Tónagull – Music Workshops in Polish This Winter

Tónagull is a research-based music workshop, based on many years of practice and created especially for children belonging to the youngest age group, as well as their parents. Since September 2019, workshops have also been held regularly in Polish with much success. In collaboration with Hafnarfjörður and Hafnarborg, it is now also available to Polish families living in Hafnafjörður, but the first music workshops in Polish took place at the museum in spring 2020.

The workshops will be held once a week at Hafnarborg – every Sunday at 12 p.m., from September 19th – in a form resembling a musical game, which both children and their guardians can enjoy. These music workshops are tailored to the needs of children aged 8-10 months, but both younger and older participants (up to 3 years old) will be able to enjoy the classes by discovering the world through sounds.

The first Tónagull workshop took place in January 2004 and the meetings have been enjoying increasing popularity ever since. The positive reception of the workshops is also evidenced by the fact that parents participating in the meetings often come back again when new children appear in their lives. The method was developed by Helga Rut Guðmundsdóttir, lecturer at the University of Iceland.

During the classes, we will work:

  • in Polish
  • based on popular children’s songs and original compositions

We will also use a specially prepared set of simple, child-safe musical instruments. You don’t need to have any musical preparation to participate in the workshops. The teacher in charge of the workshops will guide the participants step by step through the entire structure of the classes with the help of subsequent musical games. Here you can find the website of the workshop in Polish.

Come and see for yourself how enriching it is to make music together. The participation fee for each class is only 500 ISK. Please click here to sign up.


Tónagull – warsztaty dla rodziców z dziećmi w wieku 0-3
Niedzielę o godz. 12, w Hafnarborg

Tónagull to oparta o wieloletnią praktykę metoda warsztatów muzycznych utworzona specjalnie z myślą o dzieciach należących do najmłodszej grupy wiekowej i ich rodzicach. Od września 2019 spotkania w języku polskim odbywają się regularnie w Reykjaviku i cieszą się ogromną popularnością. Dzięki wsparciu miasta Hafnarfjörður oraz centrum sztuki Hafnarborg teraz dostępna będzie także dla polskich rodzin mieszkających w Hafnafjörður.

Spotkania będą się odbywać – w każdą niedzielę o godz. 12, począwszy od 19 września – a ich forma przypomina muzyczną zabawę, z której radość czerpią zarówno dzieci, jak i ich opiekunowie. Warsztaty znakomicie odpowiadają na potrzeby dzieci w wieku 8-10 miesięcy, jednak zarówno młodsi, jak i starsi uczestnicy (do ok. 3 roku życia) będą w równym stopniu cieszyć się przebiegiem zajęć odkrywając świat za pomocą dźwięków.

Pierwsze warsztaty Tónagull odbyły się w styczniu 2004 i od tamtej pory spotkania cieszą się wciąż rosnącą popularnością. O pozytywnym odbiorze warsztatów świadczy także fakt, że rodzice uczestniczący w spotkaniach często wracają kolejny raz, kiedy w ich życiu pojawiają się nowe pociechy. Metoda opracowana została przez Helgę Rut Guðmundsdóttir, wykładowczynię na Uniwersytecie Islandzkim.

Na zajęciach pracować będziemy:

  • w języku polskim
  • w oparciu o popularne piosenki dziecięce oraz oryginalne kompozycje

Będziemy także korzystać ze specjalnie przygotowanego zestawu prostych, bezpiecznych dla dzieci instrumentów muzycznych. Aby uczestniczyć w warsztatach nie musisz mieć żadnego przygotowania muzycznego! Kierujący warsztatami pedagog przeprowadzi uczestników krok po kroku przez całą strukturę zajęć za pomocą kolejnych muzycznych zabaw. Zapraszamy na stronę internetową warsztatów po polsku.

Przyjdź, aby przekonać się jak niezwykle wzbogacającym doświadczeniem jest wspólne muzykowanie. Koszt jednych zajęć wynosi tylko 500 ISK. Kliknij tutaj by się zapisać.

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Are you interested in the Hafnarborg programme? Would you like to receive notifications about exhibitions, events and other happenings at the museum? Is your email address perhaps not already on our mailing list?

If so, we encourage you to sign up for our newsletter by entering your email address into the newsletter field at the bottom of the home page to be informed about our programme.

See you at Hafnarborg.

Community of Sentient Beings – Tears Wanted

Artist Gígja Jónsdóttir reaches out to the public for tears for her work in the group exhibition Community of Sentient Beings, on view at Hafnarborg from August 28th until October 31st 2021.

Teargivers will be sent a vial to collect their tears, which they then pour into a well of tears at the museum, at any time during the exhibition period.

If you want to contribute your tears, please contact the artist with information of your full name, address and phone number via email to [email protected].

Discotheque – Exhibition Ending August 15th

Now is your last chance to see Arnfinnur Amazeen‘s exhibition, Discotheque, which has been on view at the museum this summer, but the exhibition is set to end on Sunday August 15th. So we encourage you all to lace up your boots – either with or without plastic bags – before visiting Hafnarborg to experience the artist‘s special discotheque. The curator of the exhibition is H.K. Rannversson.

At the exhibition, the artist presents new works, drawing inspiration from the ambiguous imagery of Icelandic night club culture in the seventies and eighties. While the title makes a reference to revelry, what we have here is nonetheless a rather dreary discotheque, no glitz and no glamour. Only the resounding silence of a noisy past.

