Skaftfell Art Center: Imagining a Skaftfell Community with Director Pari Stave
In this episode we converse with Pari Stave, Director at Skaftfell Art Center. Pari shares her vision for fostering a connected art community in Seyðisfjörður and newly nurturing the interdependencies between the many art initiatives that can be found in the fjord. We equally discuss the unique international profile of the institution and its legacy, as well as the challenges of being geographically and metaphorically located on the periphery of Iceland. We debut the new segment “Artwork of the month” in the episode, however, you’ll have to listen until the end to know which art work it is! Skaftfell Art Center is located in Seyðisfjörður, East Iceland, and is a meeting point for local and international visual art, located regionally. Skaftfell fosters and presents contemporary art on an international level through its artist residency program, exhibitions, workshops, artist talks, and collaborations with other arts organisations. As an independent, non-profit art organization, it was founded in 1998 in honor of the Swiss-German artist Dieter Roth (1930-1998), who had close ties to the place, and frequently lived and worked in Seyðisfjörður during the last decade of his life. As current Director, Pari Stave brings new vision for a sustainable future and wider residency program at Skaftfell. Prior to arriving in Seyðisfjörður, Pari was at The Metropolitan Museum in New York, where she held the position of Senior Manager of Administration, Collections, and Curatorial Projects in the Department of Modern and Contemporary Art. She has also worked as Consulting Curator for the American-Scandinavian Foundation (ASF). An art historian and curator, Pari has collaborated on numerous exhibitions, among them Ragnar Kjartansson: Death Is Elsewhere, which was co-organized with Jennifer Farrell and debuted at the Met in 2019. // Created by the Icelandic Art Center, Out There brings co-hosts Becky Forsythe @beforsythe and Þórhildur Tinna Sigurðardóttir @tindilfaetta in conversation with artists, curators and art professionals at the @101liveradio.