OLAFSON NEW ICELANDER
Freya Björg Olafson bio
Freya Björg Olafson is an interdisciplinary artist who works with video, audio, drawing, painting and performance. Her creations have been presented/exhibited nationally as well as internationally at festivals and galleries such as the Plug In Institute for Contemporary Art (Winnipeg), InterAccess Electronic Media Arts Center (Toronto), Winnipeg Art Gallery, Núna (now) Festival (Winnipeg, Toronto, Iceland), Groundswell New Music Series (Winnipeg), O.K. Centrum (Linz, Austria), Kling&Bang Galleri (Reykjavik,Iceland), Akureyravaka (Akureyri, Iceland) and Springboard Danse Montréal among others. Currently with the support of the Canada Council for the Arts, Manitoba Arts Council and Winnipeg Arts Council, Freya is creating a new work called “Avatar” part in collaboration with new media/performance artist Pierre Andrieux from France. This project has been developed in residency at Performing Arts Forum, in St.Erme-Outre-et-Ramecourt, France and at SIM – Icelandic Association for Visual Artists, in Reykjavik, Iceland. “Avatar” will premiere in Winnipeg as part of the nuna (now) festival, April 28th – May 2nd, 2009. As performer and creator, Freya blends 6 years classical training in the Professional Program of the Royal Winnipeg Ballet with the contemporary facility achieved through her completion of the Bachelor of Arts Honors degree in dance jointly offered by the School of Contemporary Dancers and the University of Winnipeg. She combines her finesse in movement with the directness of her performance art, video and theory studies from the University of Manitoba School of Art and her subsequent completion of a Master of Fine Arts Degree in New Media from the Transart Institute / Donau Universitat in Krems, Austria (Graduated August 2007). During her studies Freya was the recipient of awards/scholarships for her abilities from The Royal Winnipeg Ballet, Friends of The Transart Institute, Canada Iceland Foundation, University of Winnipeg Woman’s Auxiliary, The Imperial Order of Daughter’s of the Empire, and Springboard Danse Montreal among others. Most recently in 2008 she was nominated by Winnipeg’s School of Contemporary Dancers for The Winnipeg Arts Council Emerging Artist Award “On The Rise”. As a performer Freya has worked for Winnipeg's Contemporary Dancers, Trip Dance Company and Adhere & Deny Theatre Company in Canada. In 2009 she looks forward to performing a solo based on the life of Simone Weil created by Grant Guy of Adhere and Deny Theatre Company in February 2009. Outside of creating her own work and performing in the work of others Freya is actively involved in the community in curating and teaching. She is a member of the curatorial committee for the Nuna (now) Festival and has traveled to Calgary, Iceland and Slovenia to facilitate work for the festival. In 2008 she curated a performance of “1401 IBM – A User’s Manual” a collaboration between dance artist Erna Omarsdottir and composer/musician Johann Johannsson. In 2009 she is working with Kegan McFadden director of Platform Gallery in Winnipeg to facilitate the presentation of the performance art collective Icelandic Love Corporation. Since 2003 Freya has been importing the value of arts in community and youth through teaching at the Graffiti Art Gallery in their programming for inner-city, at-risk and aboriginal youth. As well she has taught as a guest artist in Manitoban public schools since 2005 with The Royal Conservatory of Music’s program “Learning Through the Arts”. In more traditional settings Freya has taught modern dance and ballet at both Winnipeg’s School of Contemporary Dancers and The Royal Winnipeg Ballet.
HOME   |   CV   |   BIO   |   NEWS   |   PERFORMANCE   |   VISUAL ART  |  PRESS   |   CONTACT
Freya Björg Olafson Biography freya olafson
 photo: Markus Wernli Saito