Nordic Fashion Biennale: Program

Exhibitions

19.03.2009 - 5.04.2009 In front of Creativity- Nordic Fashion Design

In front of creativity - Nordic Fashion Design from asta creative clothes (IS), Anna Kristin Bæk (FO), Barbara i Gongini (FO), Mundi(IS), Else Møller (GRL), Spakmannsspjarir (IS) and STEiNUNN (IS) curated by Matthias Wagner K, Berlin

The complete focus of the first NORDIC FASHION BIENNALE - including the exhibition 'In Front of Creativity' in the exhibition pavillion - regards fashion designs from the west Nordic nations; Faroe Islands, Greenland and Iceland.
In the context of migration, globalization, ecology, economy, exchange and interference this exhibition is not a performance contest in respect to national fashion design - on the contrary; National identity, topographical anchoring and cultural focuses have been left out.

During the selection of the designers I had my eye on the peculiar and the resistant, on a closeness to art, deconstruction and on the fantastic. You will not see fashion that fits to product design but rather a fashion creation, a process or performance design, reminding us of the past or celebrating today - a fashion design in an uneven battle with a totaliterial fashion industry and not only concentrating on imminent self reflection. The title of the exhibition; 'In Front of Creativity' can therefore be taken literally. The space (pavillion) in which the designers show us their creations is not accessable for us, we are not able to touch the outfits and the rotating presentation only stays in our visual field for a while. But we can ask questions:

What is the fashion design capable of beyond the means of industrial mass production?
Given the global flow of resources, pictures and goods, what influences affect the work of fashion designers - and how does it affect the choice of materials, colors and forms?
To what scale does globally accessible mass media affect imagination and concepts of identity and therefore consequently the art of fashion design?
Does fashion always reflect social phenomena?
Can design affect the society or parts of it in reverse?
How could the future fashion design look like?

The importance of the first Nordic Fashion Biennale and the exhibition 'In Front of Creativity' marks the principal order of culture; foremost since it are the artists and consequently the fashion designers who we can and will relay on to reflect the present. One can be anxious about in what sense these times will affect the creative fashion design in the next years.

Matthias Wagner K

19.03.2009 - 5.04.2009 Nordic Street Style- Photo-exhibition

Street Fashion in Faroe Islands, Iceland and Greenland

Gréta Kristín from Akureyri, Iceland.

In this exhibition you'll see everyday people walking the streets in Faroe Island, Greenland and Iceland. Are there similarities between the countries in the north? All of us are surrounded by nature and the weather is similar at times but do we dress the same? Do we like the same food? Are we like you imagined?
If you have not already been to one of these places, this exhibition will take you half the way.

19.03.2009 - 5.04.2009 Laboratory

How does fashion design emerge? What are the influences from which the Nordic fashion designers get inspired by? What makes them different from their colleagues in central Europe? How important are terms like sustainability, social environment, globalization, ecology and economy? What are the prevailing materials?

To answer questions like these the first NORDIC FASHION BIENNALE has established a forum - a Laboratory. It allows visitors to take a peak behind the scene of Nordic fashion labels and demonstrates the design process by means of material samples, statements and outfits.

19.03.2009 - 5.04.2009 Jewelry from Faroe Islands, Greenland and Iceland

The need to decorate one self is as old as human kind. In the beginning it used to be body paintings with natural colors of all sorts. Later it evolved to several forms of body ornaments. For a long time this kind of jewelry symbolized level of rank one held inside a group. Today jewelry is foremost used for the sake of beauty and elegancy or as part of a fashion collection. There are no boundaries or bans to combine the impossible with the possible. Only the individual creativity of the designer sets the limits.

The special exhibition Jewelry from Faroe Islands, Greenland and Iceland introduces several jewelry designers along their works.

DesignMarch

26.03.2009 - 29.03.2009 Behind the Scenes: Fashion Designers in action, Photoexhibition about Icelandic Designers 26.03.2009 - 29.03.2009 7 windows

7 Icelandic Designers with installations in office space at the Nordic House. Participating Designers are: Andersen & Lauth, BIRNA, ELM, Farmers Market, Hanna, Mundi, NIKITA .

