Photos from the opening of the travel exhibition “Outside Looking In, Inside Looking Out,” in Tokyo, Japan on May 30, 2025.

Exploring visual art is both enjoyable and enriching, and this summer offers a wealth of exhibitions nationwide. 

In preparation for the Autumn 2025 allocation of the Visual Arts Fund, the Icelandic Art Center offers several forms of support for applicants.

The Icelandic Visual Arts Fund has opened its call for applications for the autumn 2025 allocation round. The application deadline is Monday, August 18 at 4:00 PM (GMT).

Tokyo Arts and Space (TOKAS) is pleased to announce the open call for creators participating in TOKAS Residency Programs 2026. The deadline for application is on Wednesday, 25th June 2025, 6:00 PM (JST).

A Visit to Tristan Elísabet Birta´s Studio

For our second installment in our series of studio visits we went to meet with Tristan Elísabet Birta in their cozy subterranean studio. Tristan is a 33-year-old visual and performance artist. They also make music under the artist name AfterpartyAngel. While their artistic work tackles complex and multifaceted topics such as identity, gender, and femininity, it is always infused with a sense of playfulness and a touch of the fantastical. We had a conversation with Tristan about life, their creative path and artistic vision.

The article “to revel in the seemingly endless völundarhús”: On Opera in Icelandic Contemporary Art by Adam Buffington was first published in the magazine Art in Iceland, no. 05, in 2025. In recent years, concepts associated with opera have become increasingly prevalent within Icelandic contemporary visual art. Opera’s inherently interdisciplinary nature is one likely reason for the increased interest in opera amongst visually based artists, with the foundations of opera’s conceptual and practical interdisciplinarity stemming from its prolonged history.

Borderland Poetics: Rewilding Tongues announces an open call for a project and production assistant position at the Sequences Art Festival, which will take place in Reykjavík, Iceland in October 2025.

The Icelandic Art Center is pleased to announce an open call for applications for a three-month studio residency at the International Studio & Curatorial Program (ISCP) in New York. The residency will take place from June – August 2026.

The program offers a spacious private studio that the artist has 24-hour access to. The institution organizes regular studio visits by curators, art professionals, visits to museums, galleries, and exhibition spaces, as well as lectures.

The residency at ISCP provides a strong international network, whether it involves international artists and curators, museum professionals, journalists, or others working within the field.

The grant is intended for the studio residency, not for living expenses. The grant is funded by the Visual Arts Council.

The preliminary selection of applications will be handled by the Visual Arts Council, while the final selection is made by the ISCP’s professional committee. The application deadline is May 19, 2025. You can apply here.

Please submit the following documents with your application:

CV, maximum 5 pages

10 photographs of works or links to videos. Please include the title, year, medium, and size or length of each work. Additionally, a short text describing the work may be included.

If applicable, you may submit copies of articles or reviews, maximum 10 pages

If applicable, you may submit 2-3 copies of exhibition catalogs or published material

A letter of recommendation

An additional open call will be issued in March 2026 for the year 2027.