EXPLORATIONS
&
TRANSLATIONS

Studio Culture: Material and Media Experiments

The MA Design: Explorations & Translations at the Iceland University of the Arts brings together multiple practices: design, media studies, social sciences and natural sciences. By synthesising and embodying different knowledge and using the dynamic landscape and industries of Iceland as an experimental ground, you will develop a unique voice in the expanded design field.

To translate this personal vision, the MA Design Programme asks you to materialise and manifest possible realities through relevant media: you may e.g develop a concept for industry, propose a new sensory experience, or craft a fictional scenario for a future reality. Using both real and fictional design strategies, we work to build ethical awareness and to form dialogues to engage with contemporary culture.

You will have access to a range of hands-on and media facilities. Through the program you will develop your own working process through series of visits, encounters with experts, exploratory workshops and collaborations. You will participate in publications and exhibitions and develop online platforms for the mediation of your projects.

Here are all the practical information about how to apply to this program: deadlines, fees, prerequisites and contacts for further questions.

Iceland: A New Territory for Design Speculations.

We are explorers and translators of experiences: we sense the world, question borders and challenge production and value systems. We engage with the imagination and participate in contemporary debates regarding the environment, new ecologies, and human production processes through a balance of applied and speculative work.

In a conflicted climate, the MA Design Studio is a place for collective debate, an area filled with material and media experiments visited by international guests and industry specialists engaged in contemporary practices.






If you are interested in researching contemporary zeitgeist topics, if you believe experiencing and sensing are ways of learning; if you can collect and synthetize different forms of knowledge, and if you want to explore ways of developing your own authorship as a designer through the use of material and media, we will be happy to welcome you at the Iceland University of the Arts. 

On the behalf of MA Design: Explorations & Translations team, Garðar Eyjólfsson, Program Director.

Image authors in order of appearance:

Eveline Bunter
Björn Steinar Blumenstein & Johanna Seelemann
Björn Steinar Blumenstein & Johanna Seelemann
Auður Inez Sellgren
Yiwei Li
Simon Ballen
Valerio Digg
Johanna Seelemann
Niki Jiao
Sigrún Thorlacius
Ásta Þórisdóttir
Background Image: Ásta Þórisdóttir