birds on/off​
about the hosts
Lilian Pineda and Halldór Bjarnason are a young, enthusiastic couple and the founders of the art residency in Fljótstunga. Since 2010 they have researched and developed the Fljótstunga project based on the resources and possibilities of its location and slowly built its foundation. Both are founders and managers of the company that deals with the environmental issues, nature preservation, exchange work program and eco-friendly tourism in the land.
Lilian's background is in choreography and dance studies but she has developed an understanding for this as tools for daily life practices and interaction. Lilian is originally from Mexico but has lived in many countries since she was young. She received her MA in Performance Practices and Visual Culture from the University of Alcala in Madrid, Spain. Before that she studied ballet with the National Ballet of Cuba, modern and cuban folk dances in the National School of Arts of Cuba, contemporary dance and choreography in the Experimental School of Dance in Austria and in the School for New Dance Development in Holland and alternative choreography and dance pedagogy in the Choreographic Production Center in Mexico.
Since a young age she has been engaged in several teaching, production and exchange projects. From the age of 17 to 20 she was a assigned to open and take care of three dance schools in isolated communities in Mexico as part of the Morelos Center of Arts. Later on she has worked as a teacher and tutor for graduate choreographic projects in the National Choreographic Research Centre in Mexico and has participated in the development of new study programs for the research center as well as other dance schools in Mexico.
Halldór Bjarnason is an audio engineer and sound artist from Iceland. He received his BSc from the SAE Institute and Middlesex University which he studied both in Holland and in Spain. Halldór has worked as an audio engineer teacher in G. Martell University in Mexico and has specialized in the Binaural recording technique, both for it's application and also for it's artistic purposes. Halldór is a fifth generation in his family to live in the Fljótstunga land and along with his family, he has preserved the largest cave in Iceland since 1991.