Gil Artist Residency is an Artist in Residence Program located in Akureyri, North Iceland. Founded in 1991 by the Gilfélag Society.
We aim to stimulate creativity through interaction with the local environment, artists and cultural institutions, and seek to foster relations between participants and the local community. The Gil Artist Residency is a place for artistic research, production, meetings and exhibitions for visual artists from any nationality to develop their projects.
We are located in the town center, in the Art Street, where the Art Museum and several galleries, artist studios, restaurants and bars are located. At the end of the street is the shore of Eyjafjörður, a beautiful mountain view of the fjord. Akureyri is a small town with an easy access to open nature.
Duration of residency
The duration of this residency program is minimum one month and maximum two months.
Accommodation / Studio
We offer artists in residence the possibility to live in the studio, we can accommodate one or two artists, in a private apartment with a studio, fully equipped kitchen & bathroom and a gallery for final events & exhibitions. Our exhibition space Deiglan is next door and has an internal access from the studio.
Basic equipment is available in the studio. Every artist brings their own materials, one can also purchase in Akureyri.
Note: Travel, transport, visa, daily living expenses, medical insurance and production are not included.
Unfortunately we don’t offer any grants but we offer a formal letter of invitation for applications elsewhere.
Expectations towards the artist
The artists are expected to give a presentation and/or exhibit their work at our professional fully equipped gallery Deiglan.
Application information:
For more info on the application process, please follow this link to our website.
The location of our residency is very central, in the heart of Akureyri located on the Art Street, in the same area you will find the Akureyri Art Museum, galleries, the thermal swimming pool, restaurants and bars. Shops and most services are in walking distance and the local bus (Strætó) is free of charge. We have a beautiful botanic garden and city centre both just around the corner. Short distance to open nature and the ocean.
The facilities used to belong to the old dairy factories and as well as most of the buildings in the Art Street. When the dairy factories were moved to a better location outside of town artists and interested people founded the Gil Society with the aim of building up the Art Street as you find it today. This adventure started 25 years ago and is still going strong. The Gil Society is a non-profit run by voluntaries and some support from our members and goodwill from the city.
