The Group Exhibition Creative Responses / Viðbragð was held at SPECTA gallery in Copenhagen from May 16 to June 8, 2025.
The exhibition revolved around creative responses to the climate crisis and reflected the interplay between the regional and the global in environmental art and activism. Inspiration was drawn from the anthology Creative Responses to Environmental Crises in Nordic Art and Literature (2025). There, Nordic visionaries and artists shed light on the complex and important role of art, literature, and other creative activities when confronting a changing worldview. Works by the artists discussed in the book, and others who connect with its main themes: interconnectedness, complex systems, the value of diversity, and the deconstruction of hierarchies, are on display.
In total, thirteen artists participated: a Snæfellsjökuls rawlings, Aurora Robson, Bolatta Silis-Høegh, Camilla Thorup, Hekla Dögg Jónsdóttir, Hildur Hákonardóttir, Jóna Hlíf Halldórsdóttir, Kristinn Már Pálmason, Laura Ortman, Peter Holst Henckel, Sigga Björg Sigurðardóttir, Sigrún Inga Hrólfsdóttir, Þórdís Aðalsteinsdóttir
Curators were Audur Aðalsteinsdóttir and Þórdís Aðalsteinsdóttir.
In connection with the exhibition, an open symposium was held at the University of Copenhagen. There, scholars, poets, and artists drew attention to environmental art and other creative responses to the contemporary ecological crisis.
Speakers included Audur Aðalsteinsdóttir from the University of Iceland, Katarina Leppänen from the University of Gothenburg, a Snæfellsjökuls rawlings from the Iceland Academy of the Arts, Torsten Bøgh Thomsen, University of Southern Denmark, Michael Kjær, University of Copenhagen, Sigrún Alba Sigurðardóttir, University of Iceland, Kim Simonsen, Reykjavík Academy, Haukur Ingvarsson, University of Iceland, Anders Ehlers Dam, Europa-Universität Flensburg, Ole Martin Sandberg, University of Iceland, Dehlia Hannah, University of Copenhagen, Sigrún Inga Hrólfsdóttir, artist and art researcher, and Ana Stanićević, University of Helsinki.
The open seminar was held in English in the Multisalen at the university's campus at 1 Karen Blixens Vej.
The exhibition was a collaborative project between the University of Iceland Research Centre in Þingeyjarsveit, Specta Gallery in Copenhagen, and the Akureyri Art Museum. The second part of the exhibition opens in the Ketilhús at Akureyri Art Museum on November 27, 2025, where the artists Björg Eiríksdóttir and Hrafnkell Sigurðsson will join the group. A symposium will also be held in connection with that exhibition, at Gígur in Mývatnssveit.
The project Creative Responses is supported by the Nordic Culture Fund and the SSNA Development Fund. Artists also received travel grants from the Icelandic Art Center.