Biography
Kira Kira is Kristín Björk Kristjánsdóttir, a composer and audio/visual artist from Iceland. As a founding member of Kitchen Motors, a mischievous label and collective based on experiments in electronic music and arts, she continually breaks boundaries between forms and genres through a repertoire that includes compositions for theatre, film, dance and art installations – as well as playful multi-disciplinary productions that exceed her work as merely a composer. Kira Kira sprang from this collective in 1999 and to this day works with Kitchen Motors’ ethos at heart -a spirit of playfulness, exploring the relationship between experimental music and visual arts, collaborating with various artists.
Playing solo at first, Kira Kira has recorded and played with a wide range of musicians since 2008, mostly trumpet player Eiríkur Orri Ólafsson, Finnish percussionist Samuli Kosminen, contrabass wizard Borgar Magnason and artist Alex Somers as well as guitarists Hilmar Jensson and Pétur Hallgrímsson.
Her first feature film as director and screenwriter, Grandma Lo-fi – The Basement Tapes of Sigridur Nielsdottir has been celebrated in New York’s Museum of Modern Art MoMA, CPH Dox, SXSW and numerous other festivals around the world.
Kira Kira has released three albums, Skotta, Our Map to The Monster Olympics and Feathermagnetik which came out on Morr Music’s Sound of a Handshake moniker in 2012 and on Afterhours in Japan. In 2014, she released two new live recordings together with Eskmo (Brendan Angelides), featuring The Echo Society 12 piece chamber orchestra in Los Angeles. In 2016 she signed with London based Mute Song.
Discography
Here you can browse a selection of Kira Kiras publications.
Kira Kira: Alchemy & Friends, 2018
Feathermagnetik, 2012
Label: Morr Music
Our map to the monster olympics, 2008
Produced & mixed by Kira Kira
& Birgir Jon Birgisson
Labels: Smekkleysa & Afterhours
Skotta, 2005
Label: Afterhours
Film
Grandma Lo-fi - The Basement Tapes of Sigrídur Níelsdóttir, 2011
Composition, Co-Direction: Kira Kira
Copenhagen DOX
MoMA N.Y.
Sound and Vision Award CPH:DOX
Without Memory, 2011
A Film by Kira Kira
Music: Skuli Sverrisson
A Great Divide, 2011
A Film by Kira Kira
Music: Dustin O'Halloran
There's More than One Way to Dance, 2011
A Film by Kira Kira
Music: Tom Brosseau
On The Edge, 2007
The New Zealand Film Archive, Auckland
Spontaneous Kindness, 2006
A Film by Kira Kira
Music: Skuli Sverrisson
The Unclear Age - dance film, 2005
Director: Anais & Oliver Spiro
Music: Kira Kira & Johann Johannsson
Les Ballets C de la B
Theatre
Notes from the Underground,
2010 - 2011
Text: Fjodor Dostoyevsky
Director: Egill Anton Heidar Palsson
Schaubühne Theater, Berlin
Nomination: Prix Europa 2010; Sequences Festival, Reykjavik
Room 408, 2010
Interactive piece for web theater
Text & director: Hrafnhildur Hagalín & Steinunn Knútsdóttir
Nomination: Prix Europa Awards 2010
L'image, 2007
Director: Arthur Nauziel
Text: Samuel Becket
O Jonsson & Kaaber, Reykjavik Art Festival
Was geschah, nachdem Nora ihren Mann verlassen
hatte oder Stützen der Gesellschaften, 2006
Text: Elfriede Jelinek
Iceland Radio Theater
Sekt er kennd by Thorvaldur Thorsteinsson, 2004
Director: Stefan Jonsson
Reykjavik City Theater
Herjolfur has ceized to love, 2003
Director: Stefán Jónsson
Text: Sigtryggur Magnason
The National Theater of Iceland
Dance
Ambra, 2008
by Ina Christel Johannsen, with the Iceland Dance Company and Norwegian dance company Carte Blanche
Reykjavik Art Festival, Bergen International Festival and various theaters around Europe Norwegian Critics Awards 2008
Turn On - Tanzperformance, 2007
Choreographed, costumed and performed by Alexandra Gilbert, gadgets by Ilmur Stefansdottir
Thjodleikhuskjallarinn, Reykjavik, Iceland
Glow, 2004
audio/visual dance creation
with Birta Gudjonsdottir (visual artist) & Margret Sara Gudjonsdottir (dancer/choreographer)
Kunstcentrum Vooruit, Belgium
The Reykjavik City Theater, Reykjavik, Iceland
The unclear Age, short film, 2005
Director: Anaïs/ Olivier Spiro
Music: Johann Johannsson
Les Ballets C de la B, France/ Belgium
Art
Underneath - sound installation, 2011
In collaboration with Graham Keegan
Hla_an, Vogar, Iceland
Reciprocal, 2010
Installation by Elin Hansdottir
Biennale für Internationale Lichtkunst, Hamm, Deutschland
Trace, 2010
Installation by Elin Hansdottir
i8 Gallery, Reykjavik, Iceland
Spiral Út - solo exhibition, 2009
Gallery Sudsudvestur, Reykjanesbae, Iceland
Kite Symphony II - happening, 2008
Shanghai Museum of Science & Technology
NOTCH Festival / eARTS
Poltergeist Cuckoo - sound art, 2007
Gallerie 0047, Oslo, Norway
Kite Symphony I - happening, 2006
With Finnur Ragnarsson
Gardskagaviti, Iceland
Closer - sound installation, 2006
The Living Art Museum
The Helium Choir - happening/ sound installation, 2006
Sequences Real-time Art Festival, Reykjavik, Iceland
Romantic Undead - installation, 2005
Reykjavik Art Museum, Reykjavik, Iceland
Sing Blackhole - sound installation, 2004
Kunstcentrum Vooruit, Etoiles Polaires Festival, Gent, Belgium Slunkariki, Isafirdi, Iceland
The Tower Series - sound installations within towers, 2002 ongoing:
Duell II, 2004
Sonic Pictures Festival, Kunstcentrum Vooruit, Gent, Belgium
Death by Laughter, 2003
Hallgrimskirkja church tower, Reykjavik, Kirkjulistahatid, Iceland
Last Drops, 2002
Collaboration with Musikvatur
Tho old Reykjavik Feuerturm, Tjarnargata, Iceland
Last Breath, 2002
Reykjavik Apotechary tower, Iceland