26.03.2009 - 29.03.2009 Oportunities 2009: Documentary on Icelandic Fashion Designers

27.03.2009, 20:00 mehrere Stunden: Uhr Design Market at Biennale Bar

Design market at Biennale Bar, in the Nordic House: Meet all the young and hot designers from Iceland in a party to remember. Here music and fashion come together to make candy for the eyes and ears. There will be tempting wares in the marketplace, great drinks at the Biennale Bar and music you won’t be able to resist dancing along to.

27.03.2009, 20:00 mehrere Stunden: Uhr Design Cinema

Friday 20-23 // presented by Goddur

KOOLHAAS HOUSELIFE (2008)

(Documentary)
58 min

Mon oncle (1958)
(Film)
117 min

28.03.2009, 20:00 mehrere Stunden: Uhr Design Cinema

Saturday 20-24 // presented by Guja Dögg Hauksdóttir

My Architect (2003)
(Documentary)
116 min

The Fountainhead (1949)
(Film)
114 min

29.03.2009, 16:30 mehrere Stunden: Uhr Fashionfiesta!

Biennale Bar Events

22.03.2009, 14:00 mehrere Stunden: Uhr Guided tour of the exhibition 23.03.2009, 16:00 mehrere Stunden: Uhr Fashion blog and fashion trends

Fashion blogs have become very influential and get thousands of visits each day. Asa Ottesen from Trendland will tell about fashion blogs and all the hottest trends for 2009.

23.03.2009, 17:00 mehrere Stunden: Uhr Nordic Look: Presentation with Alla Nilsen

24.03.2009, 20:00 mehrere Stunden: Uhr Project Iceland Party:Charlie Strand introduces his book on music, fashion and art. Concerts with The Ultra Mega Teknóbandið Stefán and Sykur Dj set.

Project Iceland Party.

Talk on Icelandic fashion/Project Iceland by Charlie Strand featuring a sneak preview of his new book on Icelandic Avent guard fashion.
Live performance by Ultra Mega Technobandid Stefan,
Sykur DJ set
Gallery photo exhibition by Charlie Strand

www.charliestrand.com
Ultra Mega Teknó Band Stefán at Myspace

25.03.2009, 16:00 mehrere Stunden: Uhr Concerts: Sudden Weather Change

27.03.2009, 17:00 mehrere Stunden: Uhr NUNO textile designs: Presentation by Reiko Sudo, director of NUNO.

28.03.2009, 14:00 mehrere Stunden: Uhr Lisa Mitina ,Arctic Media Group, Murmansk, introduces Barents Fashion Week 30.03.2009, 16:00 mehrere Stunden: Uhr Sustainable University

31.03.2009, 16:00 mehrere Stunden: Uhr Concert: Mammút

1.04.2009, 16:00 mehrere Stunden: Uhr e-Marketing: Lecture with Einar Þór Gústafsson vefstjóra Íslandsbanka

2.04.2009, 16:00 mehrere Stunden: Uhr Concerts with Agent Fresco

3.04.2009, 16:00 mehrere Stunden: Uhr Concert: Skakkamanage

4.04.2009, 14:00 mehrere Stunden: Uhr Védís Jónsdóttir knit-designer

Conferences

24.03.2009 Fashion Concsious: Sustainability and the Fashion Industry

Fashion Concious: A conference on fashion, design and sustainability

Making fashion sustainable means taking into account more than just style, quality, and costs. Sustainable fashion is about fair-trade, organic clothing, being animal friendly and last but not least: innovative textiles.
Participating speakers are specialist in their field and will touch on different subjects concerning sustainability, fashion and design.

