The Reykjavík Arts Festival is an art festival that takes place in
Reykjavík
Reykjavík is the Capital city, capital and largest city in Iceland. It is located in southwestern Iceland on the southern shore of Faxaflói, the Faxaflói Bay. With a latitude of 64°08′ N, the city is List of northernmost items, the worl ...
every other year. It was founded in 1970 and was biennial from the beginning, but in the years 2005–2016 it was held annually. Since 2016, the festival has again become a biennial event. Next edition will take place in 1–16 June 2024.
History
The Association for the Arts in Reykjavík (''Samtök um Listahátíð í Reykjavík'') was founded on 10 March 1969. Its background was that
Vladimir Ashkenazy, who was living in Iceland at the time, and
Ivar Eskeland, director of the
Nordic House, encouraged the city to hold an international music festival on the one hand, and a Nordic culture festival on the other. After discussions between the Association of Icelandic Artists, the
Minister of Education and the city authorities, it was decided to combine these ideas and create an international Art Festival in Reykjavík, which was held for the first time in the summer of 1970.
Since then, thousands of artists have performed at the Art Festival in Reykjavík. Among them is
Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin were an English rock music, rock band formed in London in 1968. The band comprised vocalist Robert Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page, bassist-keyboardist John Paul Jones (musician), John Paul Jones and drummer John Bonham. With a he ...
,
Jacqueline du Pré,
Jóhannes S. Kjarval,
Helgi Tómasson,
Erró,
Luciano Pavarotti,
Ingmar Bergman
Ernst Ingmar Bergman (14 July 1918 – 30 July 2007) was a Swedish film and theatre director and screenwriter. Widely considered one of the greatest and most influential film directors of all time, his films have been described as "profoun ...
,
Guerrilla Girls, and many more.
The festival is responsible for the ''Eyrarrósinni award'', together with the Construction Institute and the
Icelandic Airlines
Icelandic refers to anything of, from, or related to Iceland and may refer to:
*Icelandic people
*Icelandic language
*Icelandic orthography
*Icelandic cuisine
See also
* Icelander (disambiguation)
Icelander can refer to:
*A person from the coun ...
.
From 1978 to 1993, and Art & Film Festival was held in connection with the festival and became the oldest film festival in the Nordics.
References
{{reflist
Festivals in Reykjavík