City Illumination - Architecture and Art in Urban Context
Nordic House, Reykjavík, 14 February, 13.00 to 18.30.

Lecturers

Jürgen Hasse, Institute of Human Geography at Johan Wolfgang von Goethe University in Frankfurt.
Deike Canzler, architect and lighting designer, Ljusarkitektur P&Ö, Stockholm
Roger Narboni, lighting designer and founder of Concepto Lighting Design in Bagneux
Ellinor Coombs, lighting designer, BDP/Guerilla Lighting, London   
Alexander Stublic, artist (Mader/Stublic/Wiermann), Berlin
Jeroen Everaert, artist (Mothership), Rotterdam

On Saturday 14 February the second session of the Reinventing Harbour Cities conference will take place. This second part analyses strategies of approaching the cities' nights with urban functional, architectural and artistic light concepts. A broad-spectrum of artists and lighting designers, architects and theoreticians give an insight in recent, inspiring projects related to the growing interest in new visions for city life, followed by panel discussions to cast light on the position and possibilities facing the city of Reykjavik.

Harbour cities have long been formed by industrialization, shaped by international trade and constantly confronted with the untamed power of the ocean. Today, these cities compete on a global stage as they create new identities, new images to attract foreign business and tourists. As the industrial zones of business harbors are moving out of city centres to the outskirts of towns, prime waterfront areas are opening up for the development of commercial, residential, and leisure spaces. It is about revitalization of entire districts, a constant restructuring of city life, rejuvenating individual and community engagement with and within the urban environment, or in short: Reinventing Harbor Cities.

Reykjavík, the largest city in Iceland and the world’s northernmost capital, had seen enormous economic and cultural growth in recent decades. The economic crisis has slowed down or even stopped this rapid development and many major projects - giving the advantage of re-evaluation and rethinking concepts.

The conference aims to enhance Iceland’s role in the international debate on the future of harbor cities. By bringing together professionals, artists, the public and the media, encounters take place between differing views of the role of art, artists and designers in an international urban environment, with the objective of creating a broader discourse on a shared view of what Reykjavík is, and how it is changing.

The first part of the conference took place in April/May 2008, when lecturers included Icelandic-Danish artist Ólafur Elíasson, Martin Biewinga of West 8 in Rotterdam, artist/architect Vito Acconci  from New York, and Christopher Marcinkoski of Field Operations.

The conference is organized by CIA.IS – the Centre for Icelandic Art - in cooperation with the Nordic House.
The programme was organised by Christian Schoen, director of CIA.IS, and architect Guja Dögg Hauksdóttir.

Conference programme http://www.cia.is/news/conference.htm
The language of the conference is English.