Speakers:

Turning Conscience into Activism by Ann Thorpe

Ann Thorpe has spent the last several years living in the United Kingdom, where she taught product design and sustainable design at the University College of the Creative Arts and currently teaches at the Bartlett School of Architecture (University College London). Prior to this, she worked in the United States with architects and designers in the Pacific Northwest to increase activities in sustainable building and product stewardship. During this time she served as co-chair of the US Green Building Council's Cascadia Chapter and participated in collaborative eco-redesign projects with Northwest companies such as Microsoft and REI. She has lectured and published widely on the topic of sustainable design.

Transparency as a keyfactor for growth- by Karin Stenmar

It is possible to combine good design with ecology, ethics, quality and profit making!

To have control over the production steps and a close collaboration with suppliers, the companies can put words into action when it comes to codes of conduct. The benefits will come natural; added value to your brand by the unique sellingpoint and the possibility to survive on a global market.
In my opinion the fashion companies have to make huge changes due to climate change - It will soon be more expensive to use natural resources. And where will the fashion industry find the cotton when the main part of the soil is unworkable?

Design is settling, organic cotton essential and transparency the overall solution.

Hopefully we all join the challenge to work in the right direction; our decision makers, the designers, the market-leaders and the consumers. Profit in a wider perspective is something that benefits all. Shareholders and co-workers, global resources and consumers.

Karin Stenmar - One of the two founders of Dem Collective.
Karin has a background in communication and marketing in many diverse areas. From the music industry to her engagement in sustainable business; corporate enviromental and social responsibility issues. Since 2004 Karin and Annika Axelsson has ensured that Sweden receives a steady supply of fair produced and organic clothes from Dem Collective’s own factories in Sri Lanka.

Clean Clothes - An ethical perspective on fashion by Malin Eriksson

Malin Eriksson is coordinating Rena Kläder, the Swedish part of the Clean Clothes Campaign (CCC). The CCC is an international campaign, focused on improving working conditions in the global garment and sportswear industries, and empowers the workers in it. Rena Kläder works primary to put pressure on Swedish garment and shoe retailers through creating public opinion and inform consumers. Malin has studied political science, gender and fair trade before she started working for Rena Kläder.
www.renaklader.org

Kristín Vala Ragnarsdóttir is the newly appointed Dean of the School of Engineering and Natural Sciences at the University of Iceland. She has worked and studied in the US, Britain and France for 30 years. Over the past 10 years she has as the Professor of Environmental Sustainability at the University of Bristol in Great Britain directed her work in teaching, research and community interaction towards sustainability.

Please sign up for the conference at: ilmur@nordice.is

29.03.2009 Reinventing the West Nordic as a Brand

-a seminar on the future of design and fashion from the region

“Nordic designers demonstrate immense artistic finesse and craftsmanship, they also prove that technology and tradition need not mean a break between yesterday and today -and that urbanity and a sense of one’s own national characteristics can go hand in hand. (…) With their vanguard fashion, Nordic designers bring a new, different element into the world of jeans, sneakers and business suits.” - Matthias Wagner K, Exhibition Curator

Welcome to a seminar on regional fashion and design hosted by the Nordic House in Reykjavik in cooperation with NORA and SamVit on Sunday 29 March from 12.00 to 16.30.

Fashion designers from the West-Nordic region offer something very special with their uniqueness and authenticity that comes from being close to nature. They appear to have the ability to capture the feelings of the consumers and their design is often associated with the values and stories deriving from their place of origin.

This seminar puts fashion and design from the region on the agenda and offers a platform for cooperation and networking. A series of diverse yet related themes will be addressed by designers, academics and professionals.

The following issues will be discussed with a local, global and innovative view on design and fashion from the West-Nordic region:

* Can we work together in the region in order to create growth in this sector?
* Which challenges is fashion in small and peripheral areas facing when seeking a global presence?
* What part does one’s roots play in branding the design?
* Can we work with regional branding of fashion and design in the West-Nordic region?
* Can we benefit from joint marketing? And what are the pros and cons of this?
Venue: Nordic House Reykjavik
Time: Sunday 29 March 2009 from 12.00 - 16.30
Moderator: Annleyg Lamhauge, Editor-in-chief of the Faroese women’s magazine Kvinna

Programme

12.00 Max Dager
Opening and introduction from the Director of Nordic House Reykjavik

12.05 Jákup Sørensen
Introductory remarks from NORA

12.10 Tom Fleming and Nneka Ugboma
'Embracing the Desire Lines: Re-fashioning the Creative Economy'

13.00 Light Lunch

13.40 Steinunn Sigurdardottir
‘Personal style in an international environment’

14.00 Nauja Lynge
‘Storytelling �" a powerful tool for Greenland’

14.15 Ylva Holby
‘Branding Norwegian fashion - Strengthening and promoting values and identity in the international market.’