The museum is open all days, except Tuesdays, 12-5 p.m. and entry is free, as always.

Terra Incognita – Cartoons from Iceland and Slovakia

The Free Feeling project and the Terra Incognita cartoon exhibition of Slovak and Icelandic authors aims to bring this untraditional art to people in both countries. Cartoons certainly represent a universal language, being a probe to human thinking that responds to both the inner world of the authors and external influences.

Last year, five exhibitions of the participants’ works were displayed in Slovakia at cultural events, festivals and workshops. Icelandic audiences now get the chance to view the exhibition and appreciate the works of two Icelandic and two Slovak cartoonists: Elín Elísabet Einarsdóttir, Fero Jablonovský, Hugleikur Dagsson and Bobo Pernecký.

The exhibition is located in Hafnarborg’s Apótek gallery, on the ground floor of the museum, and is open to guests during regular opening hours of the museum.

The Hafnarborg Songfest 2021 – Perseverence

The Hafnarborg Songfest will take place for the fifth time from June 19th until July 4th 2021.

The Songfest will feature a great number of excellent musicians, as well as a diverse programme. The Perseverence that has helped us all make it through the difficult pandemic is this year’s theme. Music and poetry convey shared human emotion across time and borders, helping us understand ourselves and find connections with others, inspiring and teaching us to appreciate the beautiful things in life, in hope of better times ahead.

This year’s programme, including information about courses, concerts and performers can be found at www.songhatid.com.

The artistic directors and founders of the Hafnarborg Songfest are Guðrún Jóhanna Ólafsdóttir and Francisco Javier Jáuregui.

Artists of the Year 2021 Exhibiting at Hafnarborg

All of us at Hafnarborg would like to congratulate Libia Castro and Ólafur Ólafsson for receiving the Icelandic Art Prize 2021, as Artists of the Year, for their work In Search of Magic – A Proposal for a New Constitution for The Republic of Iceland.

Ólafur and Libia will open their next exhibition, Magic Meeting – A Decade On, at Hafnarborg on Saturday March 20th, but the exhibition presents work based on the aforementioned performance, which was staged by the artists and The Magic Team, taking place at the Reykjavík Art Museum, in the city centre, outside the Prime Minister’s Office and the Parliament House, on October 3rd of last year.

We also congratulate everyone else honoured at this year‘s ceremony.

Hafnarborg Summer Workshops 2021

This summer, Hafnarborg will offer workshops for children, 6–12 years old. The groups will go on field trips in Hafnarfjörður and basic techniques of art will be introduced by exploring the environment, the museum’s exhibitions, creative work and play.

The children will work on projects in different media – drawing, painting and moulding – with the aim of developing visual focus and inspiring creative thought and personal expression. The instructor will be Ólöf Bjarnadóttir.

Two 5-day and one 4-day workshops will be available for ages 6–9 and 10–12. None of the workshops will be the same, so it is possible to attend more than one workshop, as in previous years. The workshop starting June 21st will also bring in elements of music to the creative process.

The following summer workshops are available:

June 14th–18th*
6–9 years old: 9 a.m.–12 p.m.
10–12 years old: 1–4 p.m.
*June 17th is a national holiday

June 21st–25th
6–9 years old: 9 a.m.–12 p.m.
10–12 years old: 1–4 p.m.

June 28th–July 2nd
6–9 years old: 9 a.m.–12 p.m.
10–12 years old: 1–4 p.m.

The price of the 5-day workshop is 14,000 ISK and the price of the 4-day workshop is 11,600 ISK.

  • Sibling discount: full price for the first child, with a 50% discount for each additional sibling.
  • Please inform us of any special needs or requirements.

Please note that there is limited availability for the summer workshops.

Registration is open from Wednesday April 28th via the website of Hafnarfjörður or directly through the registration network. For further information, please call (354) 585 5790 or send an email to [email protected].

The Hafnarborg Songfest – Music Event of the Year

The Hafnarborg Songfest received the Icelandic Music Award 2021 for The Music Event of the Year (Festival), in the field of classic and contemporary music, but the Songfest took place for the fourth time from July 2nd until July 12th 2020.

The programme of the Songfest consisted of eight concerts, featuring outstanding singers and musicians, as well as courses for young and old, but we were so fortunate to be able to hold the festival without restrictions in the middle of the summer, when the Songfest normally takes place.

We are deeply honoured by this acknowledgement and would like to congratulate Guðrún Jóhanna Ólafsdóttir and Francisco Javier Jáuregui, the founders and artistic directors of The Hafnarborg Songfest, on their continued success, as well as thanking them for their noble efforts in service of music and culture in Hafnarfjörður in the past years.

The Hafnarborg Songfest will take place for the fifth time from June 19th until July 4th 2021.

#SlowArtDay 2021 – Slow Down and Look

#SlowArtDay is celebrated on April 10th this year, when we are encouraged to slow down and look closer and longer at works of art in order to engage more deeply and make new discoveries.

Give yourself ten minutes and just look.

Hafnarborg is open today from 12 to 5 p.m. The exhibition now on view is Magic Meeting – A Decade On by Libia Castro & Ólafur Ólafsson and The Magic Team. We encourage everyone to visit the exhibition and give themselves time to experience and enjoy the works they see.

We also suggest going for a walk in Hafnarfjörður and visiting one or more of the many public artworks of the town. On the website publicart.hafnarborg.is, you can even find a map with the location of all the public artworks in town.

Enjoy slow looking and happy #SlowArtDay.