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

Three Instabilities as Structuring Forces in my Compositions

Einar Torfi Einarsson

This lecture explores how different concepts of instability function as structuring forces in my compositions. Attention is given to unstable ‘ground’ that generate rhythmic and metric fluctuation; unstable forms and their connection to nonlinear dynamics; and the overlap of notational systems that give rise to interpretive instability and paradoxical instructions. These elements are considered within a broader musical context as well as in relation to various concepts from physics and philosophy.

Einar Torfi Einarsson
Composer and professor at the music department of the Iceland University of the Arts

Einar Torfi Einarsson is a composer and professor at the music department of the Iceland University of the Arts. He studied composition in Reykjavík, Amsterdam, and Graz, and earned a doctorate in composition from the University of Huddersfield. From 2013 to 2014, he held a research position at the Orpheus Institute in Belgium. His music has been performed at music festivals around the world and has received awards in the Netherlands and Austria. His research has been published in Perspectives of New Music and released by Leuven University Press and Routledge (CRC Press). His music has also been released by KAIROS and the HCR label..

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

3x20 min Presentation + 3x10 min Discussion

Moderator: Berglind María Tómasdóttir

Room:

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