This event is a Nordic Spotlight, part of Nordic Bridges.
Overview
Equinox asks questions about the nature of light and darkness and about the unique moment of equinox when they are in balance. Equinox combines elements of contemporary dance, nu-jazz and graphics to invite the audience into a dynamic, poetic and contemplative experience.
About Anastasia Isachsen
Anastasia Isachsen is a visual artist and a curator based in Oslo, Norway. She creates video art for projections and light art for various cultural projects. Since she established her artistic practice first in Delhi, India, in 2009 and in Oslo, Norway, in 2011, she has collaborated on numerous Norwegian and international projects for festivals, concerts, dance performances, theatre, installations, exhibitions and shows. Her work is presented on the main stages and venues in Europe, the USA and India.
Isachsen’s work is internationally recognized for its stark visual style, contemplative and dynamic expression and impeccable technical execution.
She collaborates with artists across creative disciplines: musicians, theatre directors, choreographers and other creative producers. Focus on the interdisciplinary and innovative aspects gives her artwork a mesmerizing and emotional expression.
In addition, she is an artistic director and founder of an artistic studio Fjord Studio that specializes in curating and producing light art productions in Norway and internationally. Fjord Studio has founded and is building two annual light art festivals in Norway: Fjord Oslo and Fjord Geiranger.
Partner Festival: Fjord Oslo
Fjord Oslo is a free art festival that transforms Harbour Promenade in Oslo, Norway, into an outdoor light exhibition. This celebration, bringing together an international program of renowned artists, is a broad exploration of light art.
By taking art onto the streets for three nights, Fjord Oslo invites a social, robust and inclusive experience of art and light. From projections onto landmark buildings to intimate installations, site-specific light sculptures and immersive video work, the program has a theme for each edition dedicated to art that invites conversation about the human place in our world.
“Fjord Oslo was founded with a wish to create a positive, inclusive, social and open cultural event for everyone in the city of Oslo and bring people and art into the streets in the dark time of the year. We present the best of contemporary international light art and invite you to an inspiring experience of wonder and reflection. By locating our festival in the Harbour Promenade, we highlight Oslo’s unique combination of a modern city and eternal nature and promote Oslo as a vibrant, welcoming and contemporary art capital.” Anastasia and Frank Isachsen, founders, Fjord Oslo
About Fjord Studio
Fjord Studio is a creative studio dedicated to bringing the magic of light art into people’s lives. Fjord Studio curates and produces light art projects for cultural events, urban spaces, architecture and stage. Based in Oslo, the studio works globally and produces the best in light art. The studio collaborates with renowned Norwegian and international light artists and new talents, experienced technical teams and international partners. With projections on buildings, intimate installations, site-specific light sculptures and immersive video art, the studio’s work is a broad exploration of light art. Together with their artists and customers, the studio works towards a shared vision to create meaningful, inspiring and memorable experiences of light and art. Fjord Studio has been developed by artist and curator Anastasia Isachsen and producer Frank Isachsen, the team behind the light art festival Fjord Oslo. Since 2020, their work has expanded to conceptualize, produce and communicate various types of temporary and permanent projects at the intersection of art and technology – in Norway and internationally. Ongoing projects include the annual light art festival Fjord Oslo, the new light art initiative Fjord Geiranger in Geiranger and Nordic Lights – a collaborative project with Harbourfront Centre and light art festivals in Denmark, Sweden and Finland, in addition to several smaller projects.
Creative Audio Response
Kristín Ragna Gunnarsdóttir, Author of the Creative Response
Kristín Ragna Gunnarsdóttir is an Icelandic author, illustrator, curator and teacher. She studied graphic design and painting at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Literature and a Masters of Arts degree in Creative Writing from The University of Iceland. She was a guest student at The University of Copenhagen.
Gunnarsdóttir has written 11 books and illustrated innumerable others. She has curated many interactive exhibitions and illustrated the Njal’s Saga Tapestry, amongst other projects.
She has received the Icelandic illustrator’s award twice and has been nominated for the Icelandic Literature Prize, the Nordic Council Literature prize, the Women’s Literature Prize, the West-Nordic Literature Prize and the In Other Words prize.
Gunnarsdóttir has participated in exhibitions in Iceland, Germany, the Nordic and Baltic countries, Russia, Scotland and the U.S.A. She teaches creative writing at The University of Iceland, illustration at The Reykjavík School of Visual Art and has facilitated creative workshops in many countries.
Andre Sills, Voice Actor
Andre Sills is a Hamilton-based actor, director, producer and writer. He has spent most of his career working in the theatre across the country. He most recently made his directorial debut at Crow’s Theatre directing Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’ GLORIA (an Actors Repertory Company production). He spent seven seasons at Stratford, where he played Bottom in A Midsummer’s Night Dream, opening the new Tom Patterson Theatre Parking Lot under a tent. He also played the title character in the 2018 Stratford hit Coriolanus directed by the world-renowned Robert Lepage, and was in the top 10 shows of 2018 in the Washington Post and The Globe and Mail.
In addition, he spent four seasons at The Shaw Festival where he played Tom in The Glass Menagerie and received the My Entertainment World Best Actor Award for his work in An Octoroon, Dora Award and Toronto Theatre Critics Award for Best Actor for his work in Master Harold and the Boys. He has also worked at Soulpepper Theatre where he toured across the country with Kim’s Convenience and also played Othello at The Black Rep in St. Louis, Missouri. Sills is a Resident Artist with The Actors Repertory Company.