14.30 ‘Two one side’
Film made by Marmar for Faroese designer Barbara í Gongini

14.40 Coffee and Mingling

15.00 Peter Jensen
‘West-Nordic inspiration on the London catwalk’

15.15 Heini Zachariassen
‘Give Chance a Chance’

15.35 Sverrir Bjørnsson
‘Joint Marketing �" or not?’

15.50 Leg stretching and refreshments

16.00 Panel Discussion �" Q & A

16.30 Closing remarks

Everyone is invited to join the Fashion Fiesta which begins at 16.30 in Nordic House’s Biennale Bar.

The official language of the seminar will be English.

Welcome to an afternoon of rethinking values and reimagining possibilities in the region!
Tom Fleming (UK) is Director of Tom Fleming Creative Consultancy (TFCC) - a leading strategy, policy and research consultancy for the creative economy and wider cultural sector. Based in London, TFCC works internationally to promote good practice and develop new approaches to creativity, culture and innovation. Work ranges from a Creative Economy Green Paper for the Nordic Region to a strategic review of the Off Schedule elements of London Fashion Week.
www.tfconsultancy.co.uk

Nneka Ugboma (UK) is Director of Mushrooms - a leading creative and innovation brokerage and events company in London. Mushrooms connects creative talents from different disciplines and explores how new markets can be forged through new convergent practice. Nneka Ugboma is also Director of Let Them East Cake magazine - a platform for new fashion talent - those in transition from previously working behind many of the world's foremost photographers, stylists, and hair and make-up artists
www.mush-rooms.com www.cake-it.net

Steinunn Sigurðardóttir (IS) established her own brand STEiNUNN in year 2000 after years of experience from working with some of the big names in fashion such as Ralph Lauren, Tom Ford and Calvin Klein. She graduated with honors from Parsons School of Design in New York in 1986. Steinunn has become a cultural force in Iceland and is known around the world for her blend of Northern edge and European sophistication.
www.steinunn.com

Nauja Lynge Lyngesen (GR) is originally from Greenland, but works and lives in Denmark. She has experience in the manufacturing process of clothing, has her own children’s wear collection, Cozykids, as well as the label Arctic Designers. She has specialized in Greenlandic material and uses traditional Greenlandic storytelling when mediating her design, telling the story of a whole nation. Nauja is currently developing strong and high quality sharkskin.
www.arcticdesigners.com/

Ylva B. Holby (NO) is a Norwegian fashion designer with a master’s degree from Oslo National Academy of Arts in 2008. She has designed costumes for several Norwegian films and theater productions and is very much involved in various design related projects. She is currently working on building up her own design business with colleague Nanna Heiberg.

Barbara í Gongini (FO) is the designer behind the design brand bARBARA Ì gONGINI, which aims to create Nordic clothing based on a conceptual approach to the process, where experiments with forms provide the setting for the visual motive in the design. Barbara is involved in many design related activities and has received several awards and grants, for instance a work grant from the Danish Arts Agency in 2008 - a unit of the Danish Ministry of Culture.
www.barbaraigongini.dk

Peter Jensen (DK) is based in London though originally from Denmark. Peter graduated from Central Saint Martins in 1999 - with a Distinction, and launched his eponymous menswear line immediately after. The women’s wear line was launched in 2000, and both collections have been shown to much acclaim at London Fashion Week each season. Peter has an individual, independent approach to fashion which has resulted in him being one of the most keenly anticipated, contemporary designers showing on today’s catwalks.
www.peterjensen.co.uk/

Heini Zachariassen (FO) is former CEO & co-founder of BullGuard and currently Chairman of the Board of Faroese Telecom, CEO and founder of Vivino as well as member of the Board of fashion design company SoulMade. Heini is an entrepreneur with years of experience in software, Internet and a touch of fashion. He is an experienced speaker who talks about taking chances, finding the alternative route and his firm belief that who dares wins.

