Thursday, 11. september, 2025 - 15:30 - 17:00

3x20 min Presentation + 3x10 min Discussion

Moderator: Guðbjörg R Jóhannesdóttir

Room:

This interactive lecture explores how personal experiences of illness and pain can be translated into artistic language. Sepideh Safyari Chohragh, an MFA student and artist living with lupus, shares her ongoing artistic research that integrates photography, video, and writing to express what often remains unspoken in the experience of chronic illness. By using her own body as both subject and medium, she investigates how suffering—particularly from a female perspective—can be communicated through sensory engagement rather than visual representation alone. The presentation includes video works and invites the audience to take part in interactive moments, reflecting on pain as both a private and shared phenomenon.

Sepideh Safyari Chohragh
MFA Student, Artist/Researcher

Sepideh Safyari Chohragh is an Iranian visual artist and MFA student at the Iceland University of the Arts. Her work explores the intersection of the ailing body, pain, and resilience through photography, video, and writing. Living with a chronic illness, she uses her own body as material and method to research how suffering can be expressed and shared beyond language.

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