Cycle

 Music and Art Festival

Cycle Music and Art Festival will take place for the first time this summer between 13 and 16 August 2015 in Kópavogur, Iceland. The festival is devoted to exhibiting interdisciplinary works from pioneering international artists in the fields of new music, performance art, visual arts, sound art and architecture with music as a central focus. The festival is among the first to promote the flourishing interdisciplinary music and art scene. Artists, scholars and the audience will engage in intercultural discourse through concerts, performances, workshops and symposiums, furthering international collaborations and the involvement of the general public in the contemporary art scene. 

The works presented at the festival pertain to the concept of recycling by introducing existing ideas, sounds, materials and our habitat in a new context, expanding our perception of the environment. In addition to the traditional art festival venues such as the concert hall and art museum, performances and installations will also take place in public spaces and alternative found locations, with the intention to alter the way the audience perceives its surroundings. 

An exhibition at Gerðarsafn will be showcasing works of participating artists, curated by Nadim Samman. Samman read Philosophy at University College London before completing a doctorate in Art History at the Courtauld Institute of Art. In 2012 he curated the 4th Marrakech Biennale with Carson Chan. Projects in 2014 include Antarctopia: The Antarctic Pavilion, 14th Venice Biennale of Architecture, and Treasure of Lima: A Buried Exhibition - a unique site-specific exhibition on the remote Pacific island of Isla del Coco. Nadim is Co-Director of Import Projects, Editor of Near East Magazine and Curator at Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary. 

Cycle Music and Art Festival was created on the fundament of The Icelandic Chamber Music Festival. The festivals will run in parallel, encouraging young, classically trained musicians to engage with contemporary art, new music, interdisciplinary work and sustainability, thus creating a cycle.

www.cycle.is