Sverrir Björnsson (IS) is the Executive Creative director of White House, a leading Icelandic advertising agency. Sverrir studied Graphic Design at the Icelandic Academy of Arts and has twenty years experience in the field of advertising and marketing. He has taken part in marketing activities for many of the largest companies and brands in Iceland as well as in international campaigns for MasterCard and the UN. During his career in advertising, Sverrir has received domestic and international awards for his work.
www.hvitahusid.is/

The Conference is organized in cooperation with NORA.

Lectures

20.03.2009, 12:00 mehrere Stunden: Uhr Designing and dressing sustainably: What must we teach, what must we learn? by Karl Aspelund

Synopsis:

The apparel and textile trade have long contributed to environmental problems. Sustainable practices throughout a garment's entire life-cycle are urgently needed. This requires a re-evaluation of design practices as well as consumer behavior. New frames of reference and re-evaluated practices must originate in classrooms, studios, homes, and on our own backs, with a more concrete and in-depth education of design students, design professionals and the public. An overview is given of the main issues involved from the standpoint of an apparel design classroom. The three major points for an informed public and profession are explained in the context of Iceland´s market and environment.

Karl Aspelund teaches apparel design at the Department of Textiles, Fashion Merchandising and Design at the University of Rhode Island. His research interests lie in the interaction of apparel design and a society´s self image. Currently he is beginning research into the meaning and state of Icelandic women's national dress. He has taught and worked as a designer in the United States from 1996 onward, after teaching at the Reykjavik Technical College, where he set up and headed the Department of Industrial Design. He also designed costumes and sets for numerous theater and film productions, exhibitions and artwork. Karl is the author of The Design Process, a textbook taught at over forty colleges in the United States. His next book Fashioning Society, on the relationship of high-fashion design and the political trends of western society will be published in mid- 2009.

20.03.2009, 17:00 mehrere Stunden: Uhr Design drawn from specific sites:Kristine Jensen: Lecture on Landscape-Architecture

‘Design drawn from specific sites’. The motivation for Kristine Jensen’s landscape architect is very often the specific site and place, - so it comes natural to lecture on the company projects from this title. Kristine Jensen is also the recipient of The Rosa Barba European Landscape Architectural from September 2008 in Barcelona for the project Nicolaj which will be presented in the lecture.

Kristine Jensen is a danish landscape architect with an architectural studio that works visionary with landscape architecture, city-space and planning. The Studio was started in 2001 by Kristine Jensen, but although the firm is quite young, she has worked over 25 years with landscape architecture within different positions, both in practise and theoretically. She has a long experience in the field of education and research. She holds a PhD in landscape architecture and has been teaching and given lectures in Germany, USA, Norway and Sweden. Her studio AKJT works in a cross field somewhere in between site specific analytics, strategic thinking, social understanding and focus on natural resources. The studio deals with and develops planning issues and projects for both private and public clients in Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Germany. The studio staff counts 10 employees both landscape architects, planners and architects.

The architecture from the studio embraces present time both in materials, architectural language and in the ability to use the latest modern technologies whether high or low. And at the same time the work belong in the classic architectural tradition and philosophy by speaking from both place and culture. An intellectual curiosity along side high architectural ambitions, and in the capacity on how to land modern concepts in convincing solutions and techniques are recognized in different city-spaces such as Prags Boulevard and Nicolaj. But the conviction on the social aspect of architecture makes the studio as preoccupied with cities, urban planning as with landscapes and sustainability.

This is the first lecture in a series of lectures on landscape-architecture. Before the lecture the first flower of many will be put down.

www.kristinejensen.dk

21.03.2009, 14:00 mehrere Stunden: Uhr "Slow Clothing" by Guðrun & Guðrun.

Guðrun & Guðrun is owned by two Faroese women and the creative process of design is very closely linked to the isolation of the place. “It’s good to come to Europe for input and inspiration, but it’s crucial to come back home to the silence and not be disturbed by the hectic life of fashion” the designer concludes. The Faroe Islands are 18 tiny islands situated in the North Atlantic, between Iceland and Norway. Only 45.000 people live on the islands. Still it’s a nation of it’s own with own culture and own language. So tiny and still the frames of the myriad of life.
GudrunogGudrun

26.03.2009, 17:00 mehrere Stunden: Uhr Peter Ingwersen from label Noir: How to build a brand

In the 1980's Peter Ingwersen was a trainee at Levi’s as part of his 3rd year studies at the Kolding School of Art Craft and Design. His traineeship went so well that he never returned to his studies. Instead he started a career at Levi’s and eventually became the director of Levi’s Europe, which is based in Brussels. In 2001 he returned to Denmark and became the managing director of DAY Birger et Mikkelsen. In 2004 he founded Noir/Illuminati II. Noir is designed by Rikke Wienmann in collaboration with Peter Ingwersen.

Meaningful fashion combines extravagance with responsibility. Designer Peter Ingwersen has created the fashion brand Noir, which combines luxury and sustainability.
Noir

31.03.2009, 12:15 mehrere Stunden: Uhr Copenhagen Fashion Week: Eva Kruse from Danish Fashion Institute

Eva Kruse is CEO of Danish Fashion Institute. Since she graduated as Kaospilot in Århus, Eva Kruse has worked within the worlds of fashion and media, including positions as editor in chief with the fashion magazine Eurowoman and as a TV host with the Danish TV2 and TV3. In 2005 Eva Kruse was one of the co-founders of Danish Fashion Institute.

Copenhagen Fashion Week

Happenings

19.03.2009, 17:00 mehrere Stunden: Uhr Opening of Nordic Fashion Biennale 20.03.2009 - 27.03.2009 "Yellow Flag Flowers":Outdoor Installation

“THE YELLOW FLAG FLOWERS” INSTILLATION

The Association of Icelandic Landscape Architects will on March 27th 2009 �" during lunch hour - unveil an installation named “The Yellow Flag Flowers”. The installation is the Associations contribution towards the “Design March 2009”. It also marks the beginning of series of international lectures on landscape architecture and environmental matters; a co-operative project between the Icelandic Landscape Association and the Nordic House.

The idea behind the “The Yellow Flag Flowers” installation is to draw attention to the profession of landscape architects and the environment as a whole. The striking yellow line of plastic flowers - made out of plastic warning ribbons �" will start at the Nordic House and continue across the plane, towards the lake and the city centre.

By the Nordic House the Nordic Fashion Biennale will erect a pink carousel. Existing nearby flagpoles will be used as building poles to hold a green canvass wall. This green wall will be a great backdrop to the yellow flower mass and eye catching from afar, along with the pink and the green manmade objects.

22.03.2009, 15:15 mehrere Stunden: Uhr 15:15 Concert

Camerarctica plays pieces by F.J.Haydn og Franz Krommer

price: 1500 ISK
Camerarctica

22.03.2009, 17:00 mehrere Stunden: Uhr French Films on Fashion

This event is in collaboration with The Alliance Francaise, Iceland. A short presentation by Alliance Francaise will be before the first movie.

17.00 Yves Saint Laurent: About the film
19.00 Et Elle créa La Femme

27.03.2009, 12:15 mehrere Stunden: Uhr Opening of Yellow Flower Flag: Outdoor Installation 5.04.2009 Documentary on Icelandic Fashion Design today at 13.00, 15.00 at 16:00.

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NORDIC HOUSE - Sturlugötu 5 - 101 Reykjavík - Ísland Opening Hours: Mo-Sun 8pm - 7pm

Download complete NFB program as PDF

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