Hello dear friends of LungA School <3
Welcome back to the LungA School newsletter. You are receiving this because you used to receive school updates in the past, because you have been part of the school or because you have shown an interest in the school through another platform, but if you don't want to receive these updates then let me know by email ([email protected]). Also if you know anyone who you think might like to receive it then do suggest they get in touch!
Recent activities in and around the school
The office is pretty empty this week as the LungA School ART Program is currently away on a research trip to Skálanes with Program Directors Mariana Murcia and Aoife Coleman-Clarke. It's been a beautiful eight and a half weeks, with a series of incredible workshops by Lara & Noa Castro Lema, Anders Hjortdal, Ellem Skovhøj & Bjarke Seitzberg, Sofia Durrieu, Austin Thomasson & Dæja Hansdóttir, Árni Jónsson, Lotte Rose Kjær Skau, and Eileen Myles. If you're in town you may have been able to see some of the work the school produced: including an exhitbiion arranged by Árni Jónsson's group in Seyðisfjarðarskóli, exhibitions upstairs at Herðubreið, and at and outside Netagerðin, and performances at HEIMA.
Austin and Dæja's workshop also saw the launch of the 8th Flat Earth Film Festival in the Herðubíó, which included films by many school participants of programmes past and present, other residents of the fjord and filmmakers from around the world. Austin and Dæja also somehow found time to put on a haunted house for the town, as well as the Skaftfell pub quiz, aided by the legendary Gógó Starr, who is part of the group exhibtion Crying Pink upstairs at the Art Centre.
The Radio School and Seyðisfjörður Community Radio have been busy since the installation of the new transmitter. As a collaboration between LungA School and Seyðisfjörður Community Radio we hosted and participated in a Seminar with the Independent Community Radio Network, including a 5 day workshop in site-specific documentation through radio. You can find the broadcast archive from light listening or deep diving right here:
Through the Radio School we have started On Air "crit" sessions or studio visits over radio, which is a format we intend to nurture, both within the current radio-school-group and in the years to come. Listen to the first lovely conversation here:
Under the title of Every Vessel Holds a Song, we have started a choir at the Radio School in collaboration with the beautiful artist and singer Rupert Enticknap - a series of radio workshops, we will enter into a playful space with our voices. Guided through vocal & somatic exercises, scores and research we will resonate from where we are in a temporally and geographically displaced togetherness. A scattered radio choir united by the voices, words, sounds and radio waves as our conductors (or rather, primus inter pares). All episodes are open to listening and you are also very welcome to use them in your own contexts and communities for collective-vocal-work:
Somehow we also got invited to be part of the amazing and highly regarded Le Guess Who? Festival, an International Music Festival in Utrecht, through which we shared work/voice/bodies in various formats.
Here you can find things to read and as well a broadcast-playlist made in collaboration with Rafuge Worldwide, where we contributed with a few works:
The exhibition Postcards for Seyðisfjörður that took place here in May, organised by H_A_R_D_P_A_I_N_T_I_N_G and mentioned in the previous newsletter, has gone to the Icelandic Embassy in London, UK, where it opened on 7th November and will run until the 15th December. If you are in London, the exhibition is open to the public Monday - Friday by appointment. Contact [email protected].
Last but not least, Þórir has purchased a Trail Cam. Below is Þórir and their niece putting down some bread to capture pictures of birds. As of the time of writing they report 0 pictures of birds
Building a school
Other news at the school includes we now have a 3 year support contract with Múlaþing, and feel really fortunate to have their continued support. Thank you Múlaþing! We really appreciate the confidence in our work, and this support helps us to continue to plan programmes and other community work with confidence. We still wait for the Ministry to confirm and deliver their support to avoid delays to continue work on the school's LAND Program. Signý and Hilmar continue to put work into designing what future programmes might look like, with support from our partners through ERASMUS+, as mentioned in the previous newsletter, as well as the support of Óli and Skálanes. Whatever the next LAND Program will be, and however it happens, we know it will be excellent.
Incoming
We have a full cohort signed up for the Winter/Spring ART Program, which has been designed by Lotte and Þórir. As Lotte will be busy in Januarry with the arrival of a new addition to her family, Mariana and Lasse will be sharing the responisibilites of her role here in Seyðisfjörður. Lotte and Þórir have some amazing plans for visiting artists and workshops and I can't wait for the new school to become a school.
Get in touch!
Thanks for reading! As always, I am usually in the school office from Monday – Friday, but you can also contact us by email, with our addresses all visible our contact page, below, but if in doubt of who to ask, drop me an email on [email protected] or if you prefer to call, you can reach us on (+354) 547 5477. Please don't hesitate to get in touch if you have something you want to discuss!
I hope you have a wonderful end to the year and, if you’re here in town, look out for the exhibitions and events by ART Program in their final weeks!
All the best until 2026,
Mark