Inter Lace Work: Autism and Neurodiversity in the Beneath Ecologies of Creative Collaboration
University of Iceland, Reykjavík Arts Festival and Online
🍄🕸🌱🌀🏫
1. About this conference 🍄
This conference is part of the Anfinn Research Project, which explores neurodivergent creative artistic practices and how arts spaces can become more inclusive of these:
The Anfinn project uses practice-based and participatory action research methods to investigate
- why neurodivergent creative outputs, practices and practitioners are often excluded from creativity discourses and spaces;
- how to change this (for example by experimenting with spaces, modes of participation, demonstration and creative activism);
- why to change this (for example considering the harms done to the excluded, the incompleteness of any exclusionary creative movement, the unique innovations and outputs neurodivergent creatives are developing).
The project hypothesis is that the potential for exploration and integration of neurodivergent creativity is disproportionately unrealised due to ableist systems and structures.
The project conference will be a cross-genre (academic, creative, activist, experimental and more) sharing of ideas by neurodivergent creative practitioners and creativity researchers.
2. Autistic idea-networks informing this conference 🕸
The anthropologist Anna Tsing has written about how it is impossible for capitalism to appropriate the matsutake mushroom harvest, because its rhizomatic underground ecology can’t be replicated using profit-making modes. Only those who read the forest (communities often invisible to capitalism and silenced within its discourses) know how to find them.
Nonlinear mycoecology networks do not operate hierarchically, but function to distribute resources on the basis of need: the interconnected relational processes of finding which trace these networks cannot be articulated using the language of patriarchy.
The fundamental importance of mycoecological networks to soil fertility has only recently been discovered by Western science. These networks continue to be destroyed by modern agricultural practices like ploughing, and the use of pesticides and artificial fertilisers, resulting in the ongoing stripping of nutrients from soil and the food grown in it.
In the 1970s, poststructuralist philosophers Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari appropriated the term ‘rhizomatic’ (referring at that time simply to the root structures beneath trees) as a way to problematise linear concepts of meaning and interrelation. This concept is now widely applied to the study of creativity and creative praxes, as well as within the disciplines which deconstruct linear concepts of social processes and networks such as feminist studies and disability studies.
Cultural theorist and political philosopher Erin Manning‘s work on non-neurotypical research-creation outlines the importance of looking “underneath” the linear knowledge-creation structures of the commodified university to find research questions and idea-networks that cannot yet be articulated. “Rather than seeing the parts abstracted from the whole,” she says, “autistic perception is alive with tendings that create ecologies before they coalesce into form.”
3. Taking part as a presenter 🌱
The deadline for submission of proposals has passed.
Information for Festival Performers
We welcome proposals for 15-20 minute contributions from neurodivergent people working mainly in creativity or creativity research who encounter significant barriers to participation in creative communities and are passionate about investigating these.
It is not necessary to:
- have academic qualifications;
- have a ‘successful’ creative career as defined by capitalist patriarchal society;
- have a formal diagnosis of neurodivergence;
- be able to attend in person;
- be able to navigate neurotypical or abled-centric spaces.
Proposals may be for
- academic presentations;
- creative presentations (performances, workshops etc);
- experiential presentations (aut-ethnography*, storytelling etc);
- practice presentations (discussions of creative practices, works or works in progress, etc);
- other kinds of presentations depending on what works for the presenter;
- in light of recent developments in the US, special consideration will be given to presentations investigating (discussing, workshopping or performing) creative activism and real-world actions.
We are limited by the resources available to us, but would love to talk through what might be possible beyond traditional presentation formats.
Proposals should be sent in the body of an email to this address, and should include:
- a short, descriptive presentation title;
- 250-300 words, in English, comprising a concise outline of presentation content including relevance to this conference;
- presentation format (oral presentation, performance etc as above);
- any accessibility and inclusivity considerations (concerning presenter(s), attendees and content);
- any technical and performance requirements as necessary.
Results will be communicated in January.
4. Registration and taking part as an attendee 🌀
Tuesday June 9th 20:00-22:00:
Conference Dinner
Venue: Studentakjallarinn https://www.studentakjallarinn.is/
Menu, allergen information, pictures etc on website
Everyone will order and pay for themselves on-site
Wednesday June10th 09:00-18:00:
Conference presentations
Venue: Veröld: https://vigdis.hi.is/is
Thursday June 11th 12:00-18:00:
Reykjavík Arts Festival ‘takeover'
Venue: https://www.idno.is/
Friday June 12th 09:00-15:00 : Conference presentations
Venue: Veröld: https://vigdis.hi.is/is
All venues are accessible to best-practice standards and I will post video walkthroughs and pictures to the conference website shortly.
Full Participation Conference fee: 60.000ISK (est. €420 subject to exchange rate at time of purchase)
https://greidslusida.valitor.is/Tengill/k8avtd
Online Participation Conference fee: 35.000ISK (est. €240 subject to exchange rate at time of purchase)
https://greidslusida.valitor.is/Tengill/iwaiut
Full Participation Conference fee – Concession (unwaged): 45.000ISK (est. €310 subject to exchange rate at time of purchase)
https://greidslusida.valitor.is/Tengill/2ix88g
In Iceland, contact your union to request an education/training grant
Registration deadline: May 30 2026
The on-campus University Student Hostel is the most accessible option: https://www.studenthostel.is/
Conference Booking Link: https://app.thebookingfactory.com/student-hostel/book/__special_offer_9255#/choose-dates
Use discount promo code ILWC26 for a discount on a limited number of rooms.
The hostel has rooms for people with additional access needs
Other Accessible Accommodation Suggestions:
Accommodation in the city centre can be quite loud, so earplugs are also advisable.
When booking it's a good idea to check location and look at pictures as 'hotel' and 'city centre' can be very broad descriptors in Iceland.
Bus from the airport to BSÍ bus terminal (up to 60min journey):
https://www.kefairport.com/bus to reserve
BSÍ is 1.1km from the university, 1.4km from city centre and 10min or less to anywhere in the city by taxi.
City bus service (Strætó):
Detailed live info and route mapping on Google Maps
Tickets purchased electronically on boarding or through Klappið app:
https://www.klappid.is/en/buy-tickets/klappid-app
The number 2 bus runs from BSÍ to the city, and the numbers 1,2,3,6 and 15 service the university
Taxi:
App: https://www.hreyfill.is/en/download-taxi-hreyfill-app/
Phone: +354 588 5522
Expect taxis in Reykjavík to be more expensive .
Reykjavík is an extremely walkable city, mostly flat with very good sidewalks and multiple crossings. Venues are generally less accessible.
https://visitreykjavik.is/getting-around-reykjavik/accessible-reykjavik
Most transactions are electronic and there are only two ATMs in the city (searchable with Google Maps). Icelandic Kronur (ISK) is the only currency used and it is illegal to take cash out of the country.
EU phone plans will allow ‘roaming’
Weather info: https://www.vedur.is/
While usually somewhat warmer in summer (9-15°C) weather can range from blazing sun to very strong wind and rain, so pack accordingly
Iceland in June experiences almost 24-hour daylight so it’s a good idea to bring a sleeping mask and to use sunscreen
Culture:
https://guidetoiceland.is/reykjavik-guide/best-things-to-do-in-reykjavik-in-june
Museums etc info/discounted admission: https://visitreykjavik.is/reykjavik-city-card
Link coming soon: until then email kathy@hi.is