Art Can Heal

Seminar about Art Therapy, honoring Sigríður Björnsdóttir

14:00
Address
Ingibjörg Jóhannsdóttir, Museum Director

14:10
Art Can Heal
Ágústa Oddsdóttir, teacher, artist and the author of Art Can Heal. The Life and Work of Sigríður Björnsdóttir. Egill Sæbjörnsson, artist and coordinator of the book.

Ágústa and Egill discuss her reasons for writing Art Can Heal and how the book gives detailed descriptions of Sigríður Björnsdóttir’s radical artistic endeavor and vision to improve the mental and emotional wellbeing of children in hospitals.

14:30
Unchartered path that links art, medicine and mental health
Abigail Ley, listfræðingur og barnataugalæknir / Abigail Ley, MD, MA, paediatric neurologist and art historian, Medical Director of Neurodevelopmental Conditions Program at Nicklaus Children’s Hospital, Miami, FL

Abigail Ley will be discussing the impact of creative therapy on the developing child, in particular the positive effect on mental and behavioral health. The talk will include recent clinical research data, and highlight specific examples expressed by Sigríður Björnsdóttir in Art Can Heal.

15:50
Café

16:00–16:45
Panel discussions

Ágústa Oddsdóttir

Ágústa Oddsdóttir is a visual artist and author. She completed a BA degree in sociology and English from the University of Iceland in 1973 and a degree in education from the same institution. She has taught sociology at the upper secondary level and has authored teaching materials in the field. She commenced full-time studies in fine arts in 1991 and graduated from the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts in 1997. Ágústa has participated in art exhibitions such as Mom’s Balls 1, Mom’s Balls 2 and Umhverfing, as well as dedicating herself to writing projects. Her book Þegar Kjósin ómaði af söng was published in 2021, and Art Can Heal. The Life and Work of Sigríður Björnsdóttir was published by König Books in Cologne, Germany last September.

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Egill Sæbjörnsson

Egill Sæbjörnsson is a visual artist, musician, and architecture interventionist, born in Iceland and currently based in Berlin. He has been making artworks that bring together 3D environments, digital projections, technology, and sound since the 1990s. These range from small intimate installations in museum and gallery settings to larger-scale permanent architectural installations. Sæbjörnsson conceives his work as a technological continuation of painting and sculpture, exploring the space between the virtual and physical. His work is playful and humorous but always probes deeper ontological and philosophical questions.
Egill Coordinated the book Art Can Heal. The Life and Work of Sigríður Björnsdóttir.

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Dr. Abigail Ley

Dr. Abigail Ley is a pediatric neurologist within the Nicklaus Children’s Hospital Brain Institute. She earned her medical degree from Indiana University School of Medicine in Indianapolis. Dr. Ley completed a residency in pediatrics and fellowship in child neurology and neurodevelopmental disabilities at George Washington University/Children’s National Health System in Washington, DC. Her clinical area of expertise includes autism spectrum disorder and other neurodevelopmental conditions. Prior to entering the field of medicine, Dr. Ley received a master’s degree in art history from the Courtauld Institute of Art in London, England. Dr. Ley also edited the book Art Can Heal, which focuses on the pioneering work of art therapist and artist Sigríður Björnsdóttir.

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Ingimar Ólafsson Waage

Ingimar Ólafsson Waage is a visual artist and the Head of the Department of Arts Education at the Iceland University of the Arts. He has extensive experience teaching the visual arts and philosophical dialogues in elementary education. He studied painting at the Iceland College of Arts and Crafts and École Nationale des Beaux-Arts in Lyon, France. He holds an M.Ed. degree in philosophy and sociology of education from the University of Iceland. Currently, he is working on a PhD thesis on the moral value of visual arts education. His research interests include democracy, arts education, philosophical inquiry, and critical thinking skills.

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Simona Dvorák

Simona Dvořák is a curator and art historian based in Paris. She combines her curatorial experience with research and writing, with a particular interest in the performativity of social and epistemic justice while challenging historical narratives. As a curator at the Initiative for Practices and Visions of Radical Care (founded by Nataša Petrešin Bachelez and Elena Sorikina), she explores the practice of living archives and intersections of art and care.
The Initiative for Practices and Visions of Radical Care, started in 2020 in the Greater Paris region, is a diverse group of practitioners of arts, crafts, philosophies, healing and therapy coming from vastly spread geographies. Neither a classical collective nor a rigid structure, the Initiative is researching and reinventing modes of sustainable institutionalism. Based on friendships as well as professional bonds, it functions as an ecosystem and fosters interdependence and solidarity beyond identity. The focus on care is enacted as a flow of activities that nurture individuals and sustain social, environmental and political bonds, focusing as much on processes and methods as on outcomes. Through fluid artistic and curatorial ventures, the Initiative embraces the languages, energies, histories, landscapes, bodies, and materials that reflect a non-extractive and sensitive relationship to the human and non-human alike.

Stjórnandi pallborðsumræðna / Moderator: Ingibjörg Jóhannsdóttir, safnstjóri Listasafns Íslands / Museum Director