Halla Steinunn
Violinist, composer, curator Halla Steinunn Stefánsdóttir is born in Iceland and based in Malmö, Sweden. Her music making has been described as “hymn to the natural world”, whose sound is “riveting and wondrous” (VAN magazine), and hailed as “music of great poetry” (ComposHer) and even “the Ginnungagap out of which all music springs” (Fréttablaðið). She has been the artistic director of Nordic Affect since its inception in 2005. Believing that the exciting things happen ‘in the connection’ Halla Steinunn’s work has been a tour de force when it comes to collaborative relationships with composers, visual artists, and producers. Her work with the ensemble has earned her Iceland Music Awards, alongside a Nordic Council Music Prize nomination. In addition, she was nominated in 2022 for an Iceland Music Award as soloist of the year.

Filip Ignatowicz
visual artist, painter, filmmaker, lecturer
Born in 1990 in Gdańsk, where he graduated from the Faculty of Painting of the Academy of Fine Arts. His graduation work “Production, commercialisation and hype – or about consuming art” earned him a degree from the studios of Prof. Henryk Cześnik, Prof. Witosław Czerwonka and Prof. Robert Florczak, and an award from the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage at the Best Fine Arts Graduation Works exhibition. Ignatowicz has also completed directing studies at the Gdynia Film School. New Bronx, his debut feature short about youth from Gdańsk’s Nowy Port neighbourhood, made under the supervision of Prof. Robert Gliński – was shown at over 40 international film festivals worldwide and received 7 film awards.
Since 2017, Ignatowicz has lectured at the Faculty of Painting of the Gdańsk Academy of Fine Arts. In 2018, he earned a PhD with his dissertation “Art Fair. The consumer versus culture – about fake, lovebranding and self-commodification”.
His latest works mostly look at the life of people functioning within the consumer reality. Although his art is rooted in painting, it is in fact multidisciplinary: Ignatowicz creates video art, objects, installations, performance art and public space interventions. He also works with film, photography, art and research projects as well as video set design and online performance. He is the author of two developing projects: FIGNACY&co and artUNBOXING.

The Intelligent Instruments Lab is an interdisciplinary research lab that investigates the role of artificial intelligence in new musical instruments. Music is our research base, but the reach and impact is wider and we explore how musical interfaces can be applied as scientific instruments, for example through sonification.

PIOTR KALIŃSKI
Musician and music producer based in Gdańsk. Involved in the projects Hatti Vatti, JANKA, Nanook of the North and Hinode Tapes. He creates on the border of electronic and acoustic music. His musical projects are available for nomination for “Polityka’s Passports”, “Sztorms of the Year” and access to the first ten best albums according to listeners of Radio Trójka or nationwide journalists of Gazeta Wyborcza. He regularly plays concerts in Poland, Europe, the USA and the Far East. He has been repeatedly mentioned as one of the most interesting, eclectic and active on the Polish scene by Polish and foreign media. Music created by Kaliński has been published by Polish, Irish, Belgian, Dutch, German and Polish companies, and thanks to worldwide distribution, their albums can be found in stores in Japan, for example. It still has its own source of distribution of vinyl and CD releases.

Hatti Vatti album titled “Worship Nothing” collected reviews – starting with the influence of the British The Wire Magazine and ending with Gazeta Wyborcza. The tour promoting the album consisted of 60 cities in Europe (Poland, Germany, Belgium, Lithuania, Belarus, Latvia and the Czech Republic) and large festivals such as Open’er Festival, Audioriver, Tauron Nowa Muzyka, OFF Camera, Up To Date and OFF Festival, as well as 12 concerts in Japan, and performances in Korea, Iceland and Switzerland. The next releases of the Hatti Vatti project are the “Szum” albums in approved cooperation with the album’s partner – the National Audiovisual Institute (NInA). With places to confirm the opinions of listeners and recognized critics from the titles of many journalists.
His last set for a musical duet with violinist and composer Stefan Wesołowski (with a guest appearance by mezzo-soprano Margarita Slepakova). They released two albums under this name on the German label Denovali Records. The project was devoted to participating in an exclusive concert in the famous Boiler Room and recording a concert for TVP Kultura. In 2019, a solution available in the world, i.e. SXSW in Austin, Texas, the same performance was appreciated by the American media – including the iconic Bob Boilen from NPR radio / Tiny Desk Concerts.
Kaliński also collaborated with the film world – his music can be heard in many Polish films, animations and series.

NEOQUARTET
They are passionate about art and contemporary music. They love to create, play concerts, think outside the box, challenge existing dogmas. They enormously value the possibilities of collaboration with various artists and ensuing mutual inspiration. They are fascinated by making bonds with audience, jumping to other dimensions and catching new perspectives of looking into the world.
Outstanding energy, full commitment, freedom of expression and creation of new developmental paths – these are the main features of NeoQuartet.
NeoQuartet is one of the most interesting, engaging and action-oriented ensembles of contemporary music in Europe. It is a Prize-Winner of prestigious Pomeranian Artistic Award. The ensemble was also nominated to numerous other prizes (Sztorm Roku, Fryderyki). Quartet has recorded 13 CDs released by Polish, German, Greek,, and American labels.
Since 2017, NeoQuartet expanded its instrumental spectrum with electric midi string violins, viola and cello plus synthesizers and loopers beginning with this purchase new, unique musical phenomenon throughout the world. In 2022 first CD with NeoQuartet’s own compositions was released. String Theory album will chart new musical territories of string quartet development in 21st century.
NeoQuartet plays concerts in Poland and abroad. From 2012 to 2021 the ensemble performed over 500 concerts almost in every corner of the world (25 countries) including prestigious concert halls of Carnegie Hall in New York and Forbidden City Concert Hall in Beijing.

NeoQuartet consists of: Karolina Piątkowska-Nowicka (1st Violin), Paweł Kapica (2nd Violin), Michał Markiewicz (Viola), and Krzysztof Pawłowski (Cello).

International Theatre Company REYKJAVÍK ENSEMBLE was founded in the autumn of 2019 by theatre and opera director Pálína Jónsdóttir and her collaborator Ewa Marcinek, project manager and writer. The company is the first and the only independent world theatre in Iceland.
Its innovative and pioneering work creates an active professional theatre platform for multinational theatre artists, whose work is celebrated regardless of origin, gender or mother tongue.

The company develops and produces creative performances from original, modern and classic works that appeal to the diverse and multinational audience of Iceland. Reykjavík Ensemble’s activities are based on the yearly selected repertoire and the annual program.

S.L.Á.T.U.R. is a group of composers that has since 2005 organised various experiments, open events, competitions and music projects. The main interests are animated music notation with computer graphics, interactivity, sound experiments and tuning systems, performance art and
the development of new traditions and culture.

Spectro Duo began its work in 2013 and consists of two composers and performers, Martyna Kosecka (voice, keys, sound objects, electronics, video) and Idin Samimi Mofakham (alto saxophone, electric guitar, sound objects, electronics).
Their musical focus is on drones, noise, beating phenomena, glitches, field recording transformation, microtonality and non-western tuning systems.