Glóandi Jökull | Glowing Glacier Glass Festival, 2026
Glóandi Jökull | Glowing Glacier Glass Festival brings molten glass to life exploring the possibilities of this primal material for art making. Located between the Snaefellsjökull Glacier and the North Atlantic Ocean, the landscape provides a dramatic backdrop to exploring the tensions inherent in glass.
The festival highlights glass in contemporary art through its ambitious exhibition programme, featuring national and international artists working in this alluring material. Demonstrations and hands-on workshops on a mobile glass blowing furnace will provide festival goers with an opportunity to experience glass in its liquid form. Demonstrating artists will include Anders Vange of Reykjavík glass. Additionally, a series of talks, tours and gatherings will provide ample opportunity for the curious to ask questions and for creatives to exchange ideas.
The festival challenges the idea of glass as utility, mundane or invisible, exposing its potential as a medium for artistic expression. A group exhibition curated by Icelandic gallerist Bjarni Sigursbjörnsson, presents diverse approaches by ten contemporary artists. A key highlight is the site-specific installation by Danish artist Ida Wieth, whose avant-garde practice exemplifies the experimental direction of Nordic glass. Icelandic glass will be strongly represented in the exhibition by Brynhildur Thorgeirsdóttir, Carissa Baktay and collaborative works by Sigrún & Ólöf Einarsdóttir.
Alongside this, three emerging talents present solo exhibitions: Louise Lang (DE), Fiona Byrne (IRE), and Laura Sonne Lund (DK). Lang will bring her performance based work to the festival, Sonne Lund will explore Nordic storytelling through narrative objects, and Byrne investigates the connections in Irish and Icelandic maritime heritage and environment. Using the mobile furnace, made by Swiss company Niesenglass GmBH, the artists will create elements of their exhibitions live in Hellissandur. In this way the exhibitions will change and grow over the festival period.
The festival strengthens Nordic connections and exposes the material to new audiences, positioning Hellissandur as a meeting point for international exchange. Glóandi Jökull | Glowing Glacier Glass Festival has received funding from the Nordic Council of Ministers’ Culture and Art Programme, as well as support from Sóknaráætlun Vesturlands, Pentagram Stiftung, Culture Ireland, Culture Moves Europe, Atelier Peter Lang, Fondet for Dansk-Islandsk Samarbejde and the Alexander Tutsek-Stiftung.
The festival is made possible through the support of our organising partners: Handverk og Hönnun, Samtök Sveitarfélaga Á Vesturlandi, The National Parks Centre Hellissandur, 3 Veggir Gallery, Niesenglass GmBH, glasspool and Carlo Donà.
For the full programme of events please check the festival website